BREAKING: Pfizer-BioNTech vials hold more COVID-19 vaccine doses than expected, according to FDA

By Brian Buntz | December 17, 2020

Image by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Pharmacists have discovered that some vials containing COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech (NSDQ:BNTX) have up to 40% more doses than the five expected.

Some pharmacists had thrown the leftover vaccine away out of fear of violating FDA policies, according to Politico. But FDA confirmed today that pharmacists can use the full amount of vaccine from the vials. Each vial could contain six or possibly seven doses.

The development could potentially expand the U.S. supply of COVID-19 by millions of doses.

The news comes as the Trump administration is negotiating with Pfizer to obtain more doses of the vaccine.

FDA could grant emergency use authorization to the COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) as soon as Dec. 18.

In the interim, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said he is optimistic that the U.S. government can convince Pfizer to produce additional vaccine doses in 2021.

About The Author

Brian Buntz

The pharma and biotech editor of WTWH Media, Brian is a veteran journalist with more than 15 years of experience covering an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, drug discovery and development and medical devices. Before coming to WTWH, he served as content director focused on connected devices at Informa. In addition, Brian covered the medical device sector for 10 years at UBM. At Qmed, he overhauled the brand’s news coverage and helped to grow the site’s traffic volume dramatically. He had previously held managing editor roles on two of the company’s medical device technology publications. Connect with him on LinkedIn or email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.