Imagine my surprise. Officials in several states said that they were caught off guard on Wednesday when they learned that next week’s shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine would contain fewer doses than the first week. Officials with Operation Warp Speed, the federal effort to distribute a Covid-19 vaccine to the public, also said Wednesday that they had allocated only 2 million doses for next week’s shipment, less than the 2.9 million that were delivered this week. The officials said they expect to ship 5.9 million doses next week of a vaccine developed by Moderna, which is expected to be authorized by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday. States Complain of Smaller Covid Vaccine Shipments Than Expected (msn.com)
The Moderna vaccine has been recommended for approval by the advisory panel, 20-0 with 1 abstention. Better than Pfizer's 17-4. Pfizer is running into production problems due to raw materials. This is why the deliveries were cut. But hopefully Moderna will pick up the slack. My hospital was supposed to get the Pfizer. We learned yesterday that we'll be getting the Moderna instead, which I see as good news because I do prefer the Moderna vaccine to the Pfizer one.
From the link: Pfizer said in a statement on Wednesday that the company “is not having any production issues with our Covid-19 vaccine, and no shipments containing the vaccine are on hold or delayed.” The company also said, “We have millions more doses sitting in our warehouse but, as of now, we have not received any shipment instructions for additional doses.”
I think it's just a screw up, but non the less you would think that after all the press they would get this one right.
