Pfizer CEO Says ‘Good Chance’ They’ll Know if Covid Vaccine Works by End of October

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla spoke with Face the Nation‘s Margaret Brennan on Sunday about the pharmaceutical giant’s Covid-19 vaccine and the timeline for both proving it, and approving it for the American people. Bourla said the company will know whether the vaccine works or not by the end of next month.

“Do you still expect to know by next month if your vaccine is effective,” Brennan asked right off the bat.

Bourla said that, yes, they will know “if the product works or not by the end of October,” and emphasized that he is not saying that it will work by that time, but only that they will know whether it works by that time.

After some discussion of the testing pool, Brennan again asked about timelines and guarantees.

Brennan asked Bourla to make a statement about the vaccine not being available before the election, though not in so many words.

“Can you say to our viewers, though, very clearly here, on the science and on the protocols that it just, they’re going to have to wait until 2021 to get that shot in the arm,” she said.

“I don’t know if they have to wait until 2021 because, as I said, our status, we have a good chance that we will know if the product works by the end of October, and then of course it is regulators job to license or not,” he said, refusing to pin down a timeline over which he has no specific control.

Brennan interrupted him to ask “you think you could get the FDA to approve it as safe and distribute it across, to Americans, before the end of the year?” Which is not what he said. He said he can’t say what the FDA will do because, obviously, he can’t.

Nevertheless he answered. “I cannot say what the FDA will do, but I think it’s a likely scenario and we are preparing for it,” he said. “For example we started already manufacturing, and have already manufactured hundreds of thousands of doses.”

“We will be ready,” said Bourla. Just in case. Even if Brennan would rather it wait.