GPs do not need to worry about opening a multidose vial of a COVID-19 vaccine for a single patient even if other doses end up wasted, says the federal Department of Health.

All COVID-19 vaccines on offer in Australia come in multidose vials, such as the six-dose vial for Comirnaty and 10-dose vial for Spikevax. 

The most common questions from GPs regarding the vaccine rollout are about conserving doses, says the head of the department’s COVID-19 Primary Care Response, Dr Lucas de Toca.

He told a webinar for GPs last week: “Because you’ve all been incredibly careful with wastage throughout the rollout and we’ve had very, very low wastage rates, everyone is understandably hesitant to open a vial if you don’t think you’re going to have the people to use every dose.”