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

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.

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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.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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