Pfizer Inc. is close to reaching an agreement with the US government to provide tens of millions of additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine next year, according to new reports.
Instead, the pharmaceutical company will be given greater access to the production supplies needed to create the vaccine under a government directive, the New York Times revealed.
The deal could be announced as early as Wednesday, helping the US cope with a huge shortage of vaccine doses for American adults.
While Pfizer and Moderna have both received federal approval for the emergency distribution of their vaccines, they can only produce a limited number of vaccines in the next six months.
This could leave 110 million American adults uncovered by mid-2021.
Pfzier would be close to a new agreement with the US government to provide 100 million doses of vaccine between April and June 2021 in exchange for greater access to supply
The Times claims that under the new agreement with Pfizer, the US government is pressuring them to provide another 100 million doses between April and June 2021.
The company itself has suggested it could produce at least 70 million additional doses if it has access to more supplies and raw materials.
The new agreement could lead the government to enforce the Defense Production Act to give Pfizer access to the nine specialty products it needs to create a dose of vaccine.
Pfizer has asked the federal government for help in gaining greater access to the necessary supplies since September.
However, no agreement has been reached, as the Trump administration has worked more closely with Moderna and other companies developing a vaccine.
The Times reports that company officials approached General Gustave F. Perna, the chief operational officer of Operation Warp Speed, at the end of the summer, seeking help and continued to highlight their lack of supplies at the weekly meetings.
Pfizer has been placed at a disadvantage in US vaccine production because other companies have received favorable treatment by the administration’s Operation Warp Speed.
The Secretary for Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, receives the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. He complained that Pfizer was not cooperating in negotiating an agreement
The company did not receive federal subsidies for the development or manufacture of vaccines, as did the other five companies in Operation Warp Speed.
These companies included Sanofi and Novavax, which have not yet begun large-scale clinical trials in the United States.
General Perna is said to have wanted to protect Warp Speed’s investment in these companies, rather than offer more Pfizer support when they came to seek help.
However, a senior Trump administration official told the Times that Pfizer did not receive the agreement because the company refused to promise that any doses they created would be used exclusively for vaccinating Americans.
“Our obligation under this type of priority rating is to ensure that the assets are used only for US sales or production,” the official said, “and they were not willing to do so.”
The company also had a difficult relationship with President Donald Trump, who accused him of withholding a vaccine announcement until after the election so that it could work against him.
Trump praised Pfizer’s chief executive, Dr. Albert Bourla, after saying a vaccine could be available until October, but then blamed the company for losing its election, when the announcement did not come in time.
Alex M. Azar II, Secretary of Health and Human Services, also complained that Pfizer did not work with them and did not cooperate in negotiating an agreement.
He said in a CNBC interview last week that he and his department were willing to work with Pfizer “if they were willing to help us.”
The relationship worsened on Friday, when it appeared that Pfizer was collecting more US per dose than European Union countries.
A medical worker preparing the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. The US government signed an agreement with Pfizer in July, which promised 100 million doses of vaccine by the end of March
Last month, the company sold 200 million doses in the EU for $ 14.50 each, while the contract with the Trump administration required $ 19.50 per dose.
Pfizer said prices were leveled based on volume and delivery dates.
A source told the Times that Pfizer would be in a better position to develop more vaccines for the US if an agreement was reached with the federal government when the company first asked for help in September.
“The last thing we want is for this to become sour,” Dr. Walid F. Gellad, who heads the Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescription at the University of Pittsburgh, told the Times.
“This kind of corrosion back and forth doesn’t help the public feel better about what’s going to happen in the future.”
However, Pfizer is now in a better position to conclude a deal after it became the first vaccine to receive FDA emergency use approval in the country.
This advantage could be eroded if other vaccines come and receive approval.
Johnson & Johnson is expected to announce the results of its clinical trials next month, while a fourth vaccine from AstraZeneca has also begun announcing the interim results.
Pressure is mounting on the government to get more doses as cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise across the country.
Last week was the deadliest of the pandemics to date, with more than 18,000 COVID-19 deaths, equivalent to one death every 33 seconds.
Coronavirus deaths rose in December, peaking at seven days on the national average, now at over 2,600.
Just 21 days a month, December has already recorded 50,996 deaths. He is just shy of the 52,200 deaths recorded throughout April.
And health officials fear that the death toll will rise only after the holiday season.
Hospitals across the country are already in capacity, and officials say an increase in new infections due to gatherings and travel could have an impact on this.
The US registered 190,519 new cases on Monday and a record 115,351 people are currently hospitalized with the virus.
While the country has started administering two new vaccines, it may take months before vaccinations put a wind in the COVID-19 outbreak.
As it stands, Pfizer is committed to delivering vaccine doses to other nations that came to them faster than the United States did.
Company officials have called on the Trump administration to continue to deliver the doses, but have failed to block them, saying Pfizer will not commit to delivery.
The US government signed an agreement with Pfizer in July, which promised the country 100 million doses of vaccine by the end of March.
Moderna has the same deal, as well as an additional promise to deliver another 100 million doses between April and June.
However, because both vaccines require two doses, it means that only 150 million Americans eligible for the vaccine will be given one.
According to current guidelines, Americans over the age of 18 can receive the Moderna vaccine, while the dose of Pfizer is limited to those aged 16 and over.
This would leave 110 million people without a vaccine if a new Pfizer agreement is not announced.
Even if the deal is concluded this week, an additional 100 million sleepers from Pfizer will still leave 60 million Americans without the vaccine.
Nationwide, there were over 18.1 million Americans infected with coronavirus and 321,698 deaths.