WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s coronavirus response team thought it had found a quick fix to increase the nation’s supply of Pfizer vaccine doses. The question is whether the pharmaceutical company will go along with it.
The new president took executive action last week ordering manufacturers to increase the production of hyper-efficient syringes, after health care workers around the country discovered last month that vials of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine contained six vaccine doses instead of five — more than Pfizer had anticipated.
The Food and Drug Administration, under former President Donald Trump, authorized the use of those extra doses. But common syringes used to extract the vaccine and to inject individuals often had too much “dead space” in them — filled with excess vaccine meant to prevent air bubbles — that prevented collection of those extra shots.
