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Uncertain demand for COVID shots imposes risk-benefit calculations on doctors

Sep 2, 2024
Some pediatricians say they’re keeping their stockpiles low to avoid being stuck with costly, unwanted vaccines.
The waiting room at Dr. Eric Ball’s office in Orange County, California. Low demand has  pediatricians carefully weighing how many costly COVID vaccinations to order.
Jackie Fortiér/KFF Health News

COVID-19 economy wanes along with pandemic's urgency

Oct 17, 2023
Makers of vaccines, tests and even protective gear are struggling to adjust to slackening demand.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which supplied key products in the battle against the coronavirus, has seen a dramatic reversal of fortune.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Will FDA approval bring a wave of vaccine mandates?

Aug 23, 2021
Mandates will be detrimental to employers in a tight job market.
The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine received full FDA approval Monday. Though more employers may mandate vaccines, more employees may voluntarily get them.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

The upside of the vaccine rollout for the companies making shots

May 3, 2021
The resulting goodwill may prove useful to Pfizer and Moderna.
Karen Andersen, who covers biotech at Morningstar, says the potential sale of booster shots to ward off variants of COVID-19 could be profitable for Pfizer and Moderna.
Matic Zorman/Getty Images

Simmering tensions over EU vaccine distribution threaten to boil over

Jan 27, 2021
The 27-nation bloc is battling with manufacturers over its spot in the priority list for receiving COVID vaccines.
Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images

The cost of "vaccine nationalism": $9 trillion

Jan 26, 2021
With shortfalls in vaccine supplies, countries across the world are concerned about getting their fair share of doses.
A health worker carries syringes to administer Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines at the opening of a new vaccination site at Corsi Houses in Harlem, New York, on Jan. 15.
Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images

Could relaxing patents help poorer countries get vaccines faster?

Dec 15, 2020
India, South Africa, and Kenya want to try. The U.S., EU and U.K. aren't interested.
A medical worker administers the Pfizer BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine to a doctor at a hospital in Miami on Dec. 15.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Dry ice makers pressed to meet demand for vaccine distribution

Dec 11, 2020
Supercold storage is essential. But Is there enough dry ice to go around as the coronavirus vaccine is shipped around the country?
An employee makes dry ice pellets at Capitol Carbonic, a dry ice factory, in Baltimore, Maryland, in November.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Vaccine delivery across the country faces complex supply chain challenges

Dec 10, 2020
Within 24 hours of emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, the vaccine maker Pfizer plans to move the product to patients nationwide.
A worker prepares boxes of vaccines before shipment at a French pharmaceutical company world distribution center.
Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images

U.K. is first to green light Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

Dec 2, 2020
Fifty U.K. hospitals are on standby to administer vaccine shots, which will be available by next week.
U.K. regulators were the first in the world to approve the coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech for widespread use.
Vincent Kalut/Photonews via Getty Images