“We have all made the mistake or mistake of assuming that the vaccine that is produced and released is already available for transport, when, in fact, there is a gap of two days between the time we generate a lot of data showing this. the vaccine is actually safe and correct and that’s when we can send it, “Moncef Slaoui told CNN’s Jake Tapper on” State of the Union “when asked about the delay.
Slaoui’s comments come a day after General Gustave Perna, the chief officer of Operation Warp Speed, apologized for misreporting the number of vaccines to states.
In his interview with Tapper, Slaoui said he was brave enough for Perna to “take this personally.”
Across the country, state leaders have called for a delay in receiving the vaccine. On Saturday, Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers asked the federal government to send them more doses of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. tweeting, “It is unacceptable for our state to receive only 35,100 doses of Pfizer next week – much less than expected after the initial doses allocated earlier this week.”
FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn also addressed the issue of vaccine retention. One tweet Saturday, explained that “the FDA does not require the release of the batch for vaccine # COVID19 in accordance with EUA. Authorization conditions require companies to submit certificates of analysis for each batch at least 48 hours prior to distribution of the vaccine and may be distributed without waiting for the FDA.
Slaoui told Tapper on Sunday that he believes the error has now been resolved.
“We are increasing the level of communication with governors to make sure that, you know, there are no mistakes or misrepresentations,” he said.