Drugmaker Pfizer, with limited doses of its coronavirus vaccine available during the pandemic, rejected a U.S. buyout bid early last week, saying it might not be able to provide more vaccine until next June.
Pfizer said that it had to give preference to countries that had pre-ordered the drug after the U.S. tried to order more.
The U.S. had ordered 100 million doses of Pfizer’s two-stage vaccine, which is enough to treat 50 million. But the Trump administration had rejected Pfizer’s offer for 500 million more doses in late July. When the U.S. tried to order more last week, as cases continued surging, Pfizer refused. It claimed it could not fulfill the order and would likely not have enough to supply the U.S. until June 2021.
The Administration is persisting in its fight to obtain additional vaccination doses from Pfizer, with President Donald Trump issuing an executive order on Tuesday that prioritized shipping to the U.S.
It is still unclear what agency would enforce Trump’s executive order.
