West Virginia’s next allotment of Pfizer vaccine has been cut by almost half, Adjutant Gen. James Hoyer said today, although he said the imminent approval of a vaccine by Moderna would soften the blow.
“We were told last night and had a conversation with the governor late last night,” Hoyer said today on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”
“We have been told our Pfizer allocation will be reduced for next week. We still are trying to get to the ground truth on that. I can tell you the governor was not very happy when I had to inform him last night. He is fully engaged.”
Maj. General of the @WVNationalGuard James Hoyer speaks with @DaveWilsonMN about the rollout of the vaccine. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIRZCB pic.twitter.com/RzwM1ESeYK
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) December 18, 2020
Gov. Jim Justice confirmed during a briefing today that he was not pleased.
“They had some hiccup; I don’t know really what it was and everything,” Justice said. “Hiccups aren’t really permissible in my world when people are dying.”
He said, “I’m sure Pfizer will catch up. I haven’t been very happy about this.”
Reports that Pfizer’s next allotment would be reduced started Thursday. The Washington Post’s headline was “States report confusion as government reduces vaccine shipments, while Pfizer says it has ‘millions’ of unclaimed doses.”
West Virginia officials were also trying to get to the bottom of what happened, Hoyer said.
“We’re still trying to figure out what’s going on between the federal government and Pfizer,” Hoyer said.
The Post described conflicting reports between the federal government and Pfizer.
Federal officials suggested the revised allotment resulted from states requesting an expedited rollout on Tuesday of next week. Because that was bumped up from next Friday and Pfizer is producing doses daily, the available allotment would be smaller.
Pfizer’s own statement contradicted that, though.
“We have millions more doses sitting in our warehouse but, as of now, we have not received any shipment instructions for additional doses,” the statement read.
West Virginia should still be make significant progress on its goal of vaccinating front-line healthcare workers and long-term care residents and staff, Hoyer said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration was expected to approve a second vaccine from Moderna as soon as today.
If that’s the case, Hoyer said, “West Virginia is still going to meet the governor’s intent of meeting the most vulnerable population.”
Hoyer suggested the front-line healthcare workers identified to go first could be complete by the end of the weekend.
And by Saturday afternoon, he said, distribution about 8,000 doses will have been provided to more than 50 West Virginia long-term care facilities.
West Virginia officials an initial Pfizer vaccine order to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for a maximum-allowed weekly ordering cap of 16,575 doses.
West Virginia plans to receive an initial allocation of about 60,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, to be fulfilled over the coming weeks.
For Moderna’s version of the vaccine,, Justice said the initial allocation in West Virginia has been increased to 32,600 doses.
Justice had initially said West Virginia would receive 26,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine.
There will be a limited supply of the COVID-19 vaccine when it first becomes available, so the vaccine will be distributed in phases, based on risk for contracting COVID-19.
The vaccines were coming into five hubs established in West Virginia for regional distribution. Hoyer said that has been going well.
“Everything is out of the hub and into where it goes to be administered, so that is a really good benchmark for us,” he said.