Vaccine Question: You probably heard that the Pfizer vaccine has five doses in a vial, rather than four, so they will be delivering more vaccine than advertised. How does that work?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

You probably heard that the Pfizer vaccine has five doses in a vial, rather than four, so they will be delivering more vaccine than advertised. How does that work? Does someone have to pour the vaccine from the vial into smaller containers? That sounds like thousands of accidents waiting to happen. "Whoops! I spilled some. I'll just add a little water. No one will know the difference."

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Jerry, you are a pessimist.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Jerry, I've heard a number of 'experts' questioning the speed of development, short testing time, the limited number of test subjects, etc. Keep in mind that 1/2 the number of test subjects were given a placebo. This further limits the number of people who were actually tested for both resistance to the virus as well as negative reactions to the vaccine.

I, for one, and not going to be rushing to be first in line.
--Bob

jerryc41 wrote:

You probably heard that the Pfizer vaccine has five doses in a vial, rather than four, so they will be delivering more vaccine than advertised. How does that work? Does someone have to pour the vaccine from the vial into smaller containers? That sounds like thousands of accidents waiting to happen. "Whoops! I spilled some. I'll just add a little water. No one will know the difference."

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Haha.
No, five extractions from the vial through the rubber seal using a sterile needle for each dose.
(After wiping the rubber seal with alcohol each time.)

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

Injectable drugs and some oral solutions have slightly more medication in the vial or bottle. The overfill quantity is designed to consider slight waste. An empty syringe has a small dead air space. When drawing up a dose that air is displaced. To insure no air bubbles are present, you tap the syringe to float them to the top. Then the bubbles can be pushed out perhaps wasting a small amount of the injectable.
With oral solutions pharmaceutical manufacturers consider spills and remember that not every teaspoon is the same size.

bamfordr Loc: Campbell CA

Scruples wrote:

Injectable drugs and some oral solutions have slig... (show quote)

As reported in the news last night, too. There are deliberately six and possibly seven doses in a 5 dose vial.

anotherview Loc: California

Yes, that's the practice.

Longshadow wrote:

Haha.
No, five extractions from the vial through the rubber seal using a sterile needle for each dose.
(After wiping the rubber seal with alcohol each time.)

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

rmalarz wrote:

Jerry, I've heard a number of 'experts' questioning the speed of development, short testing time, the limited number of test subjects, etc. Keep in mind that 1/2 the number of test subjects were given a placebo. This further limits the number of people who were actually tested for both resistance to the virus as well as negative reactions to the vaccine.

I, for one, and not going to be rushing to be first in line.
--Bob

This vaccine is unprecedented. Most vaccines can take two to four years to study. Sometimes even longer than that. With the discover of the contagion, it took nine months to produce a vaccine. That is a historical event.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Unprecedented-without a doubt. Historical event - again without a doubt. Safe - some doubt.
--Bob

Scruples wrote:

This vaccine is unprecedented. Most vaccines can take two to four years to study. Sometimes even longer than that. With the discover of the contagion, it took nine months to produce a vaccine. That is a historical event.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

rmalarz wrote:

Unprecedented-without a doubt. Historical event - again without a doubt. Safe - some doubt.
--Bob

You have reason to be concerned. However, after so many pitfalls and hurdles, the FDA has a great deal riding on this.
As a health care professional, I am a great historian and will report any and all side effects.

David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

A great number of injectable drugs come in multi-dose vials. Your doctor, nurse or pharmacist does not open a new vial every time they administer a vaccination. There are well-established antiseptic practices for drawing up a dose and giving to a patient, that healthcare workers adhere to. Each new dose is drawn into a new sterile syringe using sterile technique.

Bill 45

Hey everyone stop. Here in America we are trying to get the vaccine to 300,000,000 people. Yes shipment will get lose, people will have reaction to the vaccine. We have not done anything like this since the 1950s with the polo vaccine. PS: I was one of the kids who was giving live polo vaccine. Still have the card to prove it.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I would venture to say that some years of testing occurred prior to it being administered to the general population. In fact, I'd venture to say that the polio vaccine was initially developed in 1935 and not administered generally until the 50s. The initial development didn't go so well.
--Bob

Bill 45 wrote:

Hey everyone stop. Here in America we are trying to get the vaccine to 300,000,000 people. Yes shipment will get lose, people will have reaction to the vaccine. We have not done anything like this since the 1950s with the polo vaccine. PS: I was one of the kids who was giving live polo vaccine. Still have the card to prove it.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

jaymatt wrote:

Jerry, you are a pessimist.

Yes, I'm afraid I am. And I'm seldom disappointed.

I'm a glass not even half full kind of guy.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Bill 45 wrote:

PS: I was one of the kids who was giving live polo vaccine. Still have the card to prove it.

My wife also had one of those Polio Pioneer cards.