(Reuters) – Pfizer Inc. has maintained second doses for each of its COVID-19 vaccines at the request of the federal government and has no plans to supply them to Americans, a spokeswoman said in a statement Friday.
Pfizer’s comments are contrary to a Washington Post report that the federal government reduced its vaccine reserve in late December and has no dose reserves left on hand.
“Operation Warp Speed has asked us to start sending second doses recently,” the spokeswoman said. “As a result, we have on hand all the second doses of previous shipments to the US.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to requests for comment.
Pfizer has shipped more than 15 million doses to U.S. destinations, primarily from its Michigan facility, and expects to be able to produce about 2 billion doses worldwide by 2021, the spokeswoman said.
However, the United States has struggled to manage the distributed traits. Only about 12 million of the more than 31 million doses that have been sent have been administered, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The shortage of vaccines scattered on the front lines of the U.S. battle against the coronavirus pandemic was reported on Friday, prompting at least one major health system to cancel a series of appointments of people hoping to be inoculated.
Earlier Friday, Pfizer announced that there would be a temporary impact on shipments to European countries in late January to early February caused by changes in manufacturing processes to increase production. [L1N2JQ0V3]
About nine of the 27 EU governments complained of “insufficient” doses at a meeting this week, a participant said.
Reports by Carl O’Donnell; Edited by Leslie Adler and Sonya Hepinstall