Pfizer sparked a stock market rally with its Monday announcement that early data shows its coronavirus vaccine is more than 90% effective. It also kicked off a battle over who deserves credit for the preliminary good news.
Others, however, pointed to the fact that Pfizer’s senior vice president and head of vaccine research and development, Kathrin Jansen, publicly distanced the company from the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine initiative. Jansen was quoted Monday by The New York Times as saying, «We were never part of the Warp Speed. We have never taken any money from the U.S. government, or from anyone.» The real story is more nuanced than both Pence’s tweet and Jansen’s comment made it sound. Facts First: Pfizer’s vaccine progress is certainly not solely attributable to the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed public-private partnership program. But it was not accurate for Pfizer to suggest that it is operating entirely apart from Operation Warp Speed; the company has a major agreement to sell at least 100 million doses of its vaccine to the federal government, and Pfizer acknowledged in a Monday statement to CNN that it is in fact «participating» in Operation Warp Speed through this deal. Also, at least some independent experts say the Trump administration deserves partial credit for Pfizer’s progress. It’s true that Pfizer, unlike some other pharmaceutical companies, did not accept federal money for research into a coronavirus vaccine. Pfizer, unlike these competitors, is not getting payments up front even before proving its effort has been successful. However, the Trump administration agreed in July to buy at least $1.95 billion worth of a Pfizer vaccine, at least 100 million doses, if Pfizer does get a vaccine authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. Three experts told CNN that this purchase promise may have played an important role in expediting Pfizer’s vaccine development process. So after Pfizer’s initial claim to the New York Times that it has never been part of Operation Warp Speed, CNN asked the company if there was any more nuance to the situation.
