"Sorry, as a pharmaceutical company, accuracy isn't our strong suit. Remember when we bribed your physician to push you to take anti-psychotics unnecessarily? Blame sloppiness in our market...
"Sorry, as a pharmaceutical company, accuracy isn't our strong suit. Remember when we bribed your physician to push you to take anti-psychotics unnecessarily? Blame sloppiness in our market targeting. Remember when we misplaced data showing that your cholesterol drug would give you diabetes? Anywho, we recommend you salvage those vaccine vials from the bin if you want to save the lives you expected to. A deal's a deal. Suckers."
Editing to add (and a line above): Sorry to do little else but vent spleen. This news pokes an ancient sore spot in me and sits square on a tiny balloon of hope that I've been nurturing. The words "churning with fury" are applicable.
I'm not sure it's a bad decision? It's good that the vaccine is being stretched further. That unfortunately means the Pfizer gets paid more than if it were done unofficially, but pretending that...
I'm not sure it's a bad decision? It's good that the vaccine is being stretched further. That unfortunately means the Pfizer gets paid more than if it were done unofficially, but pretending that there are only 5 doses when you can get 6 is ignoring reality. Arguably, Pfizer is getting ripped off if they're not paid.
It's a terrible time to be getting into a dispute over the price and it's unfortunate that Pfizer wants to hold the government to the contract, but this is an emergency and the Biden administration should just throw more money at the problem. Sign another contract for more doses, and pay a bonus if they're delivered early, too. Any increased speed getting people vaccinated will more than pay for itself.
The article makes it seem that getting the sixth dose out is less than a guarantee. Some pharmacies haven’t been able to do it, and some need special equipment and syringes. It seems just as bad...
The article makes it seem that getting the sixth dose out is less than a guarantee. Some pharmacies haven’t been able to do it, and some need special equipment and syringes. It seems just as bad to pay Pfizer for 6 doses when only 5 are able to be used as the opposite.
They do need the right syringes as explained here. It looks like they worked something out: Biden wants to squeeze an extra shot of vaccine out of every Pfizer vial. It won’t be easy Actually, now...
They do need the right syringes as explained here. It looks like they worked something out:
The Biden administration and Pfizer finalized a deal Friday that will allow the government to track which shipments are accompanied by low dead space syringes and which are not, according to an individual close to the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the details.
Vials accompanied by regular syringes will be counted as five doses against Pfizer’s contract for 200 million shots, and those accompanied by special syringes will count as six shots toward contract fulfillment.
Actually, now that I look, the New York Times article says the same thing.
"Sorry, as a pharmaceutical company, accuracy isn't our strong suit. Remember when we bribed your physician to push you to take anti-psychotics unnecessarily? Blame sloppiness in our market targeting. Remember when we misplaced data showing that your cholesterol drug would give you diabetes? Anywho, we recommend you salvage those vaccine vials from the bin if you want to save the lives you expected to. A deal's a deal. Suckers."
Editing to add (and a line above): Sorry to do little else but vent spleen. This news pokes an ancient sore spot in me and sits square on a tiny balloon of hope that I've been nurturing. The words "churning with fury" are applicable.
When your party trick becomes the expectation...
That's really a shady move on Pfizer's part.
So now that we have an actual president again, can we hope to see this terrible FDA decision reverted?
I'm not sure it's a bad decision? It's good that the vaccine is being stretched further. That unfortunately means the Pfizer gets paid more than if it were done unofficially, but pretending that there are only 5 doses when you can get 6 is ignoring reality. Arguably, Pfizer is getting ripped off if they're not paid.
It's a terrible time to be getting into a dispute over the price and it's unfortunate that Pfizer wants to hold the government to the contract, but this is an emergency and the Biden administration should just throw more money at the problem. Sign another contract for more doses, and pay a bonus if they're delivered early, too. Any increased speed getting people vaccinated will more than pay for itself.
The article makes it seem that getting the sixth dose out is less than a guarantee. Some pharmacies haven’t been able to do it, and some need special equipment and syringes. It seems just as bad to pay Pfizer for 6 doses when only 5 are able to be used as the opposite.
They do need the right syringes as explained here. It looks like they worked something out:
Biden wants to squeeze an extra shot of vaccine out of every Pfizer vial. It won’t be easy
Actually, now that I look, the New York Times article says the same thing.