|
 Moncef Slaoui, head of Operation Warp Speed, the federal vaccine
program, said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that officials were in talks
with Moderna and the Food and Drug Administration about the idea.
Moderna's vaccine requires two injections.
"We know that for the Moderna vaccine, giving half of the dose to
people between the ages of 18 and 55, two doses, half the dose,
which means exactly achieving the objective of immunizing double the
number of people with the doses we have," Slaoui said.
"We know it induces identical immune response" to the full dose, he
added.
Moderna and the FDA could not immediately be reached for comment.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had
administered 4,225,756 first doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the
country as of Saturday morning and distributed 13,071,925 doses.
The U.S. has also approved a vaccine from Pfizer, which like
Moderna's requires two shots. Vaccinations have fallen far short of
early targets, as officials had hoped to have 20 million people
vaccinated by the end of the 2020.
[to top of second column] |
 Slaoui said he was optimistic
vaccinations would continue to accelerate. He
rejected the suggestion that officials should
prioritize giving more people a single shot,
rather than holding back doses for the second
shot, saying that cutting Moderna vaccine doses
in half 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 vaccinated people can still
spread the disease to others.
(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York;
Editing by Chris Reese)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content
 |
