Some Pfizer vaccines will be thrown out in Japan due to lack of syringes :: Society :: RBC

If it is not possible to purchase a sufficient number of specialized syringes, every sixth dose will have to be destroyed, said Cabinet Secretary General Katsunobu Kato

In Japan, the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer will have to dispose of part of the coronavirus vaccine due to the lack of a sufficient number of specialized syringes. This was announced by the Secretary General of the Cabinet of Ministers Katsunobu Kato. Reuters.

Each vial of Pfizer vaccine contains six doses of the drug, and the sixth dose can only be withdrawn with a specialized syringe, explains Reuters… Using a conventional syringe is allowed to pump out only five doses of the vaccine. “The remaining part of the drug in the vials will have to be thrown away,” admitted Kato.

It is not easy to procure the required number of specialty syringes, but the authorities are negotiating with several manufacturers. “We are still trying to procure the syringes needed to extract the sixth doses,” Kato said.

In January, the Japanese authorities signed a contract with Pfizer to purchase 144 million doses of the vaccine, enough for 72 million people. If in Japan they can use each bottle for only five doses, this will allow 60 million people to be vaccinated with the vaccine, whereas the authorities previously said that the doses of the vaccine would be enough for 72 million people. indicates The Japan Times.

“We will use all the syringes we have that can draw six doses, but this, of course, will not be enough,” Health Minister Norihisa Tamura said earlier.