NY Times: Trump Officials Passed When Pfizer Offered to Sell More Vaccine Doses in Late Summer

Jeremy · Dec 7, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/12/07/world/covid-19-coronavirus

Asked if the Trump administration had missed a crucial chance over the summer to snap up more doses for Americans, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services said, "We are confident that we will have 100 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine as agreed to in our contract, and beyond that, we have five other vaccine candidates."

In a statement, Pfizer said that "any additional doses beyond the 100 million are subject to a separate and mutually acceptable agreement," and that "the company is not able to comment on any confidential discussions that may be taking place with the U.S. government."

Yes, there's another vaccine set for FDA approval and several more in the short-term pipeline, but this is shockingly awful.

- A clear case that the drug patent system is broken and bad for our health.
- An obvious confirmation that Trump's attempts to take credit for the Pfizer vaccine as part of Operation Warp Speed was mostly hogwash.

Metallix87 · Dec 7, 2020

Jeremy said:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/12/07/world/covid-19-coronavirus

Yes, there's another vaccine set for FDA approval and several more in the short-term pipeline, but this is shockingly awful.

- A clear case that the drug patent system is broken and bad for our health.
- An obvious confirmation that Trump's attempts to take credit for the Pfizer vaccine as part of Operation Warp Speed was mostly hogwash.

If true, the argument seems to be that they banked on ordering 100 million from every potential candidate. I'm unsure if it's worth condemning them when they essentially put equal funding towards every possible option.

entremet · Dec 7, 2020

I hate that all this stuff happens behind doors. We need way more transparency in government.

Jeremy · Dec 7, 2020

This is, of course, on the back of news from Fox that Trump is planning on signing an excecutive order prioritizing that Americans get the vaccines first:

EXCLUSIVE: President Trump is expected to sign an executive order Tuesday that will ensure all Americans have access to the coronavirus vaccine before the U.S. government begins aiding nations around the world, Fox News has learned.

Senior administration officials told Fox News Monday that the president will reemphasize to the American people that the "priority has been an America First approach," during a vaccine summit at the White House Tuesday.

The news of the executive order comes just days ahead of the Food and Drug Administration's Thursday meeting regarding Pfizer and BioNTech's application for emergency authorization of their coronavirus vaccine, three weeks after the companies filed for it. The FDA also plans to meet on Dec. 17 to discuss Moderna's vaccine.

A source close to the White House Coronavirus Task Force told Fox News last week that the Pfizer-BioNTech authorization could come as early as Friday. FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn last week said that they are "very hopeful" of approval and that they are "moving very quickly."

"The priority is to make sure we distribute these vaccines to Americans before we start shipping them around the world to get international access," an official told Fox News, predicting that international assistance could come "late spring, early summer," and after they "achieve vaccinating those who have a desire to be vaccinated."

Sanjuro · Dec 7, 2020

Awaiting Mega64's vaccine unboxing...

Metallix87 · Dec 7, 2020

entremet said:
I hate that all this stuff happens behind doors. We need way more transparency in government.

I'm fairly sure the amount of money being given to the various possible pharma companies producing vaccine candidates, as well as the projected 100 million doses per candidate, was public knowledge.

Jeremy · Dec 7, 2020

Metallix87 said:
If true, the argument seems to be that they banked on ordering 100 million from every potential candidate. I'm unsure if it's worth condemning them when they essentially put equal funding towards every possible option.

Who is making this argument? They aren't.

Metallix87 · Dec 7, 2020

Jeremy said:
Who is making this argument? They aren't.

The headline, at the very least, is meant to incite some amount of outrage over this.

Jeremy · Dec 7, 2020

Metallix87 said:
The headline, at the very least, is meant to incite some amount of outrage over this.

We should be outraged over their anti-science approach to this virus in pretty much every respect.

It's very hard to fathom why you'd defend their seemingly random approach, which resulted in things like the USA buying tens of millions of doses of hydroxychloroquine with absolutely no good science defending the decision.

When even public reporting was indicating back in the summer that some of the vaccines were demonstrating efficacy the Trump administration should have been positioned to make informed procurement decisions.

Ashhong · Dec 7, 2020

Metallix87 said:
If true, the argument seems to be that they banked on ordering 100 million from every potential candidate. I'm unsure if it's worth condemning them when they essentially put equal funding towards every possible option.

They didn't put any funding on Pfizer. Pfizer doesn't get paid until they deliver. It was essentially a 0 down payment preorder.

Metallix87 · Dec 7, 2020

Jeremy said:
We should be outraged over their anti-science approach to this virus in pretty much every respect.

It's very hard to fathom why you'd defend their seemingly random approach, which resulted in things like the USA buying tens of millions of doses of hydroxychloroquine with absolutely no good science defending the decision.

When even public reporting was indicating back in the summer that some of the vaccines were demonstrating efficacy the Trump administration should have been positioned to make informed procurement decisions.

Pfizer's vaccine has all sorts of issues concerning it that aren't there with the other candidates. Diversifying the vaccine portfolio is not only perfectly logical, but sound.

Ashhong said:
They didn't put any funding on Pfizer. Pfizer doesn't get paid until they deliver. It was essentially a 0 down payment preorder.

The funding is coming from the CARES Act. Of the $10 billion in funding, Pfizer was promised about a fifth of it for their vaccine, on top of all other funding and purchases for vaccine candidates.

Xando · Dec 7, 2020

Crazy they didn't order more. Seems like the EU swept in and took those doses from Pfizer. Even signed a clause that Pfizer isn't allowed to divert those doses to the US or face a breach of contract.

Jeremy · Dec 7, 2020

Xando said:
Crazy they didn't order more. Seems like the EU swept in and took those doses from Pfizer. Even signed a clause that Pfizer isn't allowed to divert those doses to the US or face a breach of contract.

Yeah, the UK had access to the same science and ordered 200 million doses.

nihilence · Dec 7, 2020

NY Times: Trump admin officials passed when Pfizer offered in late summer to sell the U.S. more vaccine doses

New York Times: Trump administration officials passed when Pfizer offered in late summer to sell the U.S. more vaccine doses

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NY Times: Trump Officials Passed When Pfizer Offered to Sell More Vaccine Doses in Late Summer

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NY Times: Trump admin officials passed when Pfizer offered in late summer to sell the U.S. more vaccine doses