Pfizer CEO Talks Life With COVID-19: 'I Think We Can Live With the Virus'
At SXSW, Albert Bourla discusses booster shots, treatment and working with the Trump and Biden administrations.
- She has a master's degree in journalism from Syracuse University.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla spoke at SXSW.
Two years into the coronavirus pandemic, vaccine maker Pfizer's CEO Albert Bourla talked to an in-person crowd at SXSW on Monday about existing in a world with COVID-19.
"I think we can live with the virus as we are living with hundreds of viruses right now," Bourla said.
As people continue to feel fatigue around protective measures like masking and social distancing, the virus will keep spreading, he said. At the same time, he flagged the emergence of oral treatments for COVID-19 and the likelihood that many people will contract it, perhaps because they skipped a booster, never got vaccinated, or are exposed to someone who isn't vaccinated.
"That's why treatments can play a huge role," he said, also noting how Pfzier aims to make the vaccine an annual precaution, like a flu shot. Though, he doesn't expect the numbers of people willing to comply with an annual vaccine recommendation to be high.
Bourla's talk comes a day after he told CBS' Face the Nation a fourth dose of the vaccine will be necessary. In early March, the world crossed the grim threshold of 6 million deaths globally since the start of the pandemic. Meanwhile, after the rise of the Omicron variant over the last few months, the number of cases has started to decline in the US, Axios reported last week. All 50 US states have dropped mask mandates.
During his talk, Bourla also discussed the difference between working with the Trump and Biden administrations, saying Pfizer faced pressure from the Trump camp to accept money from Operation War Speed, the federal initiative created to speed up the development and dispersal of the COVID-19.
A CNN fact-check piece noted that while Pfizer did not accept money, the company did work with the program in other ways.