Both Pfizer and Moderna, the two major drug manufacturers likely to receive emergency authorizations for a Covid-19 vaccine in the coming weeks, have rejected invitations from President Trump to appear at a White House “Vaccine Summit” on Tuesday, Stat reports. Bloomberg says the three-hour summit is scheduled to be held indoors, despite a raging pandemic.
“Trump administration officials passed when Pfizer offered in late summer to sell the U.S. government additional doses of its Covid-19 vaccine,” the New York Times reports. “Now Pfizer may not be able provide more of its vaccine to the United States until next June because of its commitments to other countries.”
The Trump administration repeatedly turned down the chance to order tens of millions of additional doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine — even once we understood its effectiveness, The Daily reports. Michael Barbaro: “Warning: you will be mad by the end of the episode.”