WEF Davos: Albert Bourla, CEO of US-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer of its Covid vaccine on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum meeting, but he repeatedly ignored the queries and a video on it has gone viral.
Pfizer's chief executive says the biggest challenge the company and other vaccine-makers faced during the Covid pandemic was negotiating the politics.
Albert Bourla, who was speaking on Thursday on a panel on pandemic preparedness at the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, said mask-wearing, vaccine efficacy or questions about delivering the vaccines were all politicised and were constant obstacles for vaccine-makers.
Uncomfortable inquiries from a Rebel News reporter were observed being directed at the Pfizer CEO. He asked the CEO, among other things, why the vaccine's maker kept it a secret because their product did not stem the spread of the infection. The Pfizer CEO repeatedly sidestepped these inquiries, responding only with "Thank you very much" and "Have a wonderful day." The journalist was heard saying in the film, "We now know that the vaccines do not halt transmission, despite what you (Pfizer) claimed it to be 90, 80, 70, and ultimately 100% effective. Why do you conceal that?"
ven though the journalist didn't ask for a response, he continued to follow the Pfizer CEO. He was overheard wondering whether it was time to apologise to everyone and repay the nations who had purchased vaccines that had failed to protect their citizens. In the early stages of the vaccination effort, the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer requested an indemnity bond that would shield it from legal lawsuits in the event that the vaccine had any negative side effects. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India's state minister for communication and technology, tweeted, "Just to remind all Indians, that Pfizer tried to coerce Govt of India into accepting conditions of indemnification." He attached a video of the Pfizer CEO's awkward encounter with the reporter at Davos. The minister continued by criticising Rahul Gandhi, P Chidamabaram, and Jairam Ramesh of the Congress, asserting that the three men continued to further the cause of distributing foreign vaccines in India.
"People are startled that only three vaccines -- Covishield, Covaxin, and Sputnik -- have been made available in India. Sputnik can be discounted out of the three as just a tiny amount was imported in the beginning, "Chidambaram, a longtime member of the Congress, tweeted on December 27, 2021.
We only have two vaccines left because of the PROTECTIONIST policy of the Modi government. Pfizer, Moderna, and other WHO-approved vaccines are blocked out of India under various pretexts, so we don't have enough vaccines to give the 94 crore adults two doses of each vaccine.
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