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CONTAINS MULTIPLE DOSES: Pfizer vaccine vials are designed for five doses, but with the correct syringe tip you can get enough for six to seven doses. The picture shows a freezer full of vials that is opened at Ullevål hospital on the second day of Christmas. Photo: Heiko Junge
While Denmark squeezes out seven servings per glass, Norway uses five, because FHI has not yet decided whether to use the leftovers.
It is agreed on each vial that there will be five doses. But Pfizer has added a margin of safety and made sure there is a little more in each glass, up to two additional doses.
Denmark uses everything, while Norway dumps what’s left in the glass after dose five. This means that Denmark uses 40 percent more vaccine glass than Norway.
Norway will vaccinate 1984 people this Christmas. If all of these have been vaccinated now, that means that between 400 and 800 doses of vaccines have gone to waste.
The neighboring country has used the additional doses from day one or the next day, chief physician Anders Koch of the Statens Serum Institut tells VG.
Photo: Statens Serum Institut
– It seems that when the vaccine is mixed, when it comes in powder form and we mix it, it becomes seven instead of five, he says, adding:
– It’s absolutely fantastic.
In Denmark, there are pharmacy assistants who mix the doses and put them in vials, and Koch says that they rarely measure incorrectly and therefore can always settle for additional doses:
– They are super-qualified employees who work daily with medicines.
Koch says that sometimes there can be six doses, sometimes seven.
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On Tuesday, VG reported that Norway has yet to land on this, but is now in contact with Danish colleagues to find out how they do it.
– I am 100% sure that the Norwegian authorities are thinking about this now.
This is confirmed by the director of FHI, Camilla Stoltenberg.
– We have not landed, but we are sure to use the glasses as much as possible. We will decide this very quickly.
Conditions need to be clarified
ON THE WAY: Camilla Stoltenberg says she is now working quickly to make a decision on the use of the remains in the vaccine bottle. Photo: Helge Mikalsen
Stoltenberg explains that there are some issues that need to be clarified first:
- If it is enough for the second round: Everyone should have two rounds of vaccines, so if you use the first vials completely, you risk running out of too little in the next round, if there is not a uniform amount in each glass.
- If the agreement with the vaccine company is about the number of doses or the number of vials: If the agreement is about the number of doses, they can say that they have delivered the correct number of doses but fewer vials.
Are there potentially 40 percent more doses that we don’t use now?
– Yes, and we will take a position on this very quickly.
Read more about the Pfizer vaccine and the other vaccines Norway can receive in the special of VG vaccines.
The agreement is by dose
Sweden’s vaccine coordinator Richard Bergström says the deal with Pfizer is based on number of doses, not vials, and that a discussion has started with Pfizer about how the deal should be interpreted.
– There will be a scientific discussion between EMA and Pfizer on what the label should say. If it is the case that it is recommended that there be six pieces and not five, then the next step is for the commission and Pfizer to discuss the contract.
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After this has been debated and decided in the EU, there are two scenarios if one lands on the redefinition that glasses contain six doses, he explains:
– One is that we get 20 percent more, the other is that we get the same number of doses but fewer bottles.
It’s the last thing NIPH wants to clear up.
Read more about the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine by clicking on it below:
The Norwegian Medicines Agency has given the green light
Steinar Madsen, Medical Director of the Norwegian Medicines Agency, explains it as follows:
- The vaccine vials contain 2.25 ml
- Each dose is 0.3 ml.
- Five doses correspond to 1.5 ml, that is, 0.75 ml should remain in the glass.
– But attempts have been made to show that it is generally okay to take six doses if necessary. This is not approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), but the FDA has said it is fine professionally. That’s our advice to FHI too, Madsen had previously told VG.
Pfizer: Fill up to be safe
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has previously stated that the vaccine for Pfizer / BioNTech contains more doses than expected.
Some syringes “pull” a little more fluid, which remains in the syringe after vaccination. For this reason, the company fills the vials so you can be sure that in practice there are at least five doses in each glass.
