4 ms·

You do need a specific type of syringe in order to extract the 6th dose correctly and it was not the case that 100% of the distribution was set up with that par

• mlyle 6y ago
  Yes. You need vaccines and needles with low dead space. They could comfortably extract 6 and even in some cases 7 doses from vials. Initially some doses were wasted because it was unclear whether that was a legitimate thing to do. Then, after explicit guidance, they said "OK, these count as 6 doses, then, for the purpose of our Federal contract!" Then, Feds scrambled to ship supplies to ensure low-dead-space syringes were being used everywhere.
  • tgsovlerkhgsel 6y ago
    Also, at least in some places there was a policy that you can't mix the leftover from two vials. So you could have three vials that each have only 0.8 doses in them, you have 0 extra doses, not 2. That feels like one of the points where bureaucracy is stupidly killing people.
    • mlyle 6y ago
      Nah. That's a good rule. Pooling of vials has caused contamination and severe consequences to patients in the past, and it also compromises traceability. Having bad outcomes from pooling and not knowing whether it came from the combining practice, a certain vial, an entire lot, or even worse-- the fundamental vaccine-- could take the entire vaccination program off the rails. That's not worth it to stretch supplies a few percent.
• tamcap 6y ago
  Just to make sure it's clear to everyone, you need to extract every dose with the special syringes - not just the 6th one. If you use the low dead space syringes for the first 5 doses, the efficiencies add up to enough solution left over for a guaranteed 6th one.