Does Operation Warp Speed Deserve Credit for Pfizer’s Success in Developing a COVID Vaccine?

The pharma giant did not take federal money for research and development, but it did sign an advance purchase agreement.

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On Monday, Pfizer announced that in trials, its COVID-19 vaccine candidate was more than 90 percent effective in preventing the disease. Pfizer, which is developing the vaccine in conjunction with German drug company BioNTech, is now, according to a press release from the company: “working to prepare the necessary safety and manufacturing data to submit to the FDA to demonstrate the safety and quality of the vaccine product produced.”

In response to Pfizer’s announcement, Fox News contributor and conservative podcast host Sara Carter tweeted the following:

Operation Warp Speed is a federal initiative developed earlier this year with the goal of making and distributing “300 million doses of safe and effective vaccines with the initial doses available by January 2021,” according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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  1. Keith S.

    James Capretta with AEI is incorrect that Pfizer took money in advance from OWS and that it helped lower the company’s risk. Pfizer and BioNTech will receive $1.95 billion “upon the receipt of the first 100 million doses, following FDA authorization or approval.” All of the risk is on Pfizer and BioNTech with no risk assumed by OWS. https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-announce-agreement-us-government-600

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      DougAz

      What I said. No response. It's okay to be wrong. Actually BioNTech did 100% of the development and work without any Pfizer help essentially. They had multiple funding sources.

      It is a fantastic good news story of two Muslim Turkish immigrants to Germany (which has the 2nd largest Turkish population) being entrepreneurs... inside a country with a National Healthcare system. Cleary success.

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    DougAz

    Here is the real story of Germany's Turkish immigrant husband and wife - who did the work on the Pfizer vaccine. This is genius, drive, awareness, action. Scientists at the best.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/business/biontech-covid-vaccine.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

    Please note: Dr Ugur Sahin, and Dr. Özlem Türeci, the couple who founded BioNTech.

    BioNTech began work on the vaccine in January, after Dr. Sahin read an article in the medical journal The Lancet that left him convinced that the coronavirus, at the time spreading quickly in parts of China, would explode into a full-blown pandemic. Scientists at the company, based in Mainz, Germany, canceled vacations and set to work on what they called Project Lightspeed.

    Even before the pandemic, BioNTech was gaining momentum. The company raised hundreds of millions of dollars and now has more than 1,800 people on staff, with offices in Berlin, other German cities and Cambridge, Mass. In 2018, it began its partnership with Pfizer. Last year, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested $55 million to fund its work treating H.I.V. and tuberculosis. Also in 2019, Dr. Sahin was awarded the Mustafa Prize, a biennial Iranian prize for Muslims in science and technology.

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      DougAz

      Further this is SO WRONG, it is pathetic from James Capretta, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

      “They did accept a $1.95 billion advance purchase agreement for 100 million doses (at $19.50 per dose) and that helped them take on the risk of developing this vaccine,” said Capretta. “There is no question that $1.95 billion from Operation Warp Speed in the form of an advance purchase helped them a lot.”

      I call BS. Pfizer took NO RISK. The US Government took NO RISK. Only Drs. Sahin and Tureci took any, and ALL RISK.

      Pfizer had a pre-existing strategic relationship on other vaccine developments with BioNTech. The only thing the $1.95 billion form Operation warp speed did for Pfizer -was - ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

      Pfizer has ample commercial resources. Headquarters sales and marketing and product management. thousands of field sales reps.

      So, Khaya, kindly, I believe you missed this report, and a word of caution for journalism. The American Enterprise Institute has bright but very biased folks. They promote Agendas obscured in facts. Mr. James Capretta sir - very bad form.

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