![]() ![]() Historically, there hasn't been much transparency when it comes to vaccine supply. Moderna reaffirmed that it will hit 100 million doses on time but didn't provide more details about production from week to week. LUPKIN: Well, when I ask them for more details, they didn't say much. What about the companies? What do they say? KELLY: So that is what the White House is saying. ![]() ![]() Andy Slavitt is a senior adviser for the White House COVID-19 response team, and he spoke about this at a briefing last week.ĪNDY SLAVITT: Pfizer and Moderna are committed to delivering a total of 200 million doses by the end of March, with much of it coming at the end of the quarter. Even Moderna will need to start releasing more doses to the United States each week on top of the ramp-up we've already seen. LUPKIN: It's a good question because if it keeps releasing the same number of doses at the same rate as this week, the company would fall around 30 million doses short of its goal. But, again, if Pfizer is already behind now and they're supposed to be ramping up, how is it going to work? He said it wouldn't be making these big commitments if it didn't think it could meet them. But Porges told me he's still confident in Pfizer's ability to hit its goals. In Europe, Pfizer had to cut back on weekly deliveries last month, which made some countries like Italy really angry. Pfizer is committed to delivering considerably more doses outside the U.S. He says Pfizer has spread itself thinner than Moderna has. LUPKIN: So it's not entirely clear, but I asked a Wall Street analyst named Geoffrey Porges at SVB Leerink. KELLY: And what is the holdup? Why are they lagging? Meanwhile, Pfizer is lagging behind at about 4.4 million doses, only 70,000 more doses than the previous week. That's according to allocation data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This week Moderna is pulling ahead and releasing 5.8 million doses. Last week each company released 4.3 million doses of vaccine to the federal government. LUPKIN: Well, according to the federal government, they're expected to reach that goal, but they're both going to have to make a lot more doses every week to do it. Can these companies meet that given neither is making enough right now? KELLY: OK, so we have this goal - a hundred million doses each by the end of March. NPR pharmaceuticals correspondent Sydney Lupkin is here to tell us more. At the current rate, though, both companies would have to ramp up production to meet that goal. That's according to their federal contracts. Now, we know the two companies that have emergency authorization so far, Pfizer and Moderna - they are supposed to deliver 100 million doses each by the end of March. About 31 million doses have been administered so far, which means the country still has a long way to go to contain the virus, and one limiting factor could be the supply of new doses. is racing to vaccinate as many people as possible against COVID-19. ![]()
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