Vials with Covid-19 vaccine stickers attached and medical syringe with US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech.
Vincent Kalut | Photonews | Getty Images
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that extra doses from vials of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine can be used after reports of vaccine doses being thrown away by pharmacists due to label confusion.
Earlier Stat News reported that hospital pharmacists were finding themselves throwing away one in six doses of the first Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines released this week in the United States. Unified due to label controversy.
The Pfizer filters are supposed to hold five doses, according to the written information, but media reports said pharmacists had found a way for the sixth or even seventh dose. Without explicit consent from the manufacturer, the additional dose must be skipped.
“Currently, with the public health emergency, the FDA advises that it is permissible to use all total doses received (sixth, or even seventh) from each vial, until the case is resolved. resolved, “an FDA representative said in an emailed statement.
“However, as the filters are preservative-free, it is crucial to note that any remaining product that is not a full dose should not be combined from multiple filters to form one,” the statement said.
Distribution of the first batch of 2.9 million doses of the newly authorized vaccine from Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE continued for the third full day, with shipments going to 66 more distribution centers across the United States.
A second vaccine from Moderna Inc could earn an emergency use license from the FDA this week.
An additional 2 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 5.9 million doses of the Moderna vaccine could be dispensed next week, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said in a conference call Wednesday. Two doses of the vaccines, taken three to four weeks apart, would be required for each person to be included.