EU drug agency approves drawing six doses from each BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine vial

An employee of the Municipal Health Service GGD shows the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine prior to administering it to a health care worker in the Netherlands (Peter Dejong/AP)

The European Union’s drug agency approved doctors drawing up to six doses from each vial of the coronavirus vaccine made by BioNTech-Pfizer, a move that could speed up the pace of vaccinations in the 27-nation bloc.

The European Medicines Agency said its human medicines committee recommended updating the product information for the vaccine to clarify that each vial contains six doses instead of the five that were advised when it originally greenlighted the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on December 21.