Pfizer defends COVID-19 vaccine after Trump criticism
NEW YORK: Pfizer said on Wednesday (Sep 3) its COVID-19 vaccine has saved more than 14 million lives worldwide, after US President Donald Trump urged pharmaceutical companies to justify the success of their pandemic drugs.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he had seen "extraordinary" data from firms such as Pfizer but accused them of withholding results from the public and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Pfizer said it welcomed Trump’s call for transparency and pointed to a dedicated section on its website where it publishes clinical trial results and safety updates.
OPERATION WARP SPEED PRAISED
Chief executive Albert Bourla hailed Operation Warp Speed, the US government’s 2020 programme to accelerate vaccine development and distribution, as a "profound public health achievement" under Trump’s leadership.
He said the initiative helped avert more than US$1 trillion in healthcare costs and argued that such an accomplishment would "typically be worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize".
CDC TURMOIL
The comments come as turmoil grips the CDC. Last week, its director Susan Monarez was fired less than a month into her tenure after resisting policy changes advanced by Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, a Trump appointee.
Her dismissal triggered the resignation of four senior officials, who cited what they called an erosion of public health credibility. Kennedy has since rescinded federal vaccine recommendations for pregnant women and healthy children and halted about US$500 million in mRNA research projects.
He is due to testify before the Senate Finance Committee later this week, with lawmakers expected to question him about the CDC leadership crisis and vaccine policy shifts.
Pfizer said information on its latest COVID-19 vaccine strain, recently cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration, would be released in the coming days.
