Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
The Food and Drug Administration released a statement last night throwing cold water, for now at least, on ideas to shake up coronavirus vaccine dosing regimens in order to stretch limited supplies.
What's happening: Some experts have been pushing ideas like delaying the administration of second doses or halving the vaccine dosage given in order to vaccinate more people sooner, but none of these methods have been tested in clinical trials.
What they're saying: "These are all reasonable questions to consider and evaluate in clinical trials. However, at this time, suggesting changes to the FDA-authorized dosing or schedules of these vaccines is premature and not rooted solidly in the available evidence," the FDA said in a statement.
- "Without appropriate data supporting such changes in vaccine administration, we run a significant risk of placing public health at risk, undermining the historic vaccination efforts to protect the population from COVID-19."
Go deeper: America's vaccine rollout: What went wrong