Despite the administration’s commitment, it seems that there is no longer a second dose of “reserve” vaccine to be released.

Hopes of a surge in Covid-19 vaccine shipments as part of a new policy of releasing second doses held in reserve appear to be fading – with the revelation that those doses have already been distributed.

A senior Trump administration official told CNN on Friday that when the administration announced it would release doses reserved last week, many of those reserves had already been released into the system as of last year then as production increased.

The revelation appears to contradict what the US Secretary of Health and Human Services announced on Jan. 12 during an Operation Warp Speed ​​briefing, where he said the administration would “release the entire supply for ordered by the States, rather than keeping second doses in reserve ”.

The official who spoke to CNN pushed back a report that the supply for the second dose was “depleted,” instead calling the reserve a renewable reserve and replenished with new production.

The source stressed that the supply would still benefit from those extra doses already in circulation – but acknowledged that this means there will not be a sudden spike in the number of distributions, as many have been led to believe.

Michael J. Pratt, communications chief for Operation Warp Speed, also denied the idea that the supply was “exhausted” in a statement to CNN.

“This week, nearly 13 million total doses were delivered to states on order, millions more than the other weeks because the second dose supply is fully made available on order,” said Pratt. “States have not yet fully ordered against their order caps. As noted this week, we have now moved to the phase where the total amount released to OWS is made available to order, first to cover second doses, then to deliver additional first doses. ”

The news shocked and angered officials in at least one state.

“I demand answers from the Trump administration. I am shocked and dismayed that they set an expectation that they could not live up to, with such dire consequences, ”Oregon Governor Kate Brown tweeted on Friday. “This is a nationwide deception. The Oregon seniors, the teachers, all of us, depended on the promise that Oregon’s share of the federal vaccine reserve would be given to us.

Oregon’s health director wrote a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar on Thursday demanding he reconcile his statement last week on “releasing the whole offer” with the revelation.

CNN obtained a letter written by Oregon Health Director Patrick Allen in which he recounted a call with Brown and Operation Warp Speed ​​chief operating officer General Gustave Perna on Thursday.

CNN has also contacted vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna, as well as Moderna distribution partner McKesson, and has not received a response.

The revelation that second doses were not being strictly held in reserve was first reported by The Washington Post, which also reported that the Trump administration had changed its strategy to start tapping into second doses at the end of last year.

“We hear that there is no vaccine stock for the second dose, but that it was more of a ‘paper exercise’,” said Dr Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer of the Association of State and Territory Health Officials. “The stock seems to be entirely on paper, they were following anticipated needs but not actually holding the product.”

The bottom line, Plescia said, is that the vaccine will remain scary for at least a few more weeks.

“I think the original post got lost in a lot of excessive promises,” Plescia said. “Until there is a more solid supply, we need to be clear to the public that the possibility of getting the vaccine is limited.”

CNN’s Jacqueline Howard, Nadia Kounang and John Bonifield contributed to this report.