Pfizer said on Thursday that none of the shipments of the coronavirus vaccine has been delayed or on hold, and there are no problems with its production.
In a statement, the drug company said it had “successfully shipped all 2.9 million doses the US government asked us to ship to the locations they specified” this week.
Additionally, Pfizer said “we have millions of additional doses in our warehouse, but so far we have not received shipping instructions for additional doses.”
Federal health officials are only sending states the first of the two necessary doses, with the goal of injecting 20 million people with the first of the two doses by the end of the year, and at least 50 million more with the first dose by January.
The Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed has allocated approximately 2 million doses to states that will be shipped early next week. The government has also reserved 500,000 doses for emergencies.
Pfizer’s statement comes after Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar told reporters on Wednesday that the company had experienced “manufacturing challenges,” and the administration was working to better understand Pfizer’s manufacturing processes.
Azar said that because Pfizer did not accept federal funding for Operation Warp Speed to help manufacture and develop its vaccine, the government does not have as much information about the company’s manufacturing capabilities and delivery issues.
“Part of our on-going discussions is to fix that and get a better understanding of what they are doing, what challenges they face, as they have made significant commitments to us and others,” said Azar, noting that Pfizer is only in was able to make half of what it thought it could produce this year.
On Thursday, Pfizer said it has “continuously shared information” in weekly meetings with HHS and Operation Warp Speed through “every aspect of our manufacturing and distribution capabilities.”
Pfizer said it is confident it can deliver 50 million doses worldwide this year and up to 1.3 billion doses next year.