Operation Warp Speed’s vaccine rollout is off to a bumpy start, with the governors of Illinois and Florida both saying that they were not getting as many doses of the vaccine as the federal government had initially projected.
The Health and Human Services Department has rejected the claims, saying the United States is still on track to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of the year.
“Previously, federal authorities had notified us that they planned to ship out nearly 8 million Pfizer vaccine doses to states, large cities, and territories across the country next week,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, said during a Wednesday press conference. “However, as of this morning, I’m disappointed to learn that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services informed us that per the direction of Operation Warp Speed’s Gen. Perna, that estimate was tightened significantly, down to 4.3 million doses shipped nationally next week.”
Illinois @GovPritzker on expected 8 million Pfizer vaccine does shipment: “I’m disappointed to learn that the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services informed us..that estimate was tightened significantly, down to 4.3 million doses…” pic.twitter.com/quQxvL1dPT
— CSPAN (@cspan) December 16, 2020
A senior administration official told the Washington Examiner that governors are given vaccine allocations numbers on a weekly basis and hadn’t been given allocation numbers until this week, adding that governors “wouldn’t know how many doses they’d get until those numbers are released.”
“For weeks, we’ve anticipated having enough doses to vaccinate 20 million people,” the official said. “We still think we’re going to hit that number.”
On Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said production issues meant the state did not know whether it would still get the expected 450,000 Pfizer vaccines over the next two weeks.
“We’re just going to have to wait. Obviously, it would be shipped relatively soon if we got it,” the Republican said at a news conference, according to the Associated Press. “We don’t know if we’re going to get any or not.”
Pfizer, which received federal funds through the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed for the distribution of its vaccine, has also rejected claims that it has experienced any delays.
“Pfizer has not had any production issues with its COVID-19 vaccine, and no shipments containing the vaccine are on hold or delayed,” a Pfizer spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “We are continuing to dispatch orders to the locations specified by the U.S. government.”
One point of confusion could be that the government is withholding half of each state’s vaccine doses for 21 days — both Pfizer and the eventual Moderna vaccine require two shots given three weeks apart.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar said on Monday that 2.9 million doses were delivered over the weekend, with another 2.9 million doses “held back to ensure those people get their second dose in 21 days.”
