Sources at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) have confirmed that upto hundreds of doses of the coronavirus vaccine could have gone to waste in the country, owing to instructions from the manufacturer.
The vaccine, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, comes in vials of five doses each. As per the general practice, a reserve amount is included. This means that in case there has been no spillage, each vial would be enough for six to seven doses.
However, as per the instructions of the marketing authorisation and manufacturer, only five doses can be prepared from each vial. Approximately ten thousand doses of the vaccine have arrived in Finland and vaccinations began on Sunday. This would indicate that hundreds of doses could have gone to waste already.
In Denmark, health workers have been administering seven doses from each vial in most cases, leading to 40 per cent more vaccinations than initially expected.
THL has stated that they will continue to follow the current guidelines of five doses per vial until they receive new instructions from the manufacturer.
Tahira Sequeira
Helsinki Times
