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The CEO of Pfizer, called for the respectful observance of protection measures, considering that it is a matter of time to reach the end of the pandemic.
“Until we get to this point, please everyone, wear masks, follow the instructions given by the health authorities. “We are in the last stage, it would be a shame if some suffered health adventures and lost people because they did not pay attention in the last days,” he said in his exclusive interview with the main ERT1 newsletter.
Albert Bourla, presented the plan, schedule and details on the availability of vaccines and provided information on the number of doses that will arrive in Greece.
What did you say European Union will be available 200 million installments in 2021 and each country will receive its share per population, taking into account that in Greece there are around two million doses.
Regarding the delivery procedures, he pointed out that everything is going according to the existing plan as well as that the delivery is carried out in compliance with all the prescribed safety standards.
At the same time, he stressed that he feels “blessed” by the achievement of the vaccine discovery and the rapid approval it received and stressed that “we managed to live up to it.” He also expressed optimism about the action of the vaccine against the new strain that has emerged as coronavirus mutation.
Next, the entire interview:
Mr Bourla, Pfizer and Bionteck have received marketing authorization, funding from the European Commission for the COVID vaccine and I would like to ask you what are the next steps for vaccination in the Member States of the European Union.
The news was very pleasant when we received approval, I think we are already preparing to start shipping vaccines immediately, we have promised the European Union 200 million doses by 2021. Of course the European Union also has the right to ask for 100 millions more, we will do what we can to give them.
Each country will receive its percentage based on a formula that corresponds to the percentage of the population. Therefore, Greece will also receive from the first countries.
How many doses of the vaccine will be available, Mr. Burla, for Greece, when are they expected to be delivered and who will be the first to be vaccinated?
I think we will start deliveries immediately! In the European Union and consequently in Greece, I believe that already between 90 and 100,000 doses I estimate that Greece will be able to receive in December.
Of course you can play a bit in the first weeks of the mission. So I think we have 2 million quotas corresponding to Greece or 1.9, something like that, of the 200 million that the European Union receives, but I’m not entirely sure! Shipping will be done simultaneously in all Member States!
Is there a timetable for the second batch of quotas that will arrive in Greece approximately?
Yes, there is a schedule for all shipments, but I cannot provide details at this time.
Will the doses of Mr Bourlas’s vaccine, intended for Greek citizens, be delivered and distributed in a timely manner at vaccination points and in accordance with appropriate safety regulations?
I am absolutely sure that they will be made to the proper safety standards, we verify every detail until the last stage of delivery of these vaccines, so I have no doubts about it.
Also, I hope that even though it is a gigantic task to ship vaccines to so many countries in the world at the same time, I believe that everything will go according to plan.
So far there have been no problems when shipping to England or America, which is quite difficult, so I think everything will work out.
Mr Bourla, what has been bothering the whole planet for the last few days is the news of the coronavirus mutation, and I would like to ask you how dangerous this mutation can be in the end and if it affects vaccines that are ready to be released. .
I think that to understand how dangerous it is, it will take some time to better understand this new executive that has developed. As for the vaccines, I am moderately optimistic that they will be just as effective in this strain, but we don’t know for sure at this point.
I think I have seen evidence that I can say that I am moderately optimistic, but we will have definitive evidence of whether the vaccines are equal or more effective in this strain in no more than two weeks.
How long;
In about two weeks we will have enough data from the completion of the experiments we are currently doing to see if our vaccine against this new virus is as effective, or more or less.
If these data show that some adjustments are needed in a vaccine, how long will it take for that to happen?
I think it depends on the technology of each vaccine. The good thing about the messenger RNA technology that we use is that I think it will be the shortest way to be able to modify the vaccine because we do not use live or attenuated viruses, we do not even use proteins in the vaccine.
It is a messenger RNA that we send. We can change the code within the liposomes that we have and something that can be done very quickly and have the production of new vaccines immediately.
So I think it will be relatively quick if necessary, but at the moment I am moderately optimistic that it will not be necessary, we will only have to wait two weeks to confirm.
Does the leader personally feel, the leader of a pharmaceutical company that has managed to develop, submit for approval an effective vaccine against COVID and in fact in such a short time?
I feel blessed to have been in this position and at this juncture and have managed, along with all of our staff, to rise to the occasion. It is a very great and deep feeling that I feel.
What do you think was the most difficult task in mobilizing the scientific community and its collaborators to reach the preparation of the vaccine and finally its release?
Look. You always say you need luck for something so difficult, but vaccine development was not luck. It was a concrete effort, people knew what they were doing. We faced thousands of problems and had to solve all the problems as they came to us.
As in any project of this type, what plays an important role, especially for the leader, is to make his people believe that it can be achieved. Whenever you try to do something that never happened, and even when you try to beat the previous record by a lot, it’s very important to be able to convince people that they can do it and I think that was the most important thing that played a role in that. effort.
Pfizer has been operating in Greece for 60 years and I would like to ask you what are your plans for the future of the company in our country, given that an investment has already been made in Thessaloniki.
Investing in Thessaloniki is very important to us. Thessaloniki was chosen not because we wanted to do someone a favor. But because we believe that with his sword he will be able to face the very demanding, the very high demands that we have for such a center.
The scientific staff that we have been able to recruit so far is excellent. We are very satisfied with the applications that have been made and the people we have finally hired, which is a small percentage of those who have applied. About 20% of the applications you should know that they were Greeks abroad, that they wanted to return to Greece.
This achievement, or rather the results of the first attempt to create a digital research center in Thessaloniki, because we were so happy, we decided to create a second center that will be a service center in the company, services for Pfizer that are given from Thessaloniki to the whole world.
And this second center will employ at least 350 people, so we are talking about 600 people in the first phase that we will hire in Thessaloniki and I am very proud that …
Or imagine that you will be twice as proud because Thessaloniki is also your homeland.
Yes, it is my homeland, it is the place where I have all my good friends. My good friends are from the high school years, it is the place where I have my relatives, my sister, my nieces. It is the city that I love more than any other in the world.
All your people in Thessaloniki, who have been so badly affected by the coronavirus all this time, what were you asking them? You especially, who do you have the opportunity to talk to?
They asked me the things that everyone asks. When will we have a vaccine, if I think we will have a vaccine, if I think it will be safe, if I think the pandemic will end, if I think we will find cures and of course, because they love me, they asked me how I was, if I could bear it? under pressure if they can do all the things you expect for me.
Can you take the pressure, Mr. Mock? Because vaccination against the coronavirus is truly one of the largest operations in the history of mankind.
Yes, I think I can bear it.
I would very much like to thank you for our conversation in the main ERT newsletter and wish you happy holidays especially with health to all.
Thank you and through your show I wish all our fellow citizens the best Christmas wishes for the new year and we look forward to a better life and a return to normalcy soon enough.
But until we get to this point please everyone, wear the masks, follow the instructions given by the health authorities. We are in the last stage, it would be a shame if some suffered health adventures and lost people by not paying attention in the last days!
Do you think we’ve reached the end, are we reaching the end?
I firmly believe it. It may take some time, but for now the solutions we have in our hands are so effective that it is only a matter of time before we get to the end.
