Modern is asking permission from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to increase the amount of vaccine sealed inside each vial in hopes of relieving some pressure on the manufacturing and distribution process, according to a CNBC report.
An anonymous source told the media that the change would allow Moderna to store 15 doses of the vaccine per vial, five more than the 10 currently being packaged. The source told CNBC that the additional doses included in the vials would alleviate the bottleneck in a part of the manufacturing process called “filling / finishing”.
The source asked to remain anonymous because the application to the FDA has not yet been made public.
The Hill has contacted Moderna and the FDA for confirmation.
The news comes when the United States has experienced a problem with the vaccine distribution process and localities have had to cancel thousands of appointments due to a lack of vaccine allocations. President Biden’s administration has set itself the goal of administering at least 100 million doses of coronavirus vaccines in its first 100 days. CNBC notes that daily administration rates have risen above one million a day.
Pfizer also recently filed a request to change the number of doses per vial after discovering that an additional sixth dose could be taken from its vials with the use of a specific syringe, according to CNBC. The request was approved and the company said it would deliver fewer vials, but the same number of doses in the U.S.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just over 15 million doses of the Modern coronavirus vaccine have been administered in the United States in the United States. In addition, 17.8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been administered, the first to be approved for emergency use in the US.