US officials are now scrambling to additional purchases of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine after having messed up up a chance to lock in a contract this summer. President Trump, though a strong advocate of the Vaccine, refused to let his healthcare czars sign up contracts, as he was still unclear how well the shots would work.
Pfizer, which is under pressure from several countries, had been unable to commit to a firm delivery date of when it can roll out the additional vaccine that the US Government has asked for. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla had earlier said that the company is working with the US government to deliver additional vaccine through Operation Warp Speed, a White House-backed, US taxpayer-funded effort to ensure treatment and quickly move a Coronavirus vaccine from lab to market.
There was also a warning by FDA that some Pfizer vaccine vials may contain more than the standard five doses. This followed reports from hospital and pharmacy staff that some vials are apparently overfilled, something that was bound to happen when in the rush to get the Vaccine to the market.
The Trump administration has come under scathing criticism for having missed the opportunity to secure more vaccine. Democrats have blamed President Trump for its failure to secure an adequate supply of vaccines, which they say will needlessly prolong the COVID-19 pandemic in US, already hit by a record number of infections and deaths and economic devastation of an unimaginable scale. e
Democrats say that they fear that this is yet another instance of President Trump and his administration’s failure to develop a comprehensive national vaccines plan in a timely manner. This they say will make it impossible for a large group of American people to get vaccinated. The US administration says that there are pending contracts with a number of manufacturers which will ensure enough vaccine for all Americans by around the middle of next year.
A second vaccine from Moderna appears is now with Food and Drug Administration for a speedy, and more vaccine candidates are advancing through clinical trials. But it was the Pfizer and German pharmaceutical BioNTech that was first to reach US citizens.
The arrival of vaccines had had raised hopes of taming a pandemic that has killed more than 3,00,000 people in the US and run a swathe of an hurricane through the economy. After early failures with testing, Trump administration officials are hoping to clear the fog with the vaccines. Operation Warp Speed has financed the development, manufacture and distribution of millions of doses, with the goal of providing a free vaccine to any American who wants one.
Operation Warp Speed did not have Pfizer on board as it wanted to remain independent of pulls and pressures and sought to retain control over its own development and manufacturing. But the US government signed up with Pfizer-BioNTech to vaccine, the first of which were shipped this week to US.
Another 100 million doses for delivery as early as the middle of next year, and that is what is worrying the US healthcare administrators. Will be it too late for the second dose of the vaccine for those who had it in the first place. But US Health officials say that they have built a portfolio of vaccines to ensure one of them at least would make it to the finish line.
