First shipments of Pfizer vaccine to be delivered December 15
The first shipments of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine will be delivered on December 15, according to an Operation Warp Speed document obtained by CNN on Tuesday.
The document, provided to governors ahead of a call with the Vice President Monday, also estimated the first shipment of Moderna’s vaccine will be delivered on December 22.
Those distribution dates are contingent upon a decision by the US Food and Drug Administration to authorize each vaccine for emergency use. Pfizer submitted an application to the FDA on November 20, and Moderna submitted an application on November 30.
The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, a panel of independent experts, will meet on December 10 to review Pfizer’s data and make a recommendation to the FDA about whether to authorize the vaccine.
The document outlined a four-day window between December 11 and December 14 for review by the FDA and CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which makes recommendations about who should receive the vaccine first. On December 15, the first doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine will be delivered, according to the outline.
Next, the VRBPAC is scheduled to consider Moderna’s vaccine on December 17. After a four-day review window from December 18 to December 21, the document stated that the first shipments of Moderna’s vaccine are estimated to be delivered on December 22.
The document included a vaccine manufacturing forecast, estimating 22.5 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine and 18 million doses of the Moderna vaccine will be produced in December.
A list of “essential tasks” was included for governors to complete by December 4, including pre-ordering Pfizer vaccines, enrolling providers in the Covid-19 vaccine program and completing microplans for distribution and administration.
