Trump is hosting a ‘vaccine summit’ to discuss the ‘success’ of Operation Warp Speed. The governors of Florida and Texas will join, Moderna and Pfizer declined the invite.

• Senior administration officials revealed details of President Donald Trump’s December 8 “vaccine summit” during a call Monday evening.
• At the summit, Trump will sign an executive order stating the US would provide vaccines to Americans before aiding other nations.
• Moderna and Pfizer declined invitations to the summit.
• Administration officials said the companies did not think it would be “appropriate” to attend because the head of the FDA’s vaccine vetting process would speak at the summit.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump will host a “vaccine summit” Tuesday night to “congratulate” his administration’s vaccine effort.

The White House released details of President Donald Trump’s summit, an event where the president will sign an executive order stating the US would provide vaccines to Americans before aiding other nations. STAT News first reported on the summit and Fox News first reported on the executive order. 

Senior administration officials said the December 8 summit will begin with Trump’s executive order signing, and feature remarks from Moncef Slaou, Operation Warp Speed chief advisor, and Gustave Perna, chief operations officer for Operation Warp Speed.

Alex Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services, will moderate a panel with the governors of Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, and Florida, who will talk about their plans to get COVID-19 vaccines to jurisdictions in the state. 

Read more: Pfizer’s top scientist tells us the pharma giant is already thinking about a new version of its coronavirus vaccine for 2021 that can overcome one of its biggest limitations

Moderna and Pfizer declined invitations to the summit. Senior administration officials said the companies did not think it would be "appropriate" to attend when Peter Marks, a US Food and Drug Administration lead serving as the head of the vaccination vetting process, would speak on a panel. 

Representatives from CVS, Walgreens, FedEx, and UPS will also speak on their roles in delivering and administering vaccines in the US.

Senior officials said the summit will primarily serve to "congratulate" members of Operation Warp Speed. The agency funded research for six promising vaccine candidates. One of them, Moderna, awaits a green light from the FDA for emergency authorized use. 

The New York Times reported on Monday the Trump administration declined to buy additional doses of Pfizer's vaccine during the summer. The US already bought 100 million doses from Pfizer, enough for 50 million Americans. 

Sources close to Pfizer told The Times the decision might mean the US won't get additional doses until June 2021, due to the company's commitments to other nations.

Senior officials called The Times report "false" on a Monday evening call, and said the country will provide all Americans with vaccines by the end of the second quarter. Operation Warp Speed plans to get enough doses for 20 million Americans by the end of 2020.

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