Vaccine developers Pfizer and Moderna on Monday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump's invitation to attend a White House "Vaccine Summit."
The meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, comes ahead of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) review of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine candidates. It will be attended by Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and private-sector executives.
Industry officials familiar with the plans for the summit interpret it as an opportunity for the White House to pressure the FDA to quickly issue emergency use authorizations for the two vaccine candidates, Stat News reported last week.
Invitees at the meeting include drug distributors, pharmacies and logistics companies such as McKesson, Walgreens Boots Alliance, CVS Health, United Parcel Service and FedEx.
Stat News earlier on Monday reported that Pfizer and Moderna would not be attending the summit, citing sources familiar with the event's planning.