Trump to meet COVID-19 vaccine makers, distributors next week: Stat News

The Trump administration has invited vaccine manufacturers, drug distributors and government officials to a COVID-19 Vaccine Summit next week at the White House, Stat News reported on Tuesday, citing an invitation obtained by the news organization.

It is scheduled for Dec. 8 and will be attended by President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and private-sector executives, the report said.

The meeting would take place days ahead of reviews of vaccine candidates from Moderna Inc and Pfizer-BioNTech SE Inc by two separate panels of outside experts to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).


Industry officials familiar with the plans for the summit interpreted it as an opportunity for the White House to pressure the FDA to quickly issue emergency use authorizations for the two vaccines candidates, the Stat report said.

Invitees include Pfizer, Moderna and drug distributors, pharmacies, and logistics companies including McKesson, Walgreens, CVS Health, United Parcel Service , and FedEx, the report said, citing three health industry people familiar with the event.

The companies did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.