The Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, ensuring syringes and needles for the sixth dose of Comirnate, proceeded quickly and according to available information. The Ministry of Health instructed hospitals to buy needles and syringes last year according to the Comirnate manufacturer's guidelines. Hospitals have provided the most favorable needles and syringes in sufficient quantity, assuming that they will need to vaccinate between tens and hundreds of thousands of patients. Comirnate is a vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 that has been authorised in the European Union on 21.12.2020. A change in the number of doses from one 0.45 ml vial (amples) was requested by the manufacturer of the European Medicines Agency at the beginning of the new year. In case one vial (ampoule) contains more than one dose of vaccine, its content must always be greater than the sum of all doses, i.e. in each vial the vaccine volume must be in excess. Losses in injection and subsequent steps associated with the administration of the vaccine are expected for each dose. It is essential that each person vaccinated receives a fixed dose of 0.3 ml in this case. The greatest volume losses occur in the dead area of the syringes and needles.The Ministry of Health essentially rejects the claim that several hundred doses of Comirnate have been degraded in Slovakia. To obtain six doses from one vial, syringes and needles with a small dead area must be used. Using standard syringes and needles, there is a risk that the residual volume is not a full dose and is therefore not sufficient to safely administer the sixth dose of vaccine to the patient. If there was residual liquid in the ampoules after dilution, it cannot be considered a dose. This is the manufacturer's standard procedure for filling a larger volume vial to ensure that the vaccine is sufficient for its effectiveness, safety and health. The change in the number of doses, from five to six doses of Comirnate, was approved by the European Medicines Agency on 8 January 2021, but was subject to the new specifications for needles and syringes with a small dead area. The problem with the purchase of these materials, in particular syringes, is reported by multi-country vaccination centres, such as Germany, Switzerland, Spain, France or the USA, where they continue to vaccinate from one vial, according to the initial Comirnate manufacturer's guidelines, only five doses.

Slovak vaccination centres have the necessary needles and syringes for six dose vaccinations available. Since these are different and therefore more expensive types of syringes and needles, at the beginning of January, most hospitals did not have enough. On the same day as a dose change was approved, Comirnate sent The Ministry of Health informed all vaccination centres (hospitals) about the obligation to apply six doses of vaccine as soon as possible. Hospitals immediately obtained the necessary syringes and needles. In some cases, however, due to high market demand, hospitals had to wait longer to supply the purchased material. The Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic examines the hospital procedure and all who issued an opinion on the issue of non-application of the sixth dose were contacted, as the Ministry of Health repeatedly and strictly warned the vaccination centres (hospitals) about the obligation to apply six doses of vaccine as soon as possible. At the same time, the Ministry of Health examines whether there has been a sufficient number of needles and syringes needed for vaccination in hospitals.