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Some Irish workers and retired Pfizer staff may have significantly increased their savings today after their employer’s announcement of a promising breakthrough on the Covid-19 vaccine.
Pfizer currently has around 4,000 employees in Ireland, including around 800 in Ringaskiddy and Little Island in Cork.
Some current and former employees have shares and stock options with the global pharmaceutical giant.
The company’s pronouncement that its vaccine developed with German firm BioNTech could be 90% effective sent shares soaring 11% before the market opened.
That means that, on paper at least, Irish employees and those who have retired from the company’s 50-plus-year stay in Cork with shares would see an increase in their stock portfolios and planned retirement coffers.
Given the ever-fluid market reaction to such news, the stock price will fluctuate and it remains to be seen how long the stock will fly so high.
One of the first pharmaceutical companies to locate in Ireland, Pfizer has 4,000 employees at six locations in Cork, Dublin and Kildare since it first arrived in 1969, seduced by a generous 12.5% corporate tax rate and a starving population. of well-paid services. jobs in a stable industry.
In May 2019, Pfizer celebrated 50 years on its Ringaskiddy site, which it called an important milestone for the company.
Pfizer’s total capital investment in Ireland has exceeded $ 8 billion (€ 6.74 billion) and its business interests in this country encompass manufacturing, shared services, research and development, treasury and business operations.
Pfizer exports bulk pharmaceuticals, the active ingredients of its human and animal medicines, from its large plant in Ringaskiddy to Pfizer plants around the world. In 2014, a $ 30 million high-tech specialty laboratory was opened at the site.
Last month, it announced a € 300 million equity investment in its Irish operations to further develop existing manufacturing sites at Ringaskiddy, Grange Castle, Newbridge and Ringaskiddy. Another 300 jobs will be created.
Advancing the vaccine is unlikely to involve Cork employees in its production, but Newbridge may have a role in the future.
Most likely, most of the work will take place in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Belgium.
Although scientific experts were quick to gauge expectations around the breakthrough, noting that it has yet to be reviewed by independent scientists, Pfizer bosses were just as quick to grab the world’s attention.
The CEO of the firm, Albert Bourla, called it “a great day for science and humanity.”
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