Article

Easing the Healthcare Burden of the Seasonal Triple-demic and Pfizer’s Unwavering Commitment to Public Health

As the cooler fall and winter months approach, we prepare for the potential seasonal increase in cases of certain respiratory viruses including—COVID-19, influenza (flu), and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Coined a "triple-demic," the concurrent surge of these three respiratory illnesses not only threatens our individual states of health, but can also place a greater burden on healthcare systems worldwide, diverting resources away from other patients in need.  In the 2022-2023 season...

Nobel Prize Awarded to Scientists Responsible for mRNA Breakthrough

Legendary scientist Sir Isaac Newton once shrugged off his own impressive accomplishments by stating, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” He knew that science, and scientific discovery, relies on iteration and progression, and that all progress relies on the groundbreaking work of those who toiled in the past. Or just 15 years ago. Over the weekend, professors at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine...

This Season’s COVID-19 Vaccine Rolls Outs Across U.S.

Our 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccines are now available in pharmacies, hospitals, and clinics across the U.S., following a recommendation by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Most Americans should continue to pay nothing out-of-pocket for this season’s vaccine, with costs covered through their health insurance or, at participating locations, through government programs for eligible uninsured and underinsured people.  Although COVID-19 circulates year-round, cases began climbing...

Research!America Offers $200k Discovery | Innovation | Health Prize for COVID-19 Innovator

Breakthroughs like the COVID-19 vaccine don’t just materialize out of nowhere. They’re borne from bold visions, buoyed by constant collaboration, and realized only through persistence, perseverance, and hard work. And you never know where the next innovation—or the visionaries responsible for it—might come from. Research!America knows this, as well. That’s why Pfizer is proud to support their $200,000 2023 Discovery | Innovation | Health Prize, which aims to recognize and provide support for...

Global and U.S. Agencies Declare End of COVID-19 Emergency

On May 5, more than three years since COVID-19 was designated as a pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an end to the global Public Health Emergency (PHE) for COVID-19.1 Following an initial announcement earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared the same for the United States, effective on May 11.2 Here are three important points to keep in mind as we enter this post-emergency period: COVID-19 is still here The Public Health...

Improving COVID-19 Vaccine Access in Partnership with Amref Health Africa

A community member while receiving a COVID-19 vaccine in Uganda. Photo credit: Amref Health Africa.More than three years into the pandemic, for some, access to care to help prevent COVID-19 may only mean a 10-minute trip to a doctor's office or pharmacy. For many others, however, vaccines and basic healthcare, including efforts that help to treat and prevent COVID-19, may still be out of reach.Despite advances to improve COVID-19 vaccine access, disparities remain. Nearly three in four people...

Programs & Initiatives

Three Pfizer Partnerships to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine into African Countries and Vaccinations into Arms

In 2020, as Pfizer and BioNTech were still developing the COVID-19 vaccine, Julie Jenson was thinking about how to distribute that vaccine to every country around the world, regardless of that country’s means. Jenson, who is Director of International Product Access for Pfizer’s Global Health and Social Impact Team, knew even in those early days that the ultracold storage demands and shipping requirements of the vaccine could pose challenges in reaching people living in remote areas of low- and...

Amid COVID-19 Global Pandemic, The Pfizer Foundation Helps IRC Pursue Urgent Expansion of Health Access in Humanitarian Settings

There are more displaced people today than at any other point in history.1As part of Pfizer’s mission to ensure better health is possible for everyone, everywhere, The Pfizer Foundation has partnered with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an organization that helps people affected by humanitarian crises to survive, recover, and rebuild their lives in over 40 crisis-affected countries, as well as communities throughout Europe and the Americas.The IRC has decades of experience responding...

Continuing to Follow the Science: An Open Letter from Pfizer Chairman and CEO Dr. Albert Bourla

Last December, Pfizer and our collaborator, BioNTech, achieved our goal of creating the first COVID-19 vaccine to receive Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – and we were thrilled when other companies’ vaccines were subsequently authorized, as well. Together with our industry peers and the cooperation of the broader global health community, we’ve helped protect more than two billion lives around the world and counting. With more than 1.5 billion doses...

An Open Letter from Pfizer Chairman and CEO to Colleagues

Dear Colleagues, The recent announcement that the United States Trade Representative will discuss options to waive some COVID-19 vaccine intellectual property (IP) rights has created some confusion to the world. Has Pfizer done enough to ensure fair and equitable distribution of our COVID-19 vaccine? Is the proposed waiver going to bring solutions or create more problems? I am writing to you today to discuss these questions. Fair and equitable distribution was our North Star from day one. In...

Albert Bourla Reflects on the One Year Anniversary of the COVID-19 Pandemic

One year. That’s how long it has been since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Sometimes it feels like the year went by in the blink of an eye. More often, however, it feels more like five years have gone by since many of us last gathered with loved ones, went to a movie theater or grabbed coffee with colleagues at the office. But regardless of how long it has felt to each of us, I think we can all agree it has been a year defined by loss, learning and an...

Albert Bourla On Ensuring Equitable Access to COVID-19 Vaccines

We have crossed another milestone in the fight against COVID-19. I am proud to announce that Pfizer and BioNTech have signed an advanced purchase agreement with COVAX for up to 40 million doses of our COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, subject to the execution of additional agreements under the COVAX structure. Since the very beginning of our vaccine development program, Pfizer and BioNTech have been firmly committed to equitable and affordable access of COVID-19 vaccines for people around the world...