Pfizer will supply the US with 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses 2 months sooner than expected because of 'extra' doses extracted from vials

• Pfizer will fulfill the country's 200 million vaccine purchase two months earlier than expected.
• CEO Albert Bourla said the US would get 120 million doses in the first quarter of 2021, 20 million more than initially promised.
• The FDA changed Pfizer's vial labels to acknowledge they contain six doses, not five.

Pfizer will supply the US with 200 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine two months sooner than expected, according to the firm's chief executive.

CEO Albert Bourla said the US, which bought 200 million initial vaccine doses from the firm last year, would get the shipment two months earlier than expected after the Food and Drug Administration changed labels to account for "extra doses" in vials.

Bourla, speaking at Bloomberg's virtual Year Ahead Summit on January 26, said Pfizer would provide the US with 120 million doses in the first quarter of 2021, 20 million more than initially promised.

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Shortly after the FDA allowed for emergency use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, US pharmacists reported squeezing six or seven doses out of vials that were supposed to contain just five.

Pfizer lobbied the FDA to change the wording on vaccine labels to acknowledge vials contained six doses, not five, The New York Times reported. The change allows Pfizer to ship fewer vials to the US, leading Pfizer to fulfill promised shipments sooner than expected.

The Times reported the Trump administration rejected Pfizer's offer for additional doses over the summer, which means the pharmaceutical firm will fulfill obligations to other countries before the US can get more shots.

As US COVID-19 cases reached record highs this winter, the Trump administration failed to deliver on a promise to inoculate 20 million Americans by 2021. Insider's Hilary Brueck said in an analysis that most states botched the COVID-19 vaccine rollout by a creating a hodgepodge of policies that confused many residents on how and when to get shots.

The pace of the vaccine rollout increased slightly after states began inoculating older residents. Just over 3 million Americans have received the full two-dose vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 have begun declining, but health officials are telling Americans to be wary of new, more contagious coronavirus variants identified in some states.