Photo/Illutration A typical syringe used for COVID-19 vaccinations, bottom, and an insulin syringe that Uji-Tokushukai Medical Center uses (Ryosuke Nonaka)

A Kyoto hospital has found a way to squeeze one or even two more shots out of a precious vial of COVID-19 vaccine by utilizing a commonly used syringe for diabetes patients.

Uji-Tokushukai Medical Center in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, on March 8 announced that seven doses can be taken from one vial using an insulin syringe, instead of five or six through other syringes.

Taro Kono, a state minister who is in charge of the nation's vaccination program, welcomed the news, although health ministry officials were more cautious.

“That is tremendous," Kono said at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting on March 9. "I want them to push it hard. I encourage more originality and ingenuity like this one." 

However, a health ministry official said, “We do not reject the method, but we do not recommend it, either.”

The central government in early February admitted that it did not secure enough of a special syringe needed to extract six doses from one vial of the vaccine and had no choice but to waste one dose for each vial.

But the hospital in Kyoto said the total doses per vial increase by utilizing a syringe already in stock for diabetes patients.

Inoculation using the vaccine developed by U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. has already begun among health care workers nationwide in Japan.

One vial of the Pfizer vaccine contains six doses, according to the company.

A Pfizer public relations official emphasized what the company's directions say, in that "six doses can be taken per vial.”

But a syringe mostly available in Japan can inject only five people per vial and the needle still contains some vaccine after injection. The leftover fluid is disposed of after each use.

Atsushi Sueyoshi, who heads Uji-Tokushukai Medical Center, said, “Five doses per vial will not cover all employees who want to get inoculated.”

"Staff discussed the problem and found that an insulin syringe can inject seven people and would not leave much of the vaccine compared to the special syringe for the (Pfizer vaccine),” Sueyoshi said.

The syringe is used to inject insulin hypodermically. The length of the injection needle is short and about one-half the length of a typical syringe for COVID-19 vaccine, which is injected into the muscle. 

Sueyoshi said the cushion of fat that resides just under the skin of Japanese people is thinner than that of Europeans, making it possible to administer an injection into the muscle by an insulin syringe.

Sueyoshi said the hospital has already inoculated staff using an insulin syringe after measuring the thickness of their subcutaneous fat by ultrasonography.

Health Minister Norihisa Tamura warned that the short insulin syringe needle poses a drawback.

“It can only be used for those who do not have much fat and the needle can reach their muscle," he said.

Tamura urged medical institutions to utilize an ultrasonic exam such as Uji-Tokushukai is doing to ensure that they can administer the vaccination safely and properly.

Michiaki Hata, who heads the hospital’s critical care center and is in charge of vaccinating hospital staff, said, “We have made sure that a needle breakage does not occur by a basic action of injection.

“I think the method can be widely used,” he said.

A 53-year-old nurse of the hospital who received the vaccine via an insulin syringe on March 8 said, “I didn’t feel any pain. It was no problem. I don’t think we should waste the valuable vaccine.”

(This article was compiled from reports written by Ryosuke Nonaka and Naoyuki Himeno.)

 

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