There has been no greater beneficiary of the SARS-2-COV than PFE and MRNA. IN PFE's case, its relationships with EU and US leaders appears to have disproportionately supported their bid to be the vaccine supplier of choice. PFE's CEO, Albert Bourla's relationship with the European Commission President, Ursula Von Der Leyen is be warm enough that they can negotiate a 900 dose vaccine contract via text. The EU's ombudsman was not amused. Mr. Bourla has also called President Joe Biden, "a good friend."
Yesterday, Health and Human Services announced an agreement with PFE to purchase 105 million doses of COVID vaccine with an option to purchase up to 300 million. Total cost is estimated at $3.2B. The vaccines are expected to be variant specific, in response, one supposes to the VRBPAC meeting on Tuesday where some evidence was offered that PFE and MRNA had products that might work against the Omicron variant.
That result - if we can call it that, the meeting was rushed, the questions general and the voting not clearly disclosed - begs an important question, "How do they know Omicron is coming back?" Or are we just going to guess if it works on one variant it will work on another?
The size of the US contract begs another questions. COVID vaccines appear to be the central focus of PFE now, relative to its other products. What happens if say, COVID ceases to be a public health concern for the federal bureaucracy? What if the safety concerns - legitimate or not - break out into the open at State Health Departments as some researchers think they should?
Is PFE an epic roll-over story?
Emily Evans
Managing Director – Health Policy
Twitter
LinkedIn
