Pfizer CEO calls CDC’s booster shot decision ‘a very good one’

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Sunday he believes the decision by the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC) to first move forward with booster shots for older, more at-risk Americans and frontline workers was “a very good one.”

“At the end of the day, I think the decision that they made is a very good one, and we are looking forward to be able to vaccinate all these wonderful people so we can put an end to this pandemic,” Bourla said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Asked if the CDC went far enough with booster policy, Pfizer CEO @AlbertBourla tells @GStephanopoulos that “the decision that they made is a very good one.” https://t.co/Ekqp2WJEV7 pic.twitter.com/0P5PbTG7Ya

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 26, 2021

When asked about prioritizing administering shots to people in need of initial doses rather than boosters, Bourla advocated for more vaccinations as a whole.

“I think it is also not the right thing to try to resolve it with an ‘or’ when you can resolve it with an ‘and,'” he said. “It’s not that should we give boosters or give primary doses to other people. I think the answer should be let’s give both.”

“I think it’s not right to decide if you’re going to approve or not boosters based on other criteria other than if the boosters are needed,” Bourla added. 

Bourla also noted that by the end of this month, his company will have produced 2 billion doses of the vaccine with 500 million of those doses going to middle and low-income countries. He projected Pfizer would make another 1 billion doses by the end of the year.

When asked about the vaccine eligibility of children, Bourla said Pfizer would be submitting that data to the FDA for approval “pretty soon.”

“It’s a question of days, not weeks,” he said.