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United States Government Medicine

'The U.S. Is Sitting On Tens of Millions of Vaccine Doses the World Needs' (msn.com) 327

"Tens of millions of doses of the coronavirus vaccine made by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca are sitting idly in American manufacturing facilities," reports the New York Times, "awaiting results from its U.S. clinical trial while countries that have authorized its use beg for access."

schwit1 shares their report: The fate of those doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine is the subject of an intense debate among White House and federal health officials, with some arguing the administration should let them go abroad where they are desperately needed while others are not ready to relinquish them, according to senior administration officials...

About 30 million doses are currently bottled at AstraZeneca's facility in West Chester, Ohio, which handles "fill-finish," the final phase of the manufacturing process during which the vaccine is placed in vials, one official with knowledge of the stockpile said. Emergent BioSolutions, a company in Maryland that AstraZeneca has contracted to manufacture its vaccine in the United States, has also produced enough vaccine in Baltimore for tens of millions more doses once it is filled into vials and packaged, the official said. But although AstraZeneca's vaccine is already authorized in more than 70 countries, according to a company spokesman, its U.S. clinical trial has not yet reported results, and the company has not applied to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization.

AstraZeneca has asked the Biden administration to let it loan American doses to the European Union, where it has fallen short of its original supply commitments and where the vaccination campaign has stumbled badly. The administration, for now, has denied the request, one official said...

Johnson & Johnson, which has authorization for its vaccine in the United States but fell behind on its production targets in both the United States and Europe, recently asked the United States to loan 10 million doses to the European Union, but the Biden administration also denied that request, according to American and European officials... The administration has focused on Johnson & Johnson's one-shot vaccine, brokering a deal to have the pharmaceutical giant Merck manufacture and bottle the shot and announcing plans to secure 100 million additional doses... Privately, two senior administration officials said that by helping Johnson & Johnson scale up with the Merck deal, the White House is laying the groundwork for the company to eventually make its vaccine available overseas.

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'The U.S. Is Sitting On Tens of Millions of Vaccine Doses the World Needs'

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  • On the one hand... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Sebby ( 238625 ) on Saturday March 13, 2021 @03:40PM (#61154814)

    I can see why they'd want to have the vaccines on 'standby' in case something happens to the distribution locally (in the country) where they need immediate access to those doses (you don't want to regret/be on the receiving end of having given them up).

    On the other hand, just holding on to them while others badly need them, makes you look like a selfish hoarder (especially if the things can expire).

    • by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Saturday March 13, 2021 @04:31PM (#61154966) Journal
      If we are not approving these in the next week, then it makes perfect sense to triage these and send the resources to where they can make difference.
      To hang on to these, when are not even certain that we will approve their use, is criminal.
      • by NateFromMich ( 6359610 ) on Saturday March 13, 2021 @05:34PM (#61155166)

        To hang on to these, when are not even certain that we will approve their use, is criminal.

        No, really it's not. It might be a dick move, but it isn't criminal.

        • Immoral then. They have expiration dates. If we hang onto them until they expire, that denies them to others.

          • by raymorris ( 2726007 ) on Sunday March 14, 2021 @12:41PM (#61157460) Journal

            They aren't likely to expire. They are good for six months, and within the next couple of weeks it'll most likely either be approved in the US or banned most everywhere. (A week ago, AZ said "within the next few weeks).

            So far, at least 9 countries that had been using the AZ vaccine have stopped using it due to safety concerns. Experts will take a closer look at the data and either most everyone will stop using it because it's unsafe, or the numbers will turn out to be not a significant problem.

            If the blood clot issue isn't a real problem, the FDA is expected to approve it by around the end of the month - well before they expire.

            So they'll either be used before they expire, or they'll be thrown out because they are unsafe.

