Hopes of an increase in shipments of Covid-19 vaccines under a new policy of releasing second doses held in reserve seem to be evaporating – with the revelation that those doses have already been distributed.
A senior Trump administration official told CNN on Friday that when the government announced last week that it would release reserved doses, many of those reserves had already been released into the system from last year when production was on the rise.
The disclosure appears to contradict what the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services announced Jan. 12 at an Operation Warp Speed briefing, where he said the government would “release the entire stock at the order of states, rather than second. to keep doses in reserve “.
The official speaking to CNN opposed a report that the supply of the second dose was “exhausted,” instead characterized the reserve as a rolling and replenished supply of new production.
The source stressed that the supply would still benefit from those additional doses already in circulation, but acknowledged that this means there will be no sudden rise in distribution numbers, as many have suggested.
Michael J. Pratt, Operation Warp Speed’s Chief Communications Officer, also denied the idea that the reserve was “exhausted” in a statement to CNN.
“This week, nearly 13 million total doses have been distributed to states to order, millions more than other weeks as the reserve of second doses is made fully available to order against,” Pratt said. “States have yet to order in full against their order limits. As mentioned this week, we have now moved into the phase where the full amount released of OWS is made available to order, first to cover the second dose, second to provide additional first doses. ”
The news shocked and angered officials in at least one state.
“I demand answers from the Trump administration. I am shocked and appalled that they have made an expectation they could not live up to, with such dire consequences, ”tweeted Oregon government Kate Brown on Friday. “This is a deception on a national scale. Oregon’s seniors, teachers, all of us, depended on the promise that Oregon’s portion of the federal reserve of vaccines would be released to us. “
The Oregon health director wrote a letter to HHS secretary Alex Azar on Thursday demanding that he reconcile his statement last week about “releasing the entire stock” with this disclosure.
CNN received a letter written by Patrick Allen, director of Oregon Health, telling of a phone call with Brown and Operation Warp Speed Chief Operating Officer Gen. Gustave Perna on Thursday.
“During that call, he informed us that there is no reserve of doses and that we are already receiving the full allocation of vaccines,” Allen wrote. “If true, this is extremely disturbing and our plans to expand eligibility are in jeopardy. Those plans were made on the basis of your ‘full stock release’ statement” that you have in reserve. correct, we will not be able to start vaccinating our vulnerable seniors on January 23, as planned. “
CNN also contacted vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna, as well as Moderna’s distribution partner McKesson, and received no response.
The revelation that second doses were not strictly held in reserve was first reported by The Washington Post, which also reported that the Trump administration was changing its strategy to begin tapping into second doses late last year.
“We learn that there is no supply of vaccine for the second dose, but that it was more of a ‘paper exercise’,” says Dr. Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. “The stock seems to be all on paper, they kept track of the expected requirement, but didn’t really hold back the product.”
The bottom line, Plescia said, is that the vaccine will stay scared for at least a few more weeks.
“I think the original message was lost due to way too many promises,” said Plescia. “Until there is a more robust offering, we need to make it clear to the public that the chances of getting the vaccine are limited.”
CNN’s Jacqueline Howard, Nadia Kounang and John Bonifield contributed to this report.