EU: 6 doses can be used from single COVID-19 vial

By Busra Nur Bilgic Cakmak

ANKARA (AA) - The European Medicine Agency (EMA) recommended extracting six doses Friday from a single vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, Comirnaty, to allow more people to be vaccinated.

“If the amount of vaccine remaining in the vial after the fifth dose cannot provide a full dose (0.3 ml), the healthcare professional must discard the vial and its contents,” EMA said in a statement.

“There should be no pooling from multiple vials to make up a full dose, and any unused vaccine should be discarded 6 hours after dilution,” it said.

EMA said 35 microliter dose-specific syringes should be used for dose increase in bottles, and six doses may not be extracted from a bottle if standard syringes and needles are used.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday that the institution agreed to double the number of vaccines with biotechnological firms BioNTech/Pfizer.

With the new contract, the EU will be able to buy another 200 million doses with an option for 100 million more jabs, in addition to the already secured 300 million doses.

The EU also authorize the use of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.