US could halve some Moderna vaccine doses to speed up rollout, official says

(Reuters) – The U.S. government is considering giving some people half the dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine to speed up vaccinations, a federal official said on Sunday.

Moncef Slaoui, head of Operation Warp Speed, the federal immunization program, told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that officials were in talks with Moderna and the Food and Drug Administration over the idea. Moderna’s vaccine requires two injections.

“We know that for the Moderna vaccine, giving half the dose to people between the ages of 18 and 55, two doses, half the dose, which means exactly meeting the goal of vaccinating twice the number of people with the doses that we have, ”Slaoui said.

“We know it induces an identical immune response” at the full dose, he added.

Moderna and the FDA could not be reached immediately for comment.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it administered 4,225,756 first doses of COVID-19 vaccines nationwide on Saturday morning and distributed 13,071,925 doses.

The United States has also approved a vaccine from Pfizer, which, like Moderna’s, requires two injections. Vaccinations fall far short of original targets, as officials expected 20 million people to be vaccinated by the end of 2020.

Slaoui said he was optimistic vaccinations would continue to accelerate. He dismissed the suggestion that officials should prioritize more people, rather than withholding doses for the second shot, saying halving Moderna vaccine doses was “a more responsible approach that would be based on facts and data.

Slaoui said it would likely not be known until late spring whether those vaccinated can still spread the disease to others.