Thu, 14 Jan 2021 10:26 UTC
When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna permission to distribute their experimental mRNA coronavirus vaccines to Americans on an emergency use basis in December, it opened the floodgates for other countries to quickly follow suit.
By Jan. 11, counting China and Russia, 43 countries had administered at least 26 million doses of vaccine especially Pfizer s with far more ambitious plans for the coming year. The companies global delivery targets for 2021 include two billion Pfizer/BioNTech doses and at least 600 million Moderna shots.
Drawing on the tried-and-true marketing technique of drumming up the illusion of scarcity to accelerate demand, U.S. officials have been attempting to direct the public s attention to the concocted drama of vaccine supply shortages and a slower-than-expected rollout.