Pfizer is accelerating research on COVID-19 vaccines because there is a “high possibility” that vaccines against the deadly virus will not be effective in the future.
“It is very likely that this will happen someday,” said Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, during a virtual panel at the Davos World Economic Forum in 2021.
Bourla hopes to reduce the time it takes from recognizing an infectious disease threat on a pandemic scale to authorizing vaccines for 100 days or less, Business Insider reported. That’s a third of the time of the Trump Administration’s Operation Warp Speed.
COVID vaccines were produced at record speed thanks to technological advances, major funding efforts and the public’s willingness to participate in testing, the Daily Mail reported.
New York-based Pfizer, which developed its vaccine with BioNTech in Germany, was the first to leave the market with the approval of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Bourla said the company never dreamed that its vaccine would be 95 percent effective. “Almost perfect,” he boasted. The Pfizer photo is one of two versions offered in New York City.
In contrast, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is only 66% effective, although it is better at preventing hospitalization and death than the disease itself.
Bourla said he plans to ensure that the Pfizer injection remains highly effective while the virus mutates. So far, it has only been tested in laboratory versions of the variants found in the United Kingdom and South Africa, both of which emerged in the United States.
The CEO also addressed distribution issues, which he acknowledged were bumpy. “I am very optimistic, very soon we will be able to deliver the doses we promised the world,” said Bourla. By early summer, the world must have the supplies it needs, he said. Pfizer plans to produce 2 billion doses.