U.S. Could Ramp Up COVID Vaccine Rollout by Giving Two Half Volume Doses of Moderna Shot

Operation Warp Speed chief Moncef Slaoui said on CBS's "Face the Nation" over the weekend that U.S. health officials are considering administering two half doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to accelerate immunizations across the nation, reports CNBC . "We know that for the Moderna vaccine giving half the dose for people between the ages of 18 to 55 — two doses, half the dose, which means exactly achieving the objective of immunizing double the number of people with the doses we have — we know it induces identical immune response to the 100 microgram dose," he stated. "And therefore, we are in discussions with Moderna and with the Food and Drug Administration . . . to accelerate injecting half the volume." Slaoui made these comments in response to an inquiry about why the United States was not administering all available doses of vaccines now, even though the approved vaccines require a second round of shots to have full effect. He replied that he considered it a mistake to make a decision that was not backed by clinical trial data, echoing earlier comments from White House health adviser Anthony Fauci on NBC's "Meet the Press."