Pfizer head concerned over complacency about COVID response

Growing complacency about Covid-19 and politicization of the pandemic response will cost lives as the world is hit by new waves of the virus in the coming months, Pfizer’s chief executive Albert Bourla warned, Report informs referring to the Financial Times.

Bourla said that people were growing “tired” of the measures introduced to slow the spread of the virus, while “politicians want to claim victory.”

Global demand for Covid vaccines, such as the one that Pfizer developed with Germany’s BioNTech, has halved since the start of the year, according to Airfinity. The health data group said people in rich nations were reluctant to take repeated booster shots, while vaccine hesitancy remained common in poorer nations.

Pfizer on May 25 unveiled an initiative to offer all of its patent-protected medicines and vaccines, including the Covid jab, to 45 lower-income nations on a not-for-profit basis.

Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal and Uganda were the first countries to sign on to the “Accord for a Healthier World”. The countries would help identify and resolve hurdles beyond the supply of medicines, Bourla said, such as the need to improve diagnosis, education, infrastructure and storage.

Pfizer has invited other pharmaceutical companies to join the initiative, which is partly funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and asked governments, global health authorities and philanthropists to provide public and private funding.

In the US, meanwhile, Bourla said he was concerned that Congress’s failure to approve the Biden administration’s request for $22.5 billion in funds for Covid vaccines and treatments could leave the nation short of supply.