Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald says the idea that there are millions of unclaimed COVID-19 vaccines sitting in a Pfizer warehouse is "astounding."
The Associated Press reported that several states were told by the federal government to expect fewer shipments of the vaccine, but without explanation for the lower numbers.
Pfizer says their production efforts have not changed. In a statement to the AP, the drug company said they have "successfully shipped all 2.9 million doses that we were asked to ship by the U.S. Government to the locations specified by them. We have millions more doses sitting in our warehouse but, as of now, we have not received any shipment instructions for additional doses."
Fitzgerald released a statement Friday morning saying "If this is true, and I have no reason to doubt it, this feeds on the benign neglect by the administration of this national tragedy.
"This is astounding. For every day we delay, another 3,000 Americans die. It's as if the captain of the Titanic keeps life boats in storage while people drown."
Hospitals across the country received the first doses of the vaccine on Monday, including UPMC in Pittsburgh and a nurse was the first in the City to receive the vaccine.
On Thursday, Allegheny country reported 55 new COVID-19 deaths and 850 new cases in 24 hours. A total of 43,857 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the county since March of this year and 2,709 people have been hospitalized with it. There have been 743 deaths.
