Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) started shipping its COVID-19 vaccine for use in the United States almost two weeks ago. The label on each bottle of BNT162b2 states that there are five doses included. However, some pharmacists have found that some vials actually have more than five doses. In that Motley Fool Live video recorded on December 18, 2020, health / cannabis agency editor / analyst Olivia Zitkus and Fool.com writer Keith Speights talk about the story behind these “extra” doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine .
Olivia Zitkus: Let’s go back to Pfizer. A lot has happened after the vaccine started being launched in the United States this week. Some interesting problems have arisen and I would like to address two of them.
You two had a very important talking about the allergic reaction and all the attention you received from Alaska. Number one, apparently, there may be more doses per bottle than originally thought in some of the Pfizer bottles that have already been distributed. What this means? Is it a happy accident for hospitals and pharmacies facing this, or is it a red flag that the company just doesn’t know how many doses of the vaccine it is actually delivering?
Keith Speights: [laughs] I think you’re happy, but not necessarily an accident, Olivia. It is not uncommon for drug manufacturers to fill the bottles a little. I think that is exactly what we are seeing here, is that there is some overfilling.
In some cases, pharmacists have found that they could get six or seven doses of a bottle that the label says has only five doses. In fact, there was even some initial confusion, where some pharmacists were throwing away the extra doses they managed to obtain. This is not great, so the FDA had to go out and say, “No, you can use these doses.”
So it’s not an accident because, once again, drug manufacturers intentionally overfill in some cases. There are a few reasons for this. Syringes used in different environments sometimes have small effects on dose size. This is one of the reasons for the slight overfilling.
There may even be changes in air pressure at different locations and at different altitudes that affect the volume of the vaccine in a vial. There are reasons for a little overfilling.
The good news, the happy part of it is that the number of doses that we could receive from the Pfizer vaccine will be greater than some of the predictions as a result. How much? We don’t know, but it is certainly good news.
Olivia Zitkus: Right. So there can be many different explanations for overflowing, not all of them bad.