The CEO of Pfizer, one of the companies working to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, expressed his disappointment over the politicization of the vaccine’s development.
Albert Bourla told employees in a letter on Thursday that after watching Tuesday night’s presidential debate, he was “disappointed that the prevention for a deadly disease was discussed in political terms rather than scientific facts.”
President Trump has repeatedly insisted that a vaccine might be ready by Election Day. Others, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, have said the process will likely take longer, perhaps until the end of 2020.
Both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have expressed concern that the president might rush the timeline of it in order to provide himself with a political advantage.
Bourla noted that at the beginning of 2020, Pfizer set a goal to submit a vaccine to the Food and Drug Administration in October and have 100 million doses delivered by the end of the year.
In his letter, he did not change that goal but did say, “I can’t predict exactly when, or even if our vaccine will be approved by the FDA for distribution to the public.”
He added that the company was “moving at the speed of science.”
The CEO warned that the political discussion around the vaccine’s development was “undercutting public confidence,” urging his employees to “work together to build trust in the science. That is what we are doing at Pfizer. Imagine the compounded tragedy if we have a safe and effective vaccine that many people didn’t trust.”
