New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the Trump administration has not delivered enough Covid-19 vaccines to his state, so he wants to buy more doses directly from the manufacturer.
Impatient with the slow pace of vaccine launch and claiming that the president has changed the value of New York, Cuomo asked Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla if it would be possible to eliminate the middleman.
I can’t do it, said Pfizer.
While the company is ready to collaborate with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on ways to “quickly distribute its vaccine to as many Americans as possible,” it still needs government approval.
A fierce critic of President Donald Trump’s pandemic response, Cuomo is not the first Democratic governor to suggest purchasing vaccines directly from Pfizer. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer proposed this last week.
Cuomo argued that since Pfizer, the first pharmaceutical company to produce a vaccine, was not part of the government’s program, Operation Warp Speed, it was not required to release its doses only through Washington.
“The company’s decision not to participate in Operation Warp Speed, which the Biden administration plans to reform, puts it in a unique situation that can help us save lives right here in New York,” wrote Cuomo.
Noting that the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently increased the number of New Yorkers eligible for an injection from 5 million to 7 million “practically overnight,” said Cuomo at the same time that the CDC reduced the supply of your state’s vaccines from 300,000 last week to 250,000 this week.
Later, during a press conference on Monday, Cuomo acknowledged that no other state bought vaccines directly from the drug maker, but said that “my job is to go all the way.” He did not give details on how many doses he hoped to buy or how he would pay for it.
“The most important things first,” said Cuomo. “First they have to agree”.
Trump had promised that 20 million Americans would be vaccinated by the end of 2020, but as of Monday only 12.2 million had received their first dose, according to the latest CDC figures.
Public health and supply chain experts, however, said the lack of vaccines is not the only reason it is taking so long to put vaccines in American weapons. The federal government left the details of the distribution to local governments, who were no match for the overwhelming demand. And federal guidelines aimed at vaccinating the most vulnerable first resulted in thousands of missed doses.
