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Pfizer confident it can keep up with Biden’s goal of 1 million vaccinations a day

By the end of last year, Pfizer says 20 million doses were already delivered to the United States, and more are on the way.

News 12 Staff

Jan 15, 2021, 10:44 PM

Updated 1,435 days ago

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President-elect Joe Biden has the goal of the United States administering 1 million vaccinations a day for his first 100 days— and Pfizer says it is prepared to keep up.
By the end of last year, Pfizer says 20 million doses were already delivered to the United States, and more are on the way.
The United States is purchasing 200 million doses from Pearl River's Pfizer that are set to be delivered by July. The company tells News 12 that it's confident its manufacturing can keep pace with the new administrations bold plan of distributing 100 million doses in 100 days.
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Despite the fast production of vaccines, complaints are pouring in about the lag getting them administered.
"People keep asking me for mass vaccination centers—great idea,” says Rockland County Executive Ed Day. “In order to do that we need something to vaccinate people with, we are nowhere near that right now."
This week Rockland County, Good Samaritan Hospital and Montefiore Nyack all confirmed they're out of vaccines.
Dr. Mark Geller, the CEO of Montefiore Nyack, says, "Our schedule is closed until we get more vaccines. We ran out of vaccines early this week and have not received word of next allocation."
Gov. Andrew Cuomo confirmed Friday 74% of vaccines in New York went into arms in the mid-Hudson region, earning a 76% vaccination performance score by the state.
"We're receiving 300,000 doses per week— it takes six months to do 7 million people at 300,000 per week," says Gov. Cuomo. "What they did was like opening the flood gates of eligibility and you have a rush of 7 million…that entire flood has to go through the syringe."
State officials say they are confident that if Biden speeds up distribution, the same will be seen with shots in the arm.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended adding people with pre-existing conditions to the vaccination list. The state is waiting on more federal guidance about what is defined in that category.