Thread by @DrEricDing

BREAKING—Trump FDA just left final kick in the teeth—Pfizer will now ship fewer #COVID19 vaccine vials after it lobbied to count & **pay for** “extra” doses found in vials. Now Pfizer can count 6 per vial to meet dose orders—ie shipping less vials. When FDA approved? Jan 6th! 🧵

2) “For weeks, Pfizer execs pushed officials at Trump FDA to change the wording of vaccine’s emergency use authorization so it formally acknowledged that vials contained 6 doses, not 5. Distinction critical: Pfizer’s contract requires paid by the dose.”
nytimes.com/2021/01/22/hea…

3) “Now, it appears, the bill is due. Pfizer plans to count the surprise sixth dose toward its previous commitment of 200 million doses of Covid vaccine by the end of July and therefore will be providing fewer vials than once expected for the US.

4) “And yet, pharmacists at some vaccination sites say they are still struggling to reliably extract the extra doses, which require the use of a specialty syringe.”

5) “At one point, Pfizer executives lashed out at top federal vaccine regulator over govt reluctance to budge on request. On Jan 6, Pfizer got what it wanted”—Trump FDA changed the language.

➡️ Instead of 1000 vials, Pfizer can now just send 833 vials because of Pfizer lobbying.

6) To be clear—the 6th dose is not always extractable with standard syringes—one often needs special “low dead volume” syringes. There is a shortage that Biden had to invoke DPA for making it. If so, then it’s not fair to charge for 6 doses/vial @pfizer!

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1352486773813862400

7) Looks like Pfizer also likely lobbies EU regulators as well on the 6th dose. EU also changed their label in early Jan on 6th dose per vial. ema.europa.eu/en/news/extra-…

8) Oh fresh hell— “Pfizer’s efforts to capitalize on the discovery were for weeks camouflaged in a bureaucratic language dispute. Before Christmas, Pfizer approached FDA requesting a formal change to its fact sheet so that it said each vial contained 6 doses of instead of 5....”

9) “But regulators instead suggested the phrase “up to six doses,” depending on what kinds of syringes were used to extract the vaccine.
After FDA signed a new fact sheet with that more cautious language, Pfizer approached FDA again, saying it was crucial to say “six doses.”

10) “The company suggested altering the language to indicate that low dead volume syringes should be used. At one point, Pfizer executives lashed out at Dr. Peter Marks, the top vaccine regulator at the F.D.A., according to two people who heard about the exchange.

11) Okay folks— I’ve seen enough. I’m calling it...

Please don’t quote tweet the top post @pfizer or comment @pfizer with #pfizercrimeagainsthumanity. #Pfizer wouldn’t like that.

12) P.s. cutting vaccine shipments can also give rise to more mutations if we screw up 2nd dose delivery.

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1352827349679665153

14) for this reason... I’m hopeful for the 1 dose only Johnson and Johnson vaccine coming in 2 weeks hopefully.

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1353018281381289985