Hospitals are throwing out doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine because the federal government is giving some of the facilities syringes that can only extract five doses from vials that often contain more.
Pharmacists discovered early in the U.S. vaccination push that the standard five-dose vials of the vaccine from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech often contained enough material for six or even seven shots.
Regulators in the U.S. and Europe agreed to allow use of those “overfill” doses to maximize the reach of coronavirus vaccines amid the raging pandemic.
But some syringes distributed by Operation Warp Speed, the federal Covid-19 vaccine program, aren’t efficient enough to extract a sixth dose, according to hospital lobbyists. They say the issue appears to stem from supply chain problems that have troubled the nation’s pandemic response from the start.
In the meantime, some hospitals are worried they won’t have enough vaccine to give a second dose to everyone they’ve inoculated so far — since the Pfizer vaccine is given as two shots weeks apart.
Federal officials acknowledged to POLITICO they are aware of the syringe problem. “Operation Warp Speed is quickly evaluating options to reconfigure the accompanying ancillary supply kits to accommodate the potential additional doses,” according to a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson.
HHS did not respond to a question about whether its decision to ship out less-efficient syringes was related to supply chain issues.
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