ADDITIONAL PFIZER DOSES MAY BE DELAYED
Government’s initial order for vaccine may leave shortfall
• Pharma giant says additional doses of vaccine might not be ready until summer.
WASHINGTON
Pfizer has told the Trump administration that it cannot provide additional doses of its coronavirus vaccine until late June or early July because other countries have rushed to buy up its supply, according to individuals familiar with the situation.
That means the U.S. government will have 100 million doses of the two-shot Pfizer vaccine purchased earlier this year — far fewer than it initially planned — raising questions about whether it can keep to its aggressive schedule to vaccinate most Americans by late spring or early summer.
Trump administration officials denied that there would be availability problems in the second quarter, citing other vaccines in the pipeline, but others said problems are possible.
“I’m not concerned about our ability to buy vaccines to offer to all of the American public,” Gen. Paul Ostrowski, who oversees logistics for Operation Warp Speed, the government’s initiative to expedite vaccine development, said in an interview Monday. “It’s clear that Pfizer made plans with other countries. Many have been announced. We understand those pieces.”
But several officials knowledgeable about the contracts said that if there is a Pfizer shortfall for the second quarter, supplies from other companies may be insufficient to fill the gap, depending on which other vaccines have been authorized by then.
Pfizer officials had urged Operation Warp Speed to initially purchase 200 million doses, or enough for the twoshot regimen for 100 million people last summer, according to people knowledgeable about the issue who spoke on the condition of anonymity. But the Warp Speed officials declined, opting instead for 100 million doses, or enough for 50 million people, they said.
“Anyone who wanted to sell us . . . without an (FDA) approval, hundreds of millions of doses back in July and August, was just not going to get the government’s money,” said a senior administration official.
But last weekend, with an FDA clearance expected any day, federal officials reached out to the company, asking to buy another 100 million doses. By then, Pfizer said it had committed the supply elsewhere and suggested elevating the conversation to “a high level discussion,” said a person familiar with the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to share the conversation.
Pfizer said the company would be able to provide only 50 million doses at the end of that quarter, and another 50 million doses in the third quarter, the individuals said.
The government had a different type of contract with Pfizer than with other companies involved with Operation Warp Speed, the administration’s effort to speed development of vaccines. Pfizer was the only company that did not take government money for research and development, which meant U.S. officials have had less insight into its decisions than it does with the other companies, said a senior administration official familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The government had purchased 100 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine with an option to purchase another 500 million. Government officials believed at least some of those additional doses would be available when they went to purchase them, the official added.
Pfizer spokeswoman Amy Rose declined to confirm or deny the information and said that beyond the first 100 million doses the U.S. has secured, a separate agreement would have to be reached.
President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order today that would prioritize vaccinating Americans before providing doses to other countries, according to a senior administration official. It is not clear whether the order is related to the Pfizer supply issue or whether the president can prevent a U.S. company from fulfilling lawful contracts with other countries.
“The executive order reaffirms to the American people that we are going to put America first,” said a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The order will be announced as part of a White House “vaccine summit” designed to highlight the administration’s accomplishments on vaccines.
The vaccine by Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech is expected to receive emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration in the next several days, and Moderna is lined up for likely clearance shortly after that. Shipments of the vaccines will begin within 24 hours of the approvals, federal officials have said.