Officials are investigating whether storing the vaccines at excessively cold temperatures poses a safety or efficacy risk, he said. Pfizer also has reported some production issues, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said. Officials said Wednesday they plan to allocate 2 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine next week and 5.9 million doses of Moderna Inc’s, assuming it receives regulatory authorisation. It had previously contracted with Pfizer for the option to buy up to 500 million additional doses at an unspecified price. Officials said on Wednesday the United States has already contracted for 300 million vaccine doses between the Pfizer/BioNTech shot and one from Moderna in the first half of next year, and 900 million doses in total from drugmakers developing COVID-19 vaccines.

Source: bd News24 December 16, 2020 18:56 UTC