(Reuters) – Pfizer Inc has been maintaining second doses for each of its COVID-19 vaccines at the request of the federal government and does not anticipate any problems in providing them to Americans, a spokeswoman said in a statement on Friday.
Pfizer’s comments go against a Washington Post report that the federal government ran out of its vaccine supply in late December and has no remaining dose reserves on hand.
“Operation Warp Speed asked us to start sending second shots just recently,” said the spokeswoman. “As a result, we have all the second doses of previous shipments to the US at hand.”
The US Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to requests for comment.
Pfizer has shipped more than 15 million doses to destinations in the United States, mainly from its Michigan facility, and expects to be able to produce around 2 billion doses worldwide in 2021, the spokeswoman said.
The United States has struggled to manage the shots that were distributed, however. Only about 12 million of the more than 31 million doses sent have been administered, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The scarcity of dispersed vaccines was reported at the forefront of the U.S. battle against the coronavirus pandemic on Friday, prompting at least one major health care system to cancel a series of consultations with people waiting to be vaccinated.
Earlier on Friday, Pfizer announced that there would be a temporary impact on shipments to European countries from late January to early February, caused by changes in manufacturing processes to increase production. [L1N2JQ0V3]
About nine of the EU’s 27 governments have complained about “insufficient” doses at a meeting this week, one participant said.
Reporting by Carl O’Donnell; Editing by Leslie Adler and Sonya Hepinstall