The Businessman of the Year for CNN
The pandemic may not be over yet, but life is back to something that for many looks more like normal. Due in large part to vaccinessuch as Pfizer, CNN has chosen to give Albert Burla the title of CEO of the Year.
Among the title contenders were AMD’s Lisa Su, Ford’s Jim Farley, Lowe’s Marvin Ellison, Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai and, of course, Tesla and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, who received the title of Person of the Year from both Time magazine and the Financial Times.
“But Burla was our choice, for what Pfizer has done at a time when coronavirus vaccines have become mainstream (the ‘vaccine’ stood out as the word of the year from Merriam-Webster) and helped stabilize the American “economy – and indeed, the world,” CNN reports.
“Pfizer has done a lot of good for humanity and we are very, very proud of that,” Burla told CNN Business. “We could not just save so many lives. But we are enjoying high levels of business reputation right now. “People like us.”
According to CNN, Pfizer is not the only company that has developed a coronavirus vaccine. But this Big Pharma leader has become synonymous with the fight against the coronavirus, more so than the BioNTech he worked with or Moderna.
In addition, Pfizer has developed a pill that could drastically reduce the risk of serious complications, hospitalization and death for those infected with the coronavirus. Paxlovid has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
As for the spread of the new mutation, Burla told CNN that the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine will control Omicron “quite well”, especially if people take three doses.
However, he acknowledged that the company may need to launch a new vaccine specifically targeting Omicron or any future executives. The company is already developing such a vaccine, which Burla estimates will be approved by March.