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Albert Bourla
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  • Pfizer will fulfill the country’s 200 million vaccine purchase two months earlier than expected. 
  • CEO Albert Bourla said the US will get 120 million doses in the first quarter, 20 million more than initially promised. 
  • The FDA changed Pfizer’s vial labels to acknowledge they contain six doses, not five.
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Pfizer will supply the US with 200 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine two months sooner than expected, according to the firm’s chief executive.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said the US, which bought 200 million initial vaccine doses from the firm last year, will get the shipment two months earlier than expected after the FDA changed changed labels to account for “extra doses” in vials.

Bourla, speaking at Bloomberg’s virtual Year Ahead Summit on January 26, said Pfizer will provide the US with 120 million doses in the first quarter, 20 million more than initially promised.

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Shortly after the Food and Drug Administration allowed for emergency use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, US pharmacists reported squeezing six or seven doses out of vials that were supposed to contain just five.

Pfizer lobbied the FDA to change the wording on vaccine labels to acknowledge vials contained six doses, not five, The New York Times reported. The change allows Pfizer to ship fewer vials to the US, leading Pfizer to fulfill promised shipments sooner than expected.

The Trump administration reportedly rejected Pfizer's offer to buy additional doses last summer, meaning the pharmaceutical firm will fulfill obligations to other countries before the US can get more shots.

As US COVID-19 cases reached record highs this winter, the Trump administration failed on a promise to inoculate 20 million Americans by 2021. Insider's Hilary Brueck reported most states botched the COVID-19 vaccine rollout by a creating a hodgepodge of policies that confused many residents on how and when to get shots.

The pace of the vaccine rollout increased slightly after states began inoculating elderly residents. Just over 3 million Americans have received the full two-dose vaccine, per the CDC. 

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 have begun declining, but health officials are warning Americans to be wary of new, more contagious coronavirus variants identified in some states.

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