9.2.1 Number of doses per vial

As noted in IMAC’s instructions for preparing the Pfizer vaccine, the vaccine should be brought to room temperature prior to dilution. It should not feel cold to the touch. The actual time to get the vial to room temperature will vary depending on when you take vials out of the fridge and the temperature of the room –approximately 30 minutes should be sufficient time.

Please note the Pfizer vaccine is fragile and must not be shaken during preparation. However, if the vial has been fully thawed you can gently invert the vial 10 times to reduce condensation.

If during the preparation of the vaccine a foreign body or discolouration is identified for example, a black particle, this vial should be discarded as per section 8.7.2 and recoded as an “open vial-quality issue” in CIR.

Once the vaccine has been diluted, it must be administered within 6 hours. Any prepared doses not used within this time period must be discarded. Prepared doses cannot be transported to other sites.

For quality and safety purposes, after diluting the vaccine, it is recommended that each vial and/or syringes (made from that vial), are labelled with:

• Diluent Name

• Date and time of dilution

• Expiry time after dilution

You should only draw up one vial at a time and each vaccine from that vial should go into one container with the original vial for vaccine delivery. Do not mix doses from different vials.

You must avoid exposing the vaccine to direct sunlight or UV light at all times (when both a concentrate and prepared).

During the preparation of the vaccine standard local Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) policies should be followed.

9.2.1 Number of doses per vial

The expected number of doses from each vial remains at 6 but there is technically enough vaccine in a vial to enable you to draw up 7 dose of vaccines using LDS needles. Provided you are totally confident that you have measured your saline correctly for dilution, each dose of vaccine has the full 0.3mls, and you are drawing up and giving using the same needle as instructed, then it is safe to use the vaccine in the 7th dose.

Note: Incorrect volume of diluent may be detected by identifying you have drawn up less than 6 or more than 7 doses from the vial. If this occurs, quarantine and discard all doses from that vial. This error must be documented as waste in CIR and reported as an incident in the local organisation’ s quality and safety reporting system.