Controversy over Warp Speed’s decision to keep half of Pfizer, Moderna vaccine doses in reserve

Following FDA’s first authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine, controversy over the Trump administration’s management of pandemic countermeasures will shift from FDA’s reviews to Operation Warp Speed’s procurement and deployment strategies. One of the most consequential points of disagreement concerns Warp Speed’s decision to hold half of the U.S. vaccine supply in reserve to ensure the availability of the second dose of two-dose vaccine regimens.

Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has criticized this approach as being unnecessarily conservative. He advocates maintaining a small reserve and getting as many first doses as quickly as possible into American arms. ...