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On Thursday, April 1, the FDA announced that it has ruled that Moderna can put 50 percent more vaccine dosages in each vial, moving from 10 doses each to 15, which will allow for a more expeditious rollout of the vaccine.
The FDA is also allowing 11 doses to be extracted out of the current 10 dose vials.
Additionally, the FDA authorized the Moderna vaccine to be kept at room temperature conditions once removed from the refrigerator for administration for 24 hours, an increase from the previous 12 hours.
“We are committed to constantly learning and improving to facilitate easier administration of our COVID-19 vaccine for medical staff and accelerate immunization programs,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said. "We remain focused on doing all that we can to help end the COVID-19 pandemic with a vaccine.”
According to officials, “Moderna is continually learning, adapting and working closely with its partners and the U.S. government to identify ways to facilitate accelerated vaccine administration, address bottlenecks and accelerate production.”
Moderna studied the possibility of adding more doses to each vial of vaccine to address bottlenecks, accelerate production and reduce the need for consumable materials that are in high demand.
Moderna announced that it will begin shipping the new 15-dose vials in the coming weeks, though no specific date has been released.
“Both of these revisions positively impact the supply of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, which will help provide more vaccine doses to communities and allow shots to get into arms more quickly,” Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said.
“Ultimately, more vaccines getting to the public in a timely manner should help bring an end to the pandemic more rapidly.”
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