Moderna is seeking permission from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to increase the amount of sealed vaccine in each vial in hopes of easing some pressure on the manufacturing and distribution process, according to a CNBC report.
An anonymous source told the news agency that the move would allow Moderna to store 15 doses of the vaccine per bottle, five more than the 10 that are currently packaged. The source told CNBC that the additional doses included in the vials would ease the bottleneck in part of the manufacturing process called “filling / finishing”.
The source asked to remain anonymous because the request to the FDA has not yet been made public.
The Hill contacted Moderna and the FDA for confirmation.
The news comes when the United States faces a problem with the vaccine distribution process and localities have had to cancel thousands of appointments due to a shortage of vaccine distribution. President Biden’s administration has set a goal to administer at least 100 million doses of coronavirus vaccines in the first 100 days. CNBC notes that daily administration fees have risen above 1 million per day.
Pfizer also recently placed an order to change the number of doses per bottle after it was discovered that a sixth extra dose could be removed from its vials using a specific syringe, according to CNBC. The order was approved with the company saying it would deliver fewer bottles, but the same number of doses to 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 so far. In addition, 17.8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine were administered, the first to be approved for emergency use in the United States.