    • by jrumney ( 197329 )

      How quickly can those 30 million doses be distributed and administered once the approval is given, and how quickly can the manufacturing replace the 30 million doses? Stockpiling ahead of use only makes sense if your manufacturing cannot keep up. I suspect that since the stockpile has grown to this level already, manufacturing will have no problem keeping up with in country demand, and there is no advantage to be gained in keeping these already manufactured doses from countries that could use them immedia

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        How much damage can be done to American pharmaceutical exports as more countries realise what an unreliable shite supplier the USA is. Other countries have got to be thinking, well fuck importing drugs from the USA any more. If it is worthwhile it will be made under patent locally based upon a deal forced upon the pharmaceutical accept the patent price or lose the patent but USA pharmaceutical exports WILL NO LONGER BE TRUSTED.

        This dick move will cost the US economy, something like a trillion dollars over

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by raculot ( 1143839 )

      The reality here is though, we don't want these. We've got plenty of contracts for Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J vaccines that are safer and more efficacious than the AZ vaccine. The FDA is dragging their feet on approving it because they don't want to approve an obviously worse vaccine.

      They should just sell them to the highest bidder now while other people want it and give our population the much more effective vaccines that we have a large supply of already, and orders for plenty of doses in the next coupl

  • by mobby_6kl ( 668092 ) on Saturday March 13, 2021 @03:41PM (#61154816)

    Especially the AZ stuff that can't even be used in the US.Even people in their 80s are having trouble getting a dose in Europe, let alone in developing countries.The whole thing's been a clusterfuck on all fronts, but this ban is an unnecessary fuck you to everyone.

    • Don't be fooled by the big number. In the grand scheme of things, 33 million is one day's worth of vaccine doses. The world needs about 10 billion doses by the end of the year (70% of the global population, two doses each). As long as these doses are going to be used, not discarded, it's okay to "hog" them. It would be nicer if all produced vaccines could be administered as quickly as possible, but while this looks like a major problem now, it's just a small hiccup at the global rate of production that is n

    • by hey! ( 33014 )

      The current US goal is universal vaccine availability by May 1. That's only 49 days from now. The shelf life of that particular vaccine is about six months. So it's not necessarily the case that holding back the vaccine serves no purpose. The answer is *it depends*.

      Specifically it depends on whether those doses currently stockpiled make any difference to how quickly the doses get administered to Americans. If it does, it's at least arguably reasonable to hold onto those doses. If vaccine availability

  • After criticizing everything the US did last year, almost everything the EU suggested as correct turned out to be the wrong thing. Will their elites have some moments of contrition, recognize what went wrong, and hold those supposed experts who produced this result accountable? I highly doubt it but one can hope. It started with "Travel restrictions dont work" and ended with "We cant get a vaccine in a year!" Now we have "You must wear a mask" and "You must not travel" and "Pretty please give us your vaccin

    • by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Saturday March 13, 2021 @04:21PM (#61154920)

      After criticizing everything the US did last year

      When you say everything the US did last year, you mean have a supposed president repeatedly saying it's no worse than the flu, everything was under control, people should determine if they want to wear a mask rather than be required to wear one, that grandma should die [marketwatch.com] so people could get a beer, that some people will have to die [vanityfair.com] if it means the stock market doesn't crash? You mean those things, right?

      Will their elites have some moments of contrition, recognize what went wrong, and hold those supposed experts who produced this result accountable?

      Why should they? The elites in this country were doing everything in their power to downplay how serious this pandemic was [9cache.com] including claiming this was nothing but political hysteria [9cache.com]. You know, elites like Tucker Carlson whose mother is the billionaire heiress to the Swanson frozen dinner fortune, whose father was the CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and was sent to the elite private school, St. George's. Those kind of elites are who you're talking about, right?

    • Should vindictiveness be a part of public health policy? Doesn't seem to work as part of military policy.

    • Can't say I feel sorry for the EU at this point.

      They need to lose the high and mighty attitude because it will come back to bite them hard in the ass someday.

    • Fuck off. Most of the EU still has a lower death rate than America, so really the only way they were wrong is to trust the US not to fuck everyone over. Which is pretty dumb, historically.

