From The New York Times:
Trump administration officials passed when Pfizer offered in late summer to sell the U.S. government additional doses of its Covid-19 vaccine, according to people familiar with the matter. Now Pfizer may not be able provide more of its vaccine to the United States until next June because of its commitments to other countries, they said.
As the administration scrambles to try to purchase more doses of the vaccine, President Trump plans on Tuesday to sign an executive order “to ensure that United States government prioritizes getting the vaccine to American citizens before sending it to other nations,” according to a draft statement and a White House official, though it was not immediately clear what force the president’s executive order would carry.
…
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.”
www.nytimes.com/…
This is a perfect example of why government fails when it is run like a business, no less a corrupt one. Team Trump (likely Kushner) decided it would be smarter to dangle these billions of dollars among several Big Pharma companies, and get them to fight amongst themselves to give the U.S. the lowest bid, or the bid with the best secret kickbacks to the Trump crime family.
At any rate, it’s a bit late for Trump to now try to demand the U.S. get Pfizer vaccines before other countries do. The market has already spoken, and Trump missed his shot. Unforgivable.
Update 5:23pm ET — From Dartagnan in the comments:
This should be noted as well:
On Nov. 11 — two days after Pfizer first announced early results indicating that its vaccine was more than 90 percent effective — the European Union announced that it had finalized a supply deal with Pfizer and BioNTech for 200 million doses, a deal they began negotiating in months earlier. Shipments could begin by the end of the year, and the contract includes an option for 100 million more doses.
Just to be clear, an American-made vaccine by an American pharmaceutical corporation (Pfizer is an American corporation, partnered with the German BionNTech) will be going to Europeans before Americans, because the Trump administration failed to properly negotiate for its distribution in the U.S. (-Dartagnan)
Update 5:59pm ET — FishOutofWater’s response to Dartagnan in the comments:
Excellent update but this vaccine was developed and produced in Europe. Pfizer does have vaccine manufacturing capabilities in North Carolina and has research labs here as well, but this vaccine was designed by Turkish immigrants to Germany based on previous research they did on Ebola vaccines.
Yes. Pfizer is an America company and this is a deadly disaster for many Americans. It’s pretty clear now that Trump & Kushner will try to make regular Americans get an inferior cheaper vaccine.
Update 6:11pm ET — From gchaucer2 in the comments:
The psychoperv is having a “Vaccine Summit” tomorrow. The CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna declined to come to the event. Good choice.