Moderna is seeking FDA approval to increase doses in each COVID-19 vaccine vial, reports say

• Moderna reportedly asked the FDA to approve up to five additional doses in each of its vaccine vials.
• The move could increase doses to 15 per vial, according to CNBC.
• As of Friday evening, the US had distributed 49.2 million vaccine doses, said the CDC.

Moderna has reportedly sought approval to include up to five extra doses in each vial of its COVID-19 vaccine, a move that could speed up distribution.

The company asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow it to include 15 doses in each vial, up from 10 doses, according to CNBC.

Moderna didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

Moderna's decision to include more doses per vial would mirror a change made by Pfizer, which asked the FDA to update the wording on its vials to acknowledge they contain six doses, not five.

Moderna is among the biggest suppliers to the US government, which authorized its vaccine for emergency use in December.

On Wednesday, Moderna said it was in talks to sell an additional 100 million doses to the US government. Those doses would be deliverable in the third quarter of 2021, according to the company. It would bring the company's total commitment to the US government to 300 million doses.

President Joe Biden this week said he'd authorized his government to buy an extra 100 million doses of each of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. "Not in hand yet, but ordered," he said.

With those extra doses, the total government vaccine order would be about 600 million doses, Biden said. His government plans to administer 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office.

As of Friday evening, the US had distributed 49.2 million vaccine doses, and administered about 27.9 million doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 22.9 million people had received at least one dose, and 4.8 million had received two doses, according to the CDC.

At a press briefing on Friday, white house press secretary, Jen Psaki, was asked what affect future FDA approvals, including a single-shot vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, might have on distribution plans.

Read more: More than 200 coronavirus vaccines are still in development as the initial vaccine rollout ramps up. Here's how experts anticipate 2021 playing out.

For now, the plan is to use the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines that have already been ordered, she said.

"Well, first, when the president announced his plan, earlier this week, to ensure we have enough vaccination - vaccines to give every American two shots by the end of the summer with the purchase of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, he was doing that without the need for additional vaccines approved," she said.