Finnish nurse squeezes extra vaccine doses with air-bubble technique

Helsinki: Finnish nurse Sari Roos is teaching her colleagues a vaccination technique that enables her to squeeze more doses out of COVID-19 vaccine vials, helping to stretch scarce supplies and ensure more people can be inoculated.

Her air-bubble trick makes it possible to extract an elusive seventh dose from vials of the vaccine from Pfizer - one more than the six approved by Europe's health regulator that can normally only be drawn with a special needle and syringe. Such "low-dead-space" shot utensils are in short supply, making Roos' trick all the more valuable as countries seek to protect people against new, more infectious coronavirus strains that are spreading a third wave of infection.