Humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders, officially known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, did not accept Pfizer's offer to donate 1 million pneumonia vaccine doses, according to Business Insider.
Here are five notes:
1. Jason Cone, the U.S. executive director of Medecins Sans Frontieres, said the organization would benefit from Pfizer offering them the vaccines at a discounted rate as opposed to dealing with the nuances associated with donations. Mr. Cone wrote in a post, "Donations often involve numerous conditions and strings attached, including restrictions on which patient populations and what geographic areas are allowed to receive the benefits."
2. Pfizer, however, disagrees with MSF's policy and argues the products will significantly help humanitarian efforts around the globe.
3. Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline have been donating the vaccines to MSF for the past two years, but Mr. Cone said this was not a long-term agreement and he has concerns the companies could stop providing the vaccines at any time.
4. A Pfizer spokesperson told Business Insider the company offered the organization 1 million doses, and would provide 100,000 doses right away. Following Mr. Cone's post, Pfizer said the company is seeking other options to provide their vaccines to support humanitarian efforts.
5. Mr. Cone also noted in this post that the donations "appear to be a good 'quick fix' but they are not the answer to increasingly high vaccine prices charged by pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer and GSK."
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