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Illustrative photo
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In an interview published on the website of the Italian newspaper, Albert Bourla assured: In a few months, there will be no more vaccine availability problem.
We plan to significantly increase our vaccine shipments to European countries in the coming weeks. This quarter, we will deliver more than four times the first: that will be 250 million doses after we shipped 62 million by March – he announced. And we discuss making it even more. I trust we will succeed – said the head of Pfizer.
He also reserved: Of course, there is always the possibility that something will go wrong, as shown by the problems other companies have. But – declared – I am optimistic because we have produced a lot of vaccines so far. He stressed that they are effective “almost 100 percent of the time”.
He confessed that he believed in the chances of a return to normal in the fall. We see this in Israel. Of course, it is a small country with closed borders, departures and arrivals are limited, and the population lives in a state of constant war, so it can quickly respond to the crisis – reserved Greek-born Albert Bourla.
But there we managed to show the whole world that there is hope. That was the meaning of research on Israeli data – he stressed. He pointed out that the real results of the vaccine are visible in Israel.
According to the head of the concern, “when a large part of the population is vaccinated, it becomes possible to return to almost the same life as before”. He said the company talks weekly with the European Union about deliveries and expressed the opinion that the EU was “satisfied”.
At our factory in Puurs, Belgium, we plan to achieve a production rhythm of approximately 100 million doses per month by May; with steady growth in the following months – he announced.
Bourla, when asked how to explain the delay of EU countries in vaccination compared to the US or Great Britain, replied with the proverb: “The neighbor’s grass is always greener”. He also assessed: “If you look at data from Europe, it is not lagging behind other great countries. It is a colossal mission to deliver doses to 447 million people and administer them.”
In the CEO’s opinion, the delivery mechanism works. “All 27 countries receive as much as they asked,” he said. “All doses are coming in, 99.9 percent to be exact. The problem is that the EU is very large and not all suppliers managed to deliver what they promised. But now we are speeding up production and I think there will be no more problems with availability within a few months; enough vaccines, Bourla assured.
He said his company was ready to fill the supply gap caused by problems with AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. “If possible, Pfizer and BioNTech are ready to provide Europe with hundreds of millions more doses in 2022 and 2023 produced in our European factories. Our network has the capacity to produce over 3 billion doses next year,” said the CEO. He admitted that he was talking to both Brussels and heads of state and government.
Of the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, he said: “I have never seen a leader who knows the details of Covid-19 as well as she does.” He admitted that the leaders of the countries he talks to are concerned about their citizens. “At this point, Pfizer’s cooperation with Europe is excellent,” he assessed.
According to the information provided by the head of the concern, the vaccine is effective against various variants of the coronavirus. He added that the vaccine has already been approved for people aged 16-18, and its effectiveness is 100%. He expressed hope for a swift approval also for 12-15 year olds. In addition, as he noted, efficacy studies are now underway in the age group of 5-11 years, 2-5 years and under 2 years of age.
According to Bourla, the coronavirus will be completely under control and “soon Covid-19 will be like the flu.” In his opinion, there are many indications that revaccination will be necessary.
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