With the United States seeing a record number of COVID-19 cases pouring in over the past few weeks, including the fastest stretch the country has ever seen to one million cases last week, it turns out that President Donald Trump rejected an offer from Pfizer about receiving more coronavirus vaccines. A New York Times report says an offer for more came last summer but the Trump administration opted not to receive the designated amount.
This comes after the Trump administration purchased 100 million doses but that doesn’t necessarily mean that many people would see it. In fact, with the COVID-19 vaccine being a two-dose treatment, that would mean at most 50 million people would be able to receive the injections as a result of that initial batch. The report says the country may not receive any additional offers until June due to the demand Pfizer has from other countries. The New York Times story was rebuffed by one senior administrator who called it “false,” even adding that they are in negotiations currently and remain optimistic that they can secure more before the end of the year.
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Breaking NYT: Trump officials passed when Pfizer offered in late summer to sell the U.S. government additional doses of its COVID vaccine.
Now Pfizer may not be able to provide more vaccine to the U.S. until June because of commitments to other countries. https://t.co/jC01GdH9wP
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 7, 2020
Pfizer, though, also issued a statement about the latest vaccine controversy, one that didn’t really rule out whether or not the Trump administration did decline more doses. The company said after the initial 100 million order, any additional vaccines would be subject to a “separate and mutually-acceptable agreement.” Pfizer wouldn’t comment on any current negotiations but said it remains committed to getting their vaccine out to as many people as possible.
Trump, meanwhile, will be hosting a White House summit on Tuesday in which he will discuss the latest developments with the vaccine. The administration extended invites to both Pfizer and Moderna but both companies declined according to STAT. This has to do with Trump calling out Pfizer for its handling of the vaccine particularly with the developments that occurred after the election results and just how involved the Trump administration was when it declared it played a big role in the vaccine development as part of Operation Warp Speed.
Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden remains committed to fighting back against the pandemic as soon as he takes office in January. He announced his plans for asking all Americans to wear masks among his first political actions as president.
