Now that the coronavirus epidemic in the United States is “wintering”, the cumulative number of confirmed cases has approached 15 million, and the demand for vaccines is becoming more and more urgent. According to U.S. media, the Trump administration rejected the proposal of the U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer to buy more vaccines this summer. Now when the Trump administration wants to buy more vaccines, Pfizer is “embarrassed” when the Trump administration wants to buy more vaccines. In order to “grab” the vaccine, Trump also plans to issue an executive order to achieve “America first” in vaccine procurement.
The Trump administration has refused to order more vaccines.
According to the New York Times on the 7th, in July this year, the federal government signed a vaccine contract with Pfizer. The contract stipulates that if Pfizer’s vaccine is successfully developed and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pfizer will provide 100 million doses of vaccine to the U.S. government by March next year at a fixed price of 19.5 US dollars per unit.
It is worth noting that Pfizer also provided the U.S. government with supplementary options at that time, that is, the U.S. government can choose to order an additional 100 million doses to 500 million vaccines. However, the U.S. government did not seize this opportunity.
According to the report, during the late summer and early fall of this year, Pfizer officials repeatedly warned the Trump administration, urging it to book more doses of vaccines in advance, because the supply of vaccines may exceed the demand. But this proposal was rejected by the Trump administration.
This news is also confirmed by the Washington Post. Sources revealed that Pfizer urged the U.S. government to buy 200 million doses of vaccine this summer, which could be given to 100 million people, but was rejected by government officials, who eventually chose to buy only 100 million doses of vaccine.
The New York Times quoted a senior government official who declined to be named as saying that no matter which company wants to sell hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine without proving the effectiveness of the vaccine, “will not receive government funding”.
Pfizer said in a statement that any additional order of more than 100 million doses of vaccines requires a separate agreement acceptable to each other, but Pfizer did not disclose more details.” The company cannot comment on any confidential discussions that may be held with the U.S. government.”
The supply of vaccines is tight, and the Trump administration wants to eat “turn grass”
As the northern hemisphere enters the autumn and winter season, the epidemic situation in many countries has surged again, and the demand for vaccines has soared. Last month, the European Union said it would sign an agreement to buy up to 300 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. Earlier this month, the United Kingdom urgently approved the use of Pfizer vaccine, ordering a total of 40 million doses, enough to vaccinate 20 million people, making the first country in the world to use Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine nationwide.
Now, facing the severe epidemic with nearly 15 million confirmed cases and more than 280,000 deaths in China, it is a little late when the Trump administration thinks about looking for Pfizer to buy more vaccines.
The Washington Post reported on the 7th that according to multiple sources, Pfizer has informed the Trump administration that due to Pfizer’s commitment to providing vaccines to other countries, Pfizer may not be able to supply a large number of additional doses of vaccines until June or the end of July next year.
At the end of last week, when U.S. government officials offered Pfizer a demand for an additional 100 million doses of vaccines, and was expected to obtain FDA approval at any time, Pfizer said that it had promised other countries to guarantee the supply of vaccines, and Pfizer also proposed to raise the negotiations between the two sides to a higher level.
The report analyzed that this means that although the U.S. government has ordered 100 million doses of vaccines, it may not be possible to increase the vaccine supply as quickly as expected. This also raises questions about whether the U.S. government can vaccinate most Americans by the end of next spring and early summer, as advertised.
In response to outside doubts, Trump administration officials still deny that there will be problems in the supply of vaccines, saying that in addition to Pfizer vaccines, other companies are also under development.
Paul Ostrowski, who oversees the logistics of Operation Warp Speed, an operation launched by the U.S. government in May this year to speed up vaccine supply, told the media that he was not responsible. Heart The U.S. government is unable to provide vaccines to all American people. “It is obvious that Pfizer has cooperative plans with other countries, and many of these cooperations have been publicly announced, and we understand this.”
On Thursday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will convene a meeting to discuss Pfizer and BioNTech’s application for “emergency use authorization” for vaccines. After reviewing Pfizer’s vaccine, the FDA will also meet on the 17th of this month to discuss the vaccine produced by another pharmaceutical company Moderna.
Trump will sign an executive order, and vaccine procurement should also be “America first”
In order to “grab” more vaccines, the Trump administration has also come up with new ideas. According to Fox News on the 7th, Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Tuesday (8th) directing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to prioritize the distribution of vaccines to Americans at an “unheard-of” rate to ensure that Americans can obtain their own vaccines before other countries. A senior U.S. government official said that Trump will once again emphasize the “America First” vaccine policy to the American people at the press conference on that day.
Another U.S. government official said, “It is imperative to ensure that these vaccines can be distributed to Americans first and then let other countries get them.” He predicts that the time for providing vaccines to other countries may be “late spring and early summer” next year.
The official also said the executive order sent a “clear” message that “directs us to give priority to the American people before we provide vaccines to partners and allies.” He added that the executive order would also “identify who will participate in international cooperation” and stipulate the cooperation “framework, guidelines and tools” to provide vaccines to the rest of the world when the needs of the United States are met.
However, according to the analysis of the New York Times, according to government officials, the executive order does not have substantive effect in itself and cannot expand the supply of vaccines in the United States. Nevertheless, it provides Trump with a topic that allows him to refute doubts about the initial shortage of vaccine supplies.
