States are full of finger-pointing vaccines with less than planned


Fake highway sign shows USS Enterprise hitting speed bump
Zoom in / Speed ​​bump created at the speed of Operation Operation.

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We are in the US. Waiting for the word on the authenticity of the second vaccine to be used in, Gluch is attacking the first distribution by the federal government’s “Operation Rap Speed”. This week, USA saw the first use of a vaccine developed by Pfizer / Bioentech collaboration. But soon, many states began to say that orders for shipments were being cut in the coming weeks. While some in the federal government hinted that the problem could be in production, Pfizer released a statement indicating that its warehouse has doses that are ready to be shipped out but no indication of where to send them.

Overall, it’s about what you would expect in the first week of a big resort like this.

State denied

One of the first states to report problems was Illinois, where its governor, JB Pritzker, said he had indications that he would receive only the expected dose of the Pfizer / Bioentech vaccine next week. Since then, more than a dozen states have indicated they will receive lower doses than planned in the second week (this article seems to have a fairly comprehensive list).

Aside from the obvious problem of low-vaccination people, this poses problems for states that are working through vaccination of the population using risk-based priorities. For example, the availability of doses for health care workers will determine when vaccinations can be transferred to a nursing home population; Planning when to change the target population will be crucial for a quick and effective shift. Without knowing when enough vaccines will be available, these transitions are more difficult to manage.

When it comes to why toppers are cut, we hear many excuses. At a press conference on the distribution effort, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar pointed a finger at Pfizer, which produces the vaccine in the US. “We have recently been informed by them of the various challenges in their production, and we will make sure that by whatever mechanism, we provide full support for what we can produce for the American people,” Azar said.

But the only story of Azar is not given by the government. The Washington Post was told that this was the issue when the weekly dose was determined. Originally, it was planned for Friday, when the full-week manufacturing run was completed; It has since been moved to Tuesday when the low dose will be completed. It will necessarily reduce the number of availability given to states.

Unfortunately, none of this seems quite true. In response to this news, Pfizer has released a statement in which it says it has no problem with the product. “This week, we successfully completed all the 2.9 million doses that we were asked by the US government to send to the locations specified by them.” “There are millions more doses sitting in our warehouse, but, so far, we have not received any shipment instructions for additional doses.”

Given that Byantech partnered with Pfizer because of subsequent productive capabilities and clear credibility issues with the Trump administration on the issue of Covid-19, Pfizer’s statement is closer to the truth.

Not all bad news

VerneSpeed ​​is a large and complex project in which multiple vaccine manufacturers will eventually ship doses to the federal government, which will then distribute them to the states, each of which plans to reach the population according to different priorities. It is not surprising that there will be some growing suffering. Hopefully, they can have injuries when there is even one vaccine supplier, which somewhat limits the complexity.

But depending on the decision of the FDA advisory board, which moderna vaccine is effective, the single supplier position could change as early as today. Based on preliminary figures, Moderna expects it to deliver more vaccines as soon as it receives Emergency Formal Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA, which will complicate delivery but ease supply disruptions.

In the long run, this is an indication of other opportunities to increase vaccine supply. After rejecting Pfizer’s offer to buy additional doses of the vaccine earlier this year, the federal government may be close to a deal to buy more. Pfizer worked with its raw material suppliers to determine how many vaccines it could produce; When the U.S. rejected it, the company found it easier to sell doses to other countries. Now, it shows that if the U.S. If the government can ensure an increase in the supply of its vaccine components, it sells additional doses to the country.

So far, the U.S. Has commitments to buy enough vaccines to cover only half of its population by mid-2021, making additional doses necessary. Last week, the government managed to get a commitment from Moderna for 100 million doses of its vaccine. The major pharmacy chain is expecting widespread availability this spring, showing confidence that additional supplies will be arranged.

A small aid to the current supply limitations made clear this week is that the usual “overfill” found in vaccine bottles is sometimes enough to get an extra dose from a five-dose Pfizer vaccine bottle. While it will not handle the big-picture supply issues, Niu will undoubtedly help keep their employees more secure in the early days of the vaccination program.