Washington, Aug. 15 (BUS): The CEO of Pfizer, the leader in producing COVID-19 vaccines, has tested positive for the virus and says he is experiencing very mild symptoms.
Chairman and CEO Albert Burla said Monday that he’s started taking Pfizer’s Paxlovid pill, and is isolating while he recovers, according to the Associated Press.
Burla received four shots of Kommernati, the COVID-19 vaccine that the New York drugmaker is developing with BioNTech. In a brief statement issued by the company, he said he was confident of a speedy recovery.
More than 128 million people in the United States have been fully vaccinated with the two-vaccine Pfizer vaccine since it entered the market more than a year ago and have received nearly 61 million initial booster doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Scientists say the vaccine still offers powerful protection against hospitalization and serious illness. But the evolving virus has made vaccines more difficult to prevent the development of all forms of the disease.
Pfizer and another vaccine maker, Moderna, are updating their shots to provide protection against newer versions of the virus for their fall booster campaign.
Baxlovid has also been shown in research to be very effective at warding off serious illnesses if given soon after symptoms begin.
Comirnaty and Paxlovid are the best-selling COVID-19 vaccine and treatment on the market. Combined, it brought in nearly $17 billion in sales for Pfizer during its recently completed second quarter.
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