Immediately after the Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer's vaccine, the company delivered fewer doses than its government contract projected. Federal officials say they didn't know why.
Moncef Slaoui, who helped lead Operation Warp Speed under the Trump administration, was removed from a medical device startup's board over allegations of sexual harassment.
The two companies making COVID-19 vaccines each promised to deliver 100 million doses to the federal government by the end of March. So far, they appear to be running behind.
As states suddenly expand the categories of people eligible for the first scarce shipments of vaccine, who will be watching to make sure those hit hardest by the pandemic aren't left behind?
Leaders of the nation's federal vaccine effort, called Operation Warp Speed, said the U.S. has deployed around 14 million vaccine doses as of Wednesday with just 2.1 million Americans vaccinated.
Monoclonal antibodies to prevent severe COVID-19 aren't being used as widely as expected. Medical staff shortages and patient transportation problems are two of the reasons.
Wes Wheeler, president of UPS Healthcare, told NPR Sunday that the first shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines is on its way to sites in all 50 states, complete with dry ice and Bluetooth technology.
A Pfizer board member says the government declined to buy more doses beyond the initial 100 million already agreed upon. Demand from other countries could complicate future purchases.
The $1.95 billion Operation Warp Speed contract excludes government rights to inventions or production know-how developed in the manufacture of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Operation Warp Speed is allocating the first batch of 6.4 million COVID vaccines to states, based on population. This circumvents a CDC advisory committee, which proposed allocation based on risk.
The $1.6 billion Novavax contract is one of several Operation Warp Speed agreements issued through a third party, Advanced Technology International, and that hadn't been released.
Newly released COVID-19 vaccine contracts include weakened protections against potential price gouging. Several key federal contracts still haven't been disclosed by the government.
Drug industry veteran Moncef Slaoui is a key figure in Operation Warp Speed's push to develop COVID-19 coronavirus vaccines. His employment terms raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
In advance of a COVID-19 vaccine being available, a group of independent medical advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention weighed Friday who should get the vaccine first and how.
