The US turned down 'multiple' chances to buy more doses of Pfizer's highly effective COVID-19 shot and is instead turning to other vaccine agreements, says former FDA chief and Pfizer board member
- Former Food and Drug Administration commissioner and Pfizer board member, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, said Wednesday the US government turned down chances to buy additional batches of Pfizer's vaccines and has sought agreements from other manufacturers instead.
- The US ordered 100 million doses of Pfizer's two-shot vaccine but the company may not be able to offer more shots to the nation until next June.
- Gottlieb told CNBC on Tuesday that Pfizer had offered a second batch of vaccines to the US "multiple times," but the government declined because it's betting more vaccines will get on the market.
- The US government have agreements with five or six manufacturers for around 100 million doses, Gottlieb said.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a Pfizer board member, said Wednesday the US government declined an additional agreement to buy a second batch of Pfizer's vaccine and has struck multiple agreements with other manufacturers instead.
Gottlieb 's comments come after The New York Times reported on Monday the Trump administration rejected an offer from Pfizer in late summer for additional doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, citing people familiar with the matter.
The pharmaceutical giant gave the government a chance to get its hands on additional doses "multiple times," Gottlieb said, including as recently as after some of the initial data results came out in November.
The US ordered 100 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine - enough to vaccinate 50 million people - but the drugmaker may not be able to offer more shots to the country until next June. The vaccine has yet to be given emergency authorization by US regulators, though a decision could come as soon as mid-December.
In an interview on CNBC's Squawk Box, Gottlieb, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner said that the contract was an option agreement and not a purchase agreement, so the government didn't agree to purchase the vaccines in advance.
"What they said was if the vaccines demonstrated to be safe and effective and if it gets authorized by the FDA, we will agree to buy 100 million units of it at an agreed price," Gottlieb said.
Gottlieb said that Pfizer had offered an additional batch of vaccines to the US "multiple times," but the government are looking to make agreements with other manufacturers.
The reason why the government didn't take up Pfizer's additional 100 million option agreement could be because "they're betting that more than one vaccine is gonna get authorized," Gottlieb said. "They want to spread those bets."
The US backed 6 vaccine candidates with multi-billion-dollar deals
The US government have agreements with five or six manufacturers for around 100 million doses, Gottlieb noted.
The US signed a contract with Pfizer in July for its first 100 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Following this, Pfizer has sealed deals with other governments, such as the European Union, which accepted the approval application on December 1, The Wall Street Journal reports. It will acquire 200 million doses of Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine.
"Pfizer has gone ahead and entered into agreement with other countries to sell them some of that vaccine in the second quarter of 2021," Gottlieb said.
The UK became the first Western country to start vaccinating its nation with Pfizer's approved COVID-19 vaccine, which is 95% effective.
The first to get the shot was 90-year old Margaret Keenan, followed by 81-year old William Shakespeare moments later at University Hospital in Coventry.