      • by djp2204 ( 713741 )

        You are 100% incorrect. The death rate is the number of deaths divided by the number of cases. According to todays world-o-meter data the USA has 546,483 deaths and 30,038,430 cases making the death rate about 1.8%. According to the EU own site on the subject, they have 562,440 deaths and 23,255,514 cases or 2.4% which is ~60% more than the US rate.

        EU info: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/... [europa.eu]

        • Wrong. The death rate is the number of deaths divided by either the population or by the number of closed cases.
          Only idiots divide by the number of cases because first of all as long as a case is not closed, it can still go an either way and second because the number of cases have to be normalised for testing and the positive rate of testing.

  • But although AstraZeneca's vaccine is already authorized in more than 70 countries, according to a company spokesman, its U.S. clinical trial has not yet reported results, and the company has not applied to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization.

    These vaccines are not going to be used in the US anytime soon. Get out of the way and let them go where they will be used.

    • even if uncertain at moment if that vaccine cause deadly health issues? that's the question many countries have so they've halted the use of it until that question is answered.

      this summary came out of someone's ass who is ignorant of the current blood clot issue being checked

      • That is a valid concern. But not a judgement for us to make.

        Each nation will have to make a decision as to whether they consider the potential for harm to outweigh the benefit.

    • Every other time: "Haw haw haw! Americans are stupid and crazy"

      This time: "Pretty please? give us the vaccines, kind America, sir!".

      This two faced attitude displayed by Europe really makes me sick.

  • by Mr. Competence ( 18431 ) on Saturday March 13, 2021 @04:09PM (#61154874)
    Meanwhile: [cnbc.com]
    The coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford has now been suspended in a number of countries across Europe and Asia, following reports of blood clots in some vaccinated people.
    Many other nations, however, have defended their use of the shot and said they will continue their respective inoculation campaigns.
    Thailand on Friday became the first Asian country to halt the use of the jab over safety concerns, shortly after Denmark announced a two-week pause to its nationwide rollout after reports of blood clots and one death.
    In a setback to Europe’s ailing vaccination campaign, seven other countries have also suspended the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot: Norway, Iceland, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia.
    Austria and Italy, meanwhile, have said that they will stop using certain batches of the vaccine as a precautionary measure.
    • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 13, 2021 @04:32PM (#61154974)

      Yeah, from that same article:

      “An analysis of our safety data of more than 10 million records has shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca,” a spokesperson for AstraZeneca said.

      “In fact, the observed number of these types of events are significantly lower in those vaccinated than what would be expected among the general population.”

    • The coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford has now been suspended in a number of countries across Europe and Asia, following reports of blood clots in some vaccinated people.
      Many other nations, however, have defended their use of the shot and said they will continue their respective inoculation campaigns.
      Thailand on Friday became the first Asian country to halt the use of the jab over safety concerns, shortly after Denmark announced a two-week pause to its nationwide rollout after reports of blood clots and one death.

      This is a pretext not a reason. People get blood clots, people die.. there is zero statistical evidence of an elevated risk of jack following AZ vaccination yet countries are taking action anyway in the total absence of supporting evidence.

      If there is an evidence based reason for this behavior the public is not being looped in on what that might be.

      In a setback to Europeâ(TM)s ailing vaccination campaign, seven other countries have also suspended the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot: Norway, Iceland, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia.
      Austria and Italy, meanwhile, have said that they will stop using certain batches of the vaccine as a precautionary measure

      The "batch" angle is interesting almost as if the public is being kept from knowing something... I'm sure that would never happen.

  • We have a bit of debt to pay off, so we might be able to make a deal here.
  • I was just reading an article about all the intra-EU squabbling over vaccine distribution “unfairness “.

    In any case... if it were up to me, I’d send these doses abroad.

