Americans could get COVID vaccine shot before year-end, Pfizer CEO says

14-September-2020

Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said the Americans are "likely" to get a shot of the COVID-19 vaccine by year-end. He expected the vaccine to be deployed before the public in the U.S. before the end of 2020.

Bourla said that he is "quite comfortable" that the vaccine the company is developing in partnership with BioNTech SE is safe and that it could be available to Americans before 2021, Bloomberh cited CBS's "Face the Nation" show. Bourla said he doesn't know what the FDA will do but it is a "likely" scenario, and they are preparing for it.

Bourla's New York-based company Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech are being closely watched as frontrunners in the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine alongside Moderna Inc and AstraZeneca Plc. He said Pfizer and its partner have a 60 percent chance of knowing the efficacy of its still experimental vaccine by the end of October.

He said the timing of clinical trial results depends on enough people in the study getting COVID-19 to make the calculation. "But positive results could clear the way for approval."