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Pfizer said on Thursday that none of its coronavirus vaccine shipments were delayed or suspended and that there were no issues with its production.
In a statement, the drugmaker said this week it “successfully shipped the 2.9 million doses that the US government has asked us to ship to locations it indicates.”
Further, Pfizer said, “We have millions of additional doses in our warehouse, but at this time we have not received any shipping instructions for additional doses.”
Federal health officials are sending states only the first of two doses needed, aiming to inject 20 million people with the first of two doses by the end of the year, and at least 50 million more with the first dose by January.
The Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed has allocated around 2 million doses to states that will be dispatched early next week. The government has also set aside 500,000 doses in reserve, in case of emergency.
Pfizer’s statement comes after Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar told reporters on Wednesday the company had experienced “manufacturing challenges” and the administration was working to secure more visibility into Pfizer’s manufacturing processes.
Azar said that because Pfizer did not accept federal funding from Operation Warp Speed to help manufacture and develop its vaccine, the government does not have as much information on manufacturing capabilities. and the company’s supply issues.
“Part of our ongoing discussions is to address this and get more visibility into what they are doing, the challenges they face, as they have made significant commitments to us and others,” said Azar, noting that Pfizer was only able to make half of what it thought it could produce this year.
On Thursday, Pfizer said it had “continuously shared” information in weekly meetings with HHS and Operation Warp Speed across “all aspects of our production and distribution capabilities.”
Pfizer said it is confident it can deliver 50 million doses worldwide this year and up to 1.3 billion doses next year.
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