(Newser)
– Modern and the Food and Drug Administration have agreed on a way to get more coronavirus vaccine at its destination and it seems simple enough: put more on each vial. If you fill the vials closer to the edge, you will get 40% more New York News reports: 14 doses instead of 10. This could be enough to increase the supply of vaccines in the US by 20%. The amount of a dose is 0.5 milliliters per Hill. The FDA has asked the company to submit data showing that the change will not reduce effectiveness. Work on production lines to adapt to the change could be completed by the end of April. “It would be a big step forward,” said Dr. Moncef Slaoui, who was involved in the Trump administration’s vaccine development program. “I think it will have a short-term impact.”
The company had asked for approval of the change last month. It will facilitate deceleration when bottles are filled, capped and labeled. The FDA may decide to inspect the production process after any changes. Moderna also wants to extend the declared life of the vaccine once the seal is punctured. The company said in a statement that it continues to increase production. Moderna said it has so far supplied 41 million doses to the federal government and President Biden said this week that the US is buying 100 million more doses from Moderna. The actual number of doses per vial can be murky: although the CDC says there are 10, special syringes have already been able to extract 11 doses. (Read more coronavirus vaccine stories).