  • by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Saturday March 13, 2021 @04:24PM (#61154936) Journal
    If we have not approved nor are close to doing so (as in within several weeks), then these need to be released to nations that have approval.
    That is just disgusting if these have been sitting in a warehouse.
    • AstraZeneca is expected to apply for the FDA approval by the end of the month https://www.nbcnews.com/health... [nbcnews.com] at which point the doses will be used, making the issue pointed out by the article irrelevant
  • I'm sure when US, Europe, Russia, China, SE Asia etc. have seen to their own needs they'll be happy for the vaccine to roll out to other countries. But they're all in "fuck you" mode and that will persist until things settle down into a manageable, annual form like flu.
    • Really? Because last I've checked, even Canada gets their vaccine from the EU.

    • by MeNeXT ( 200840 )

      Keep telling yourself that. The only country in your list that is hoarding is the US. Russia, China and Europe are "exporting" vaccines.

  • by WaffleMonster ( 969671 ) on Saturday March 13, 2021 @04:55PM (#61155060)

    The conspiracy theorist in me is going nuts.

    There have been a whole host of events relative to AZ I don't understand. Non-crackpot world leaders making straight up false claims. South Africa failing to understand you have to wait for immunity. Countries pulling back due to bogus correlations that were completely predictable. The US and a whole host of countries slow walking acceptance of the cheapest most widely producible vaccine.

    Why is it taking so long in the US when AZ was approved MONTHS ago in other "western" countries?

    Is there something not in the public domain or this is just straight up incompetence and or corruption? Not that I am a particular fan of AZ's or JJ's approach.

    • by MeNeXT ( 200840 )

      Politics.

    • by ArmoredDragon ( 3450605 ) on Saturday March 13, 2021 @06:48PM (#61155384)

      The FDA has a lot more stringent requirements before it approves anything. This is pretty well known even outside of the vaccine issue. This is why people say we're behind in health care yet at the same time all of the major innovations in medicine always come from here.

      • Sure, but that doesn't explain AZ being treated differently than the other vaccine makers.

      • You are wrong by about half a century. Matter of fact, when talking about food, FDA will approve essentially everything, unlike the EU that plays it safe and demands proof from the manufacturers. This is why, for example, many food colorings are banned in the EU but are happily used in the USA.

        And by the way, the vaccines in the USA are used on an emergency approval while in the EU they have received an actual marketing authorisation.

  • by mi ( 197448 ) <slashdot-2017q4@virtual-estates.net> on Saturday March 13, 2021 @05:09PM (#61155110) Homepage Journal

    Barely four months ago [nytimes.com] the US Administration was blamed for the opposite — for not hogging the vaccine supply preventively:

    Before Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine was proved highly successful in clinical trials last month, the company offered the Trump administration the chance to lock in supplies beyond the 100 million doses the pharmaceutical maker agreed to sell the government as part of a $1.95 billion deal over the summer.

    But the administration, according to people familiar with the talks, never made the deal, a choice that now raises questions about whether the United States allowed other countries to take its place in line.

    I is almost like the right course of action depends on who is in power...

    • I is almost like the right course of action depends on who is in power...

      That's absolutely true, but also this site has become extremely Euro-centric in the past few years.
      It's hard to believe it was ever an American site.

    • Or, that the New York Times will choose any topic that sells papers at that moment.
  • "Tens of millions of doses of the coronavirus vaccine made by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca are sitting idly in American manufacturing facilities,"

    Every dose is 'sitting idly' until it is administered. Until either a. everyone in the US is vaccinated or b. the doses approach the point of spoilage, they aren't going to waste. I realize that the *actual* complaint is that the US isn't sharing with less well-off countries, or in the case of the EU backing up a group of allies when things go awry, but framing it this way is just silly.

  • https://www.bbc.com/news/world... [bbc.com] The European manufacturers signed contracts to deliver the doses to Australia and the Italian government is nowt blocking the shipment claiming that the company isn't fulfilling its obligation to Italy. Except AstraZeneca is. The EU signed the contracts last. They get a best effort. Australia is ahead in line. So why would America trust the EU to give them production in the future after America certifies AstraZeneca vaccine?

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