38. Pfizer’s CEO on the Big Gamble That Brought Us the COVID Vaccine

Freakonomics, M.D.

Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Society & Culture, Science

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2022

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bapu Jena talks with Albert Bourla about his unusual path to the top, developing a life-saving vaccine in record time, and the second-hardest decision he made along the way.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Like most of us, Dr. Albert Borla remembers the first time he heard about a novel coronavirus
0:11.3	that was spreading in China.
0:13.9	The first thing that came to my mind is I have thousands of people working for us in
0:18.9	China.
0:19.9	I had manufacturing sites, I had research centers in China and we were just monitoring
0:24.0	the situation but with an eye that this is only time.
0:27.6	But as the coronavirus began its march around the world in early 2020, it became clear
0:33.0	that the disease it caused COVID-19 would be impossible to contain.
0:38.3	In February, things started to getting more and more visible from Asia, things went
0:44.8	into Europe and went straight to Italy and I started worrying about it and I traveled
0:53.8	there a week after and that is when I realized things are going to be very bad.
1:02.9	My name is Albert Borla, the CEO of Pfizer since 2019.
1:07.7	As he traveled home from a cancelled conference in Greece, Albert Borla was already forming
1:12.6	a plan.
1:13.6	I decided to take the plane and go back immediately and on the plane I realized that that's affecting
1:19.9	the whole world.
1:21.2	So I was having time to reflect what we need to do and what is our role.
1:27.2	From the Freakonomics Radio Network, this is Freakonomics MD.
1:30.6	I'm Bob Gujena, I'm a medical doctor and I'm also an economist.
1:34.6	Today you'll hear my conversation with someone who in a way also straddles these two worlds
1:40.4	and a few other ones too.
1:42.9	When I was elected as CEO, the first statement that I made to import the members was only
	...

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