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The Daily

Why Did the U.S. Turn Down Vaccine Doses?

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2020

⏱️ 26 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From the start of the pandemic, the Trump administration said it was committed to ordering and stockpiling enough potential vaccine doses to end the outbreak in the United States as quickly as possible. But new reporting from The Times has revealed that Pfizer, the maker of the first vaccine to show effectiveness against the coronavirus, tried unsuccessfully to get the government to lock in 100 million extra doses. Today, we investigate how the Trump administration missed that opportunity and what the repercussions might be. Guest: Sharon LaFraniere, an investigative reporter for The New York Times. For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here. Background reading: U.S. officials had the opportunity to secure enough doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine to inoculate most of the country — at no upfront cost to the government. Instead, they turned down the offer.With a smaller-than-expected order from the United States, Pfizer turned to fulfilling orders from other countries, like Britain, which began vaccinating people this week.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey, it's Michael.

0:02.0

We know that 2020 has been a difficult year, but it's also been a year of small victories,

0:09.0

personal milestones, and moments of joy.

0:12.4

If something good happened to you, we want to hear about it.

0:16.1

So write us an email, or better yet, send us a voice memo to the daily at nytimes.com.

0:24.1

That's the daily at nytimes.com.

0:28.0

And tell us your story of good news this year, large or small.

0:33.1

And thank you.

0:35.8

From nytimes, I'm Michael Bavaro.

0:38.3

This is the daily.

0:46.2

Today from the start of the pandemic, the Trump administration said it was committed to ordering

0:53.7

and stockpiling enough vaccine to end the pandemic as quickly as possible.

1:00.8

But new reporting from the times, Ways is questions about whether it has actually done

1:07.1

that.

1:08.2

I spoke with my colleague Sharon LaFranier.

1:20.0

This Thursday, December 10th.

1:27.7

So Sharon, tell me about this tip that you got.

1:32.3

So it was on Saturday.

1:35.1

I think I was playing bridge on my phone with the robots, which is how we spend Saturday

1:42.7

nights now, right?

1:45.1

And I got a call from another nytimes reporter, mutual friend of ours saying, I have heard

1:52.1

this about Pfizer.

...

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