Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Big Cutbacks In Next Shipments To States May Delay Vaccination Goals
The Washington Post: States Report Confusion As Government Reduces Vaccine Shipments, While Pfizer Says It Has ‘Millions’ Of Unclaimed Doses
Officials in multiple states said they were alerted late Wednesday that their second shipments of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine had been drastically cut for next week, sparking widespread confusion and conflicting statements from Pfizer and federal officials about who was at fault. The reduction prompted concern in health departments across the country about whether Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s vaccine accelerator program, could distribute doses quickly enough to meet the target of delivering first shots to 20 million people by year’s end. (Stanley-Becker, Abutaleb, Sun and Dawsey, 12/17)
AP: Some States Say Pfizer Vaccine Allotments Cut For Next Week
Little explanation was offered, leaving many state officials perplexed. “This is disruptive and frustrating,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, wrote on Twitter Thursday after learning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the state’s allocation would be cut by 40%. “We need accurate, predictable numbers to plan and ensure on-the-ground success.” California, where an explosion in cases is straining intensive care units to the breaking point, will receive 160,000 fewer vaccine doses than state officials had anticipated next week — a roughly 40% reduction. (Salter and Alonso-Saldivar, 12/18)
The New York Times: States Complain Of Smaller Covid Vaccine Shipments Than Expected
Officials with Operation Warp Speed, the federal effort to distribute a Covid-19 vaccine to the public, also said Wednesday that they had allocated only 2 million doses for next week’s shipment, less than the 2.9 million that were delivered this week. The officials said they expect to ship 5.9 million doses next week of a vaccine developed by Moderna, which is expected to be authorized by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday. The move sent some states scrambling to adjust their plans and raised questions about whether federal officials will be able to meet their goal of administering an initial shot of the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to 20 million people by January 1, just two weeks away. (Thomas and LaFraniere, 12/17)
The Hill: Pfizer Says No COVID-19 Vaccine Production Problems Or Shipment Delays
Pfizer on Thursday said none of its coronavirus vaccine shipments are delayed or on hold, and there are no problems with its production. In a statement, the drugmaker said that this week it "successfully shipped all 2.9 million doses that we were asked to ship by the U.S. Government to the locations specified by them." (Weixel, 12/17)
Bloomberg: Pfizer, U.S. Wrangle Over Vaccine Pace While Working Toward Pact
Pfizer Inc. pushed back on claims it is experiencing problems producing its Covid-19 vaccine, as the company and the federal government continued to try to reach a deal that would eventually double the number of doses available for the U.S.’s vast immunization effort. Moncef Slaoui, the chief scientific adviser to Operation Warp Speed, said in an interview on Thursday that the U.S. is close to a deal for another 100 million doses of the vaccine Pfizer developed in partnership with BioNTech SE. Through the agreement, Pfizer would deliver the additional supply in the second quarter of 2021, Slaoui said. (Griffin and Wingrove, 12/17)
