Trump signs executive order to “prioritize” vaccine delivery to US ahead of other countries

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced an executive order “guaranteeing that US citizens have priority to receive US vaccines.”

The text, which Trump signed on camera at a White House “vaccine summit”, was not immediately made public.

It’s unclear how this would apply given that vaccine manufacturers have already signed agreements with other countries.

But the move suggests that the United States is concerned about a possible vaccine shortage, as it plans to immunize tens of millions of people in the coming months.

There are more than 330 million Americans and the government says it can meet its goal of providing a vaccine for all by April.

Pfizer / BioNTech, whose vaccine could be approved by the pharmaceutical agency FDA in the coming days, has only one contract with the United States for 100 million doses.

Moderna, whose vaccine could be approved by the end of next week, has also pledged to deliver 100 million doses to the United States.

Each contract includes options for additional doses, but the delay in activating these clauses could delay delivery by several months.

Both manufacturers have factories in the United States and Europe, and there are laws that, in theory, would allow the United States government to be the first in the production that is generated, such as the Defense Production Act.

“If necessary, we will invoke the Defense Production Act. We don’t think it is necessary,” Trump said.

Two other vaccines very advanced in clinical trials could be approved at the beginning of the year and guarantee the supply in the United States: the two doses AstraZeneca / Oxford (of which Washington has ordered 500 million doses), and the US Johnson single dose & Johnson, whose US expects 100 million doses