Drugmaker Pfizer says it is participating in the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed program, Breitbart News reports.
The company said Monday afternoon that certain media reports to the contrary, based on a quote from a Pfizer executive, were taken out of context.
“Pfizer is one of several vaccine manufacturers participating in ‘Operation Warp Speed’ as a potential supplier of the COVID-19 vaccine,” the company said in a statement reported by CNN’s Daniel Dale.
“Operation Warp Speed is the Trump administration’s effort to fast-track the development, production and distribution of drugs to fight the virus. The public-private partnership has been widely praised for lowering regulatory barriers, fostering collaboration between government agencies and drugmakers, and providing drug development funding for some participants.
After Pfizer announced that its vaccine candidate was more than 90 percent effective in a pivotal study, some reports falsely claimed that Pfizer was not involved in the project. Pfizer’s statement made it clear that Pfizer was indeed involved in the project. But unlike the other participants, Pfizer did not receive funding from the government for drug development, choosing to assume the financial risk itself. However, the company entered into a contract to sell 100 million doses of the vaccine to the U.S. government if the vaccine was proven to be effective and safe.
“Pfizer also said at the time that they would not accept research and development funding from the federal government because they believed that dealing with government contracts would slow down their research and development progress.” The Spectator’s Amber Athey reports.
Breitbart News reported Monday that Pfizer is participating in the Trump administration’s program, contrary to denials by some critics of Trump and previous statements by Pfizer officials.
The New York Times had reported that a Pfizer vice president, Kathrin Jansen, said, “We’ve never been part of Operation Warp Speed”.
The company later said that statement was taken out of context.
The American Spectator’s Amber Athey also reported on Pfizer’s follow-up statement.
Athey tweeted, “Pfizer told me in a statement that Dr. Jansen’s claim that the company was not involved in Operation Warp Speed was ‘taken out of context’. “
In another tweet, Athey said, “Pfizer had a promise of nearly $2 billion from the Trump administration to buy 100 million doses of a vaccine once it was developed. It is so dishonest of them to now try to distance themselves from that partnership.”
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