The following is a transcript of an interview with Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla, which aired on Sunday, September 13, 2020 on “Face the Nation.”
Bourla also appeared in “Face the Nation” on March 13, 2022. Read the full transcript of that interview. here.
MARGARET BRENNAN: One of the companies working hard to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 is Pfizer, and CEO Albert Bourla joins us from Westchester, New York. Good morning to you.
CEO of PFIZER DOCTOR ALBERT BOURLA: Good morning, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Are you still waiting to know next month if your vaccine is effective?
DR. BOURLA: Yes, in our base case, we are pretty good: more than 60% will know if the product works or not at the end of October. But of course, that doesn’t mean it works. It means we’ll know if it works.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And then the time clock starts with government approval, which is a key factor. I want to ask you about a Pfizer ad yesterday, which was that you will be expanding your vaccine test to increase diversity. You will go from 30,000 people to 44,000. What do you mean by diversity and what does it mean to you?
DR. BOURLA: Yes, this studio has recruited very quickly. So volunteers from all over the country raised their hand to participate. So we almost ended up with 30,000 people. Now, we feel pretty comfortable with product security. Therefore, we want to expand to more vulnerable populations. For example, let’s go to younger people. Right now, the studio is recruiting from 18 to 85. We will now turn 16. In addition, we will go to people with special conditions, chronic diseases such as H-HIV patients, but we will also try to use it to increase the diversity of the population.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And for diversity, I know from your current study, about a quarter of the participants are racial minorities. We know that when it comes to COVID-19 infections, it is black and brown America that is being disproportionately affected. Is it difficult to recruit racial minorities for your test? And – should there be more in this next phase? If you go a quarter, what is your percentage goal this time around?
DR. BOURLA: Yes, I think we should strive to have as diverse a population as possible, but right now we’re not bad. In fact, we have a population that globally only 60% are Caucasian, about 40% are minorities. In addition, 44% are elderly. And we try, of course, to increase with special emphasis on African Americans and Latinos.
MARGARET BRENNAN: These specific racial minorities, the minorities, are the ones you’re targeting. Why is it hard to recruit them in the first place?
DR. BOURLA: I don’t think it’s harder than other people, but it’s also the focus of our vaccine efforts in places where there’s a lot of disease right now. And that, I think, also reflects the diversity of the population where our clinics are located, not necessarily the nation.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Pfizer and a handful of other major pharmaceutical companies published this letter earlier in the week vowing not to cut safety limits. Several prominent FDA scientists, the agency that will have to tell if your vaccine is safe, also issued a public letter promising the same. Can you tell our viewers, however, very clearly here about science and protocols, that they will only have to wait until 2021 to get this shot in the arm?
DR. BOURLA: I don’t know if they will have to wait until 2021, because, as I said, with our studies, we have a lot of possibilities to know if the product works at the end of October. And then, of course, it’s up to the regulator to issue a license or not. But what I do know is that we have to go out and …
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you think you could get the FDA to approve it as safe and distribute it to Americans before the end of the year?
DR. BOURLA: I can’t say what the FDA will do. But I think it’s a likely scenario and we’re getting ready for it. For example, we have already started manufacturing and we have already manufactured hundreds of thousands of doses, so just in case we have a good read of the study, concluding and the FDA plus the advisory committee feels comfortable that we will be prepared.
MARGARET BRENNAN: There are six U.S. pharmaceutical companies that have taken money from U.S. taxpayers as part of that investment to launch a vaccine. Your company chose not to take taxpayer money as part of your investigation, which means that if you fail, it will be a loss to Pfizer and your pocket. So why do you think it’s worth the risk? And what does it really buy you? How fast do things work?
DR. BOURLA: You’re right, if it fails, it goes in our pockets. And at the end of the day, it’s just money. This will not break the company, although it will be painful because right now we are investing at least a billion and a half in COVID. But the reason I did it was because I wanted to free our scientists from any bureaucracy. When you get money from someone who always comes with ropes. They want to see how we move forward, what kind of moves I will make. They want reports. I didn’t want to have any of that. I wanted them, I basically gave them an open checkbook so they could only worry about scientific challenges, not anything else. And also, by the way, I wanted to keep Pfizer out of politics.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, outside of politics, it’s interesting because we’re talking, of course, that people are concerned about political influence trying to speed up a vaccine. I know you’re saying you won’t cut corners to do that. But given the question of when this is available to Americans, what do you think is the best way to distribute it to the American people? Should the government do that?
DR. BOURLA: Whether you’re talking about who should receive it or not, I think the health authorities of each …
MARGARET BRENNAN: Not just who but how.
DR. BOURLA: I think it will be very difficult for the government to do that. They are likely to work with us because shipping medicines is complex and especially when special storage conditions are required. But we know how to do it very well. So I think it will be a collaboration between the government of each country and us. But who will get the vaccine, I think, is something that the authorities should decide. In the US, for example, the CDC.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Dr. Bourla, good luck to your scientists. Thank you for your time today. And we will be back soon with more FACE THE NATION. So stay with us.
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