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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said the Trump administration has not supplied enough Covid-19 vaccines to his state, so he wants to purchase more doses directly from the manufacturer.
Eager for the slow vaccine rollout and claiming the president bypassed New York City, Cuomo asked Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla if it would be possible to cut out the middleman.
No, Pfizer replied.
While the company stands ready to work with the US Department of Health and Human Services on ways to “quickly get its vaccine to as many Americans as possible,” it still needs government approval.
Fierce criticism of President Donald Trump’s pandemic response, Cuomo is not the first Democratic governor to pitch the idea of purchasing vaccines directly from Pfizer. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer proposed this last week.
Cuomo argued that since Pfizer, the first drugmaker to produce a vaccine, was not part of the administration’s Operation Warp Speed program, there was no need to release its doses only through Washington.
“The company’s decision to pull out of Operation Warp Speed, which the Biden administration plans to review, puts it in a unique situation that could help us save lives right here in New York,” Cuomo wrote. .
Noting that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently increased the number of New Yorkers eligible for a vaccine from 5 million to 7 million “virtually overnight,” Cuomo said at the same time that the CDC had slashed the supply of his state of last 300,000. week to 250,000 this week.
Later, at a press conference Monday, Cuomo admitted that no other state has purchased vaccines directly from the drug maker, but said “my job is to pursue all avenues.” He gave no details of how many doses he hoped to buy or how he was going to pay for them.
“First of all,” Cuomo said. “First they have to agree.”
Trump had promised 20 million Americans would be vaccinated by the end of 2020, but as of Monday, only 12.2 million of them had received their first dose, according to the latest CDC figures.
However, public health and supply chain experts said a vaccine shortage was not the only reason it took so long for vaccines to be injected into America’s arms. The federal government left the details of the distribution to local governments which fell short of the overwhelming demand. And federal guidelines to get the most vulnerable vaccinated first have reportedly resulted in the wasted thousands of doses.
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