Pfizer’s top scientist has dismissed criticism that the company is pushing the widespread administration of Covid-19 booster shots too aggressively and denied it should have developed a more potent jab to stave off “breakthrough infections”.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Philip Dormitzer, chief scientific officer at Pfizer, defended the company against suggestions it was pressing policymakers to roll out third doses of its vaccine — which was developed with BioNTech — before there is a scientific consensus on whether they are needed.
“Our job is to create the tool that’s going to be needed for the problem that’s coming,” he said. “If we waited until there was just widespread breakthroughs of severe disease to advance a solution, we would be way too late.”