Massachusetts wanted vaccines directly from Pfizer and Moderna

The federal government was responsible for the distribution and distribution of millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine across the country.

But with vaccines being developed and manufactured here in Massachusetts, government officials initially tried to go directly to the source.

In an interview published Sunday, Marylou Sudders, Massachusetts Health and Human Services Secretary, told CommonWealth Magazine that the government initially tried to work directly with Pfizer and Moderna, the manufacturer of the two COVID-19 vaccines listed in the United States approved, to contract amid concerns. about how the federal government would allocate doses.

“We were actually trying in Massachusetts to get a position at Pfizer and Moderna,” Sudders said, adding that “we were informed that the federal government basically bought all the vaccine” and that it actually had the right of first refusal. has.

According to the federal Department of Health and Human Services, the government has agreed to jointly purchase 400 million vaccine doses from Pfizer and Moderna to distribute across the country. However, before the process was clear, Sudders said Massachusetts wanted to buy doses directly from Pfizer and Moderna, both of which have factories in the Bay State.

“We were initially worried about how the federal government was going to grant the vaccine,” Sudders told Commonwealth. “Initially, we heard complicated formulas, you know.”

The federal explosion of vaccines comes after states in the early stages of the pandemic competed against each other and President Donald Trump’s government for protective equipment and medical equipment.

Sudders said she and Gov. Charlie Baker, Massachusetts, argued that the vaccine should be distributed to states based on their population, who were ultimately federal officials.

Massachusetts expected to receive a total of 300,000 doses by the end of December to start vaccinating health care workers, nursing home staff, first responders and people in homeless shelters and prisons.

Earlier this month, however, Massachusetts and other states reduced their allocations by 20 percent without being explained by the federal government.

“We are definitely frustrated,” Baker told reporters at the time.

Officials, however, stressed that they did not expect the change to have long-term effects on the timing of the state’s deployment plan. Leaders of the federal attempt to distribute vaccines eventually blamed the reduced allocation on an administrative error.

“I can accept that because this is the beginning of the deployment of a vaccine,” Sudders told CommonWealth. ‘We’re going to get vaccinated … about 5.8 [to] 6 million people [in Massachusetts]. We’re going to have our own bumpy-bumpy moments rolling out the vaccine. ‘

Despite being a ‘concern’ by nature, Sudder noted on Sunday that she is now “for the first time” hopeful since the pandemic began due to the increasing availability of the vaccines.

“I really have hope,” Sudders said.