Millions of US-designated vaccines sitting in warehouses
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This deserves its own thread.
The federal government has apparently neglected to give the company shipping instructions.
The U.S. government declared back in November that it was ready and able to distribute 6.8 million doses the first week after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued emergency use authorization for Pfizer/BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine and 40 million doses before the end of the year. That would be enough of the two-dose vaccine to inoculate 20 million Americans by January. That was then, this is now. Officials in various states are reporting that the shipments of the vaccine they expected next are now on hold.
In a statement, Pfizer rebuts rumors that there is a shortfall in doses for its vaccine due to production delays. "Pfizer is not having any production issues with our COVID-19 vaccine, and no shipments containing the vaccine are on hold or delayed," notes the company. "This week, we successfully shipped all 2.9 million doses that we were asked to ship by the U.S. Government to the locations specified by them. We have millions more doses sitting in our warehouse but, as of now, we have not received any shipment instructions for additional doses."
Sadly, the federal government appears to be dawdling again while the toll of COVID-19 deaths, hospitalizations, and new diagnoses continues to rise ever higher. It's not like there's a pandemic or anything going on.
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I'd keep my powder dry on this one. I suspect there is more to the story than what is alluded to.
Certainly, one issue is the bad timing of having the vaccine being distributed during perhaps the greatest ever shipping season with both UPS and FedEx cutting off some of their customers due to the volume of shipping - and as a result the USPS is getting even more packages during a time when they're short staff due to COVID.
But I find it difficult to believe anyone is asleep at the switch as is suggested by the article.
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I’m sure more will come out, but it’s hard to imagine a good reason why vaccines are stacking up in warehouses with no instructions on where to ship them.
"You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from."
-Cormac McCarthy -
I'd keep my powder dry on this one. I suspect there is more to the story than what is alluded to.
Certainly, one issue is the bad timing of having the vaccine being distributed during perhaps the greatest ever shipping season with both UPS and FedEx cutting off some of their customers due to the volume of shipping - and as a result the USPS is getting even more packages during a time when they're short staff due to COVID.
But I find it difficult to believe anyone is asleep at the switch as is suggested by the article.
@kluurs said in Millions of US-designated vaccines sitting in warehouses:
I'd keep my powder dry on this one. I suspect there is more to the story than what is alluded to.
Certainly, one issue is the bad timing of having the vaccine being distributed during perhaps the greatest ever shipping season with both UPS and FedEx cutting off some of their customers due to the volume of shipping - and as a result the USPS is getting even more packages during a time when they're short staff due to COVID.
But I find it difficult to believe anyone is asleep at the switch as is suggested by the article.
This.
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I can understand a problem with FedEx, UPS and USPS, but the government also have a military capable of moving things to major and some minor locations and National Guard troops to move things locally. IF this is really an issue, that would seem a solution.
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I can understand a problem with FedEx, UPS and USPS, but the government also have a military capable of moving things to major and some minor locations and National Guard troops to move things locally. IF this is really an issue, that would seem a solution.
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Pfizer says they’ve received no shipping instructions. Can’t even call FedEx if you don’t have that.
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As others have said, this is a massive shipping assignment in the middle of the busiest shipping time of year. It is not a surprise that there are some mistakes.
Find them, and fix the mistakes but does not really sound like a big situation.
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Assuming that is true, one can't give shipping instructions unless one has a shipper able to pick-up an deliver within a given timetable.
@kluurs said in Millions of US-designated vaccines sitting in warehouses:
Assuming that is true, one can't give shipping instructions unless one has a shipper able to pick-up an deliver within a given timetable.
That seems obviously false? Why would that impede the government from sending a text file to Pfizer?
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@kluurs said in Millions of US-designated vaccines sitting in warehouses:
Assuming that is true, one can't give shipping instructions unless one has a shipper able to pick-up an deliver within a given timetable.
That seems obviously false? Why would that impede the government from sending a text file to Pfizer?
@jon-nyc said in Millions of US-designated vaccines sitting in warehouses:
@kluurs said in Millions of US-designated vaccines sitting in warehouses:
Assuming that is true, one can't give shipping instructions unless one has a shipper able to pick-up an deliver within a given timetable.
That seems obviously false? Why would that impede the government from sending a text file to Pfizer?
What would impede the CEO of Pfizer putting in a call to the White House?
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@jon-nyc said in Millions of US-designated vaccines sitting in warehouses:
@kluurs said in Millions of US-designated vaccines sitting in warehouses:
Assuming that is true, one can't give shipping instructions unless one has a shipper able to pick-up an deliver within a given timetable.
That seems obviously false? Why would that impede the government from sending a text file to Pfizer?
What would impede the CEO of Pfizer putting in a call to the White House?
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I’m sure more will come out, but it’s hard to imagine a good reason why vaccines are stacking up in warehouses with no instructions on where to ship them.
I wonder if it’s at partly due to making sure the cold storage and handling equipment is also in place.
Pfizer and the administration don’t exactly seem like each other...so they’re both probably happy to find ways to take pot shots at each other....while (hopefully) still ultimately getting the vaccine distributed quickly.
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I wonder if it’s at partly due to making sure the cold storage and handling equipment is also in place.
Pfizer and the administration don’t exactly seem like each other...so they’re both probably happy to find ways to take pot shots at each other....while (hopefully) still ultimately getting the vaccine distributed quickly.
@rich said in Millions of US-designated vaccines sitting in warehouses:
I wonder if it’s at partly due to making sure the cold storage and handling equipment is also in place.
Pfizer and the administration don’t exactly seem like each other...so they’re both probably happy to find ways to take pot shots at each other....while (hopefully) still ultimately getting the vaccine distributed quickly.
This.
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Head of Operation Warp Speed takes responsibility but still a lot of questions as to what steps they’re requiring between manufacturing and shipment. Looks like they’ve built in a minimum 48hr delay for the feds to inspect paperwork for each lot? Like I said it’s still unclear. But hopefully they can rationalize that.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/12/19/vaccine-states-operation-warp-speed/
