Moderna proposes filling vials with more doses

CAMBRIDGE (Massachusetts), BEIJING, SEOUL • Moderna said on Monday it is proposing filling vials with additional doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to ease a crunch in manufacturing as the company approaches the manufacturing of almost a million doses a day.

"The company is proposing filling vials with additional doses of vaccine, up to 15 doses versus the current 10 doses," Moderna said in an e-mailed statement.

"Moderna would need to have further discussions with the FDA to assure the agency's comfort with this approach before implementing," the company said, referring to the US Food and Drug Administration.

Moderna's president, Dr Stephen Hoge, said in the statement that the additional doses would help address capacity constraints, noting that "beyond the amount of drug product available, is how many vials you can fill in a given period of time".

The US distribution of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine began in December, following the FDA's emergency-use authorisation, making it the second Covid-19 vaccine to receive approval in the United States.

Meanwhile, Chinese syringe makers are warning that they may be able to fulfil some orders only as late as June. Firms told Reuters they were working around the clock, raising prices and trying to expand factory lines.

South Korea's Food and Drug Safety Ministry is considering supporting syringe manufactures to boost production, capacity and exports of special syringes for coronavirus vaccines, following a visit by Food and Drug Safety Minister Kim Gang-lip yesterday to syringe manufacturer Shina Corp.

The company makes a special "low dead space" syringe meant for Covid-19 vaccines that maximises the amount of vaccine injected.

Shina Corp has an annual production capacity of 180 million to 200 million syringes, and had exports worth 15.5 billion won (S$18.5 million) last year, the ministry said.

Mr Kim said the South Korean government will step up support for syringe makers, including by linking state financial help and providing consulting on exporting overseas, such as on certification procedures and required documents.

In another update, Russia's Sputnik V vaccine was 91.6 per cent effective in preventing people from developing Covid-19, according to peer-reviewed results from its late-stage clinical trial published in The Lancet international medical journal yesterday.

Scientists said the phase three trial results meant the world had another effective weapon to fight the deadly pandemic and justified to some extent Moscow's decision to roll out the vaccine before final data had been released.

REUTERS