U.S. may cut some Moderna vaccine doses in half to speed rollout, official says By Reuters

By Brendan Pierson

(Reuters) – The U.S. authorities is contemplating giving some folks half the dose of Moderna (NASDAQ:)’s COVID-19 vaccine in an effort to velocity vaccinations, a federal official mentioned on Sunday.

Moncef Slaoui, head of Operation Warp Velocity, the federal vaccine program, mentioned on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that officers have been in talks with Moderna and the Meals and Drug Administration in regards to the concept. Moderna’s vaccine requires two injections.

“We all know that for the Moderna vaccine, giving half of the dose to folks between the ages of 18 and 55, two doses, half the dose, which suggests precisely reaching the target of immunizing double the variety of folks with the doses we’ve got,” Slaoui mentioned.

“We all know it induces an identical immune response” to the complete dose, he added.

Moderna and the FDA couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.

The U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention mentioned it had administered 4,225,756 first doses of COVID-19 vaccines within the nation as of Saturday morning and distributed 13,071,925 doses.

The U.S. has additionally permitted a vaccine from Pfizer (NYSE:), which like Moderna’s requires two photographs. Vaccinations have fallen far wanting early targets, as officers had hoped to have 20 million folks vaccinated by the tip of the 2020.

Slaoui mentioned he was optimistic vaccinations would proceed to speed up. He rejected the suggestion that officers ought to prioritize giving extra folks a single shot, slightly than holding again doses for the second shot, saying that chopping Moderna vaccine doses in half was “a extra accountable strategy that might be based mostly on details and information.”

Slaoui mentioned it could doubtless not be identified till late spring whether or not vaccinated folks can nonetheless unfold the illness to others.