The EU is asked to approve the additional dose of Pfizer vaccine vials

PRAGUE v. ROME (Reuters) – The European Union was asked on Tuesday to allow an additional dose of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech to be administered in each vial, a practice permitted elsewhere, which would reduce supplies.

Experts say it is possible to get six doses from each vial, more than the five approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said he had raised the issue with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to seek EMA approval for the additional shooting as soon as possible.

The vaccine, produced by Pfizer in the United States and the German biotech startup BioNTech, is the only one that has obtained EU approval so far and is already administered.

But the supply is tight and growing coronavirus infections are expanding hospitals to the limit.

BioNTech said that each vial was guaranteed to produce five doses, but that it was possible, with the right needle and syringe, to extract the sixth.

“We are in discussions with regulators as to whether and how the sixth dose could be made available, as well as the needles or syringes needed for such a low-volume system,” said a BioNTech spokesman.

Italian regulators have already approved the withdrawal of six doses, with EMA guidelines for the EU as a whole prevailing.

Similar approvals have been issued by regulators in the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Israel – all of whom began their vaccination campaigns earlier.

Soren Brostrom, head of the Danish Health Authority, said it was even possible to extract a seventh dose from some Pfizer vials and that it could be feasible to vaccinate more than the 250,000 people expected in the first two months of the Danish campaign.

The EU has signed agreements to buy a total of 2 billion doses of vaccine, which will be distributed to Member States in proportion to their populations. The EMA did not respond to a request for comment.