Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has criticized the government for withholding seven million doses of the Pfizer vaccine as a second dose.
Gottlieb urged the government to vaccinate as many as possible now with the first dose, which provides some defense against the coronavirus, and is confident Pfizer will have the second doses ready.
“They (Pfizer) are being strangled, and I think the government has admitted that it is doing this. They are withholding doses,” said Gottlieb, who headed the Food and Drug Administration from 2017 to April 2019. which is now on Pfizer’s board of directors.
The pharmaceutical company had shipped three million doses as of Thursday, but the Department of Health and Human Services has acknowledged they had seven million more doses of the vaccine in stock, which were being retained as second doses.
Gottlieb said leaving doses sitting in warehouses, while cases, deaths and hospitalizations reach record levels in America, “is not the right decision.”
He argued that there would be “confidence” that manufacturing would maintain the pace needed for people to receive their first shots and that it would be “much more valuable from a public health standpoint” to vaccinate so many people now.
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has analyzed the distribution of vaccines that erupted against the government to curb Pfizer strikes by states saying “it’s not the right decision” while “we’re at the peak of the epidemic.”
“I think they should be leaning forward and trying to get more doses in people now and have some confidence that manufacturing will continue,” Mediaite reports.
“The 25 million doses that (Pfizer) has promised for December have been largely manufactured and many more are being released. I mean they will be ready to be shipped than the ones that are actually shipped,” he said. to say.
They could send many more than they are. I think they are trying to manage the supply chain. I think they are trying to get Moderna and Pfizer to match. I think they may be concerned that if too many vaccines are introduced into the supply chain, they may use some.
“I don’t know exactly what his thinking is,” he added. “This is what I would speculate about why they do it.
“My advice would be to try to get as many gunshots as possible now, because we are now at the top of the epidemic or getting to the top. And we know that these vaccines are partially protected even after the first dose.
The Pfizer vaccine requires two separate doses 21 days apart, and the individual has almost complete protection after the second dose. However, the vaccine also offers some protection after the first dose.
Meanwhile, the United States reached another record of hospitalizations on Friday, just days after the nation recorded the deadliest day since the pandemic began.
Gottlieb, who led the Food and Drug Administration from 2017 to April 2019 and is now on Pfizer’s board of directors, accused the government of “restricting” supply to U.S. states. and said it would be more effective to get as many gunshots “as possible right now
The former FDA chief added that there would now be more people vaccinated for the public, as infections, hospitalizations and deaths increase to record levels in all states.
“A vaccination this week will be much more valuable from a public health standpoint than a vaccination in five weeks,” he said.
“So I would try to vaccinate more people than not and as many people as possible right now.”
“If we can get more first doses in people right now, you can start to have an impact on the epidemic we’re experiencing.”
On Thursday, Pfizer issued a statement saying it had successfully shipped 2.9 million doses to U.S. states, but that it had ‘millions more doses sitting in our warehouse.
“But at this time, we have not received instructions for sending additional doses,” the healthcare giant said.
The Pfizer vaccine requires two separate doses 21 days apart, and the individual has almost complete protection after the second dose. However, the vaccine also offers some protection after the first dose
Respiratory care doctor David Hamlin receives a dose of the Pfizer vaccine Wednesday at Woodrens Valley Hospital in Madera, California.
Senior administration officials did not deny the claims, saying the statement was technically accurate, but that this had been the plan all along, so anyone who gets the first punch will also get the second.
Federal officials said Pfizer pledged to provide 6.4 million doses of its vaccine in the first week after approval.
But Federal Operation Warp Speed planned to distribute only 2.9 million of those doses immediately and another 2.9 million should be kept in the Pfizer warehouse to ensure people vaccinated in the first week could receive their second. shot later.
The government also maintains the additional 500,000 doses as a reserve against unforeseen problems.
Pfizer said it remains confident it can deliver up to 50 million doses worldwide this year and up to 1.3 billion doses by 2021.
Several states complained this week that they had received smaller shipments of the vaccine than expected and that they were also expecting far fewer doses next week, raising concerns about possible delays for health care workers and long-term care residents. to be vaccinated against the deadly virus.
Pfizer said Thursday it had “millions of doses” of the COVID-19 vaccine sitting in stores, but they were still waiting for instructions from the federal government to send them. At the top, workers prepare the vaccine for shipment
The boxes containing the Pfizer vaccine are being prepared for shipment to Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo’s manufacturing plant. Government officials later responded by saying that this had been the plan all along to ensure that people receiving the first punch could also get the second reinforcement.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Wednesday he feared many Americans would not receive the blows until some time after the official timeline.
“This development will likely reduce Pfizer’s shipments planned by our state this month by about half,” Pritzker said.
“The same goes for the rest of the nation.”
On Friday, the FDA authorized the distribution of a second COVID-19 vaccine in the United States, granting emergency approval to the Moderna jab, which is 94% effective.
Prior to approval, officials assigned and prepared 5.9 million doses of the shot that will be sent to states over the next week.
Shipments could begin tomorrow and are likely to begin on Monday the first few times.
The first Americans received the Pfizer vaccine on Monday.
New York Intensive Care Nurse Sandra Lindsay became the first person in the U.S. to receive the vaccine Monday as part of the first phase of deployment to health care workers.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been vaccinated, with health workers and residents of residential care and long-term care centers the first to receive the vaccine now.
The second phase is expected to begin in January 2021 and will include essential non-health workers, people with chronic illnesses and people over the age of 50.
The last to get the hit will be young adults and children from the spring of 2021.
Hospitalizations reached record levels Friday with 114,751 patients across America, according to the COVID follow-up project.
Cases also increased by 228,825 in a single day, while 2,751 more people died.
