Pfizer, Moderna defend Covid-19 vaccine effectiveness after Trump remarks
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Pfizer pointed to a dedicated section on its website where clinical trial findings and safety updates are posted.
PHOTO: AFP
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NEW YORK - Pfizer and Moderna defended their Covid-19 vaccines as having saved millions of lives worldwide, in separate responses to US President Donald Trump’s demand that pharmaceutical companies should justify the success of their pandemic drugs.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump asserted that he has seen “extraordinary” data from companies such as Pfizer, but criticised them for withholding results from the public and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Pfizer welcomed Mr Trump’s demand for openness and pointed to a dedicated section on its website where clinical trial findings and safety updates are posted. Moderna said it would compile previous disclosed research and findings on its website.
“We are immensely proud of the role we played in the historic achievements of Operation Warp Speed,” Moderna said, praising the US government’s 2020 initiative to accelerate vaccine development, manufacturing and distribution.
Pfizer chief executive officer Albert Bourla praised Operation Warp Speed, the US government’s 2020 initiative to accelerate vaccine development, manufacturing and distribution, calling it a “profound public health achievement” under Mr Trump’s leadership.
He said the programme helped in averting over US$1 trillion (S$1.29 trillion) in healthcare costs, adding that such an accomplishment would “typically be worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize”.
The companies’ announcements comes amid escalating turmoil at the CDC.
Last week, director Susan Monarez was fired
Her removal sparked the resignation of four senior CDC officials, who blamed the erosion of public health credibility.
Mr Kennedy has also rescinded federal Covid-19 vaccine recommendations for pregnant women and healthy children and halted about US$500 million in funding across 22 mRNA vaccine research projects, including those targeting Covid-19.
As tensions over federal immunisation policies and public health directives grow, Florida announced plans on Sept 3 to end all state vaccine mandates, including for children to attend schools.
He is set to testify before the Senate Finance Committee later this week, where lawmakers are expected to probe the CDC’s leadership crisis and ongoing policy shifts.
Pfizer also said new information on its latest vaccine strain, recently cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration, will be published in the coming days. REUTERS
