Biden’s COVID task force team is now waving around how they are going to obtain 200 million more doses from Pfizer and Moderna. Everyone is supposed to cheer, but it is both a joke and a horror story. The joke is that Trump’s Operation Warp Speed already created the options in the existing contracts for purchasing the 200 million more doses. (Pfizer responded to the Biden team announcement with the understatement, “We stand at the ready to start negotiations should the White House choose to execute their option for additional doses.”)
The Trump/OWS accomplishment has vaccines for 230 million Americans already arranged. The contracts were signed months ago and the production is actually ahead of schedule. Of a population of around 330 million, there are about 260 million eligible for vaccines. (Those under 16 are not eligible for the existing vaccines.) It would be an excellent and somewhat unexpected accomplishment if 75% of those (or 195 million) agree to be vaccinated, a level easily accomplishing herd immunity. (And were 230 million Americans vaccinated, we would achieve a remarkable 88% vaccination acceptance!) The Biden team is faced with the mid-January good news from Pfizer and Moderna that they will produce 2.6–3.0 billion doses in 2021, or 0.8–1.2 billion more than previously anticipated. That should immediately provoke excitement that 2.2–2.6 billion doses are available for use outside the United States.
