Pfizer chief honoured for fearlessly “getting us back to life”

Jewish Greek American Dr Albert Bourla knew that his multinational corporation, Pfizer, had saved the world when he heard that the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine had a 95.6% efficacy rate in preventing COVID-19 cases.

Bourla, the chairperson and chief executive of Pfizer, felt “deeply honoured” to receive the Special and Extraordinary Award at the Absa Jewish Achiever Awards on 19 November.

“It’s not often that the SA Jewish Report grants a special and extraordinary award,” Howard Sackstein, the chairperson of the SA Jewish Report, said. “We do so to recognise remarkable individuals not necessarily part of our community, but individuals who have enriched all our lives. We gave this award to Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and maestro Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. This year, coming out of two and a half years of darkness into light and back to life, we want to acknowledge that moment and someone who has shown us the marvels of science and what can be achieved if humanity put its heads together against a common enemy.”

Sackstein said Bourla was “the active ingredient in allowing us to get back to life”.

Said Professor Barry Schoub, the chairperson of the Ministerial Advisory Council on vaccines, “We have come out of the deep and dark pandemic, but there has really been one shining light – the COVID-19 vaccine story. This is one of the most spectacular achievements in biological engineering in the history of medicine. Many scientists can take credit for this, and one of the foremost in that field is Albert Bourla.”

Bourla was determined to galvanise all of Pfizer’s capabilities to create a vaccine in record time. “It was something that had never been manufactured before in the world,” he said. “But we manufactured it in the midst of a pandemic. In those celebratory moments, I often thought of my parents, Mois and Sara Bourla. They experienced so much in their lives. I have always wanted to honour their memory in any way I can.”

Bourla said he’s proud of his Jewish heritage and of being Greek. “What existed in Thessaloniki [where he was born in 1961] was a very vibrant Sephardic community and one of the most vibrant in the world.

“Both my parents turned their experience of surviving the Holocaust into something positive and life-affirming. This helped shape my worldview and ignited my desire to pursue a purpose-driven career which will benefit others.”

Sue Desmond Hellmann, a Pfizer board member, said, “What struck me was how high the stakes were, how visible the risk was, how big the investment was, and how fearless Albert was in taking that risk and demonstrating the confidence he had in his colleagues and the importance of their work to the world.”

Adrian Gore, the founder and group chief executive of Discovery, said, “Pfizer was a remarkably good partner. It wanted to open access to developing countries, it listened to our pleas for vaccines, and crossed many different aspects of the complexities.”

Bourla thanked Sackstein, the SA Jewish Report, and the Jewish Achiever Awards for “this truly humbling recognition. Never as a child growing up in Greece, would I have ever imagined being mentioned in the same breath as people like Mandela, Tutu, and Zander,” he said.

Bourla described it as an “incredibly exciting time to live”, in which “science is increasingly demonstrating the ability to take on the world’s most devastating diseases”.

“My 80 000 Pfizer colleagues are working every day, trying to start a course towards such a future. Inspired by the success of our COVID-19 vaccine, which we delivered in just nine months rather than the traditional eight to 10 years, they are bringing an unwavering focus and incredible ingenuity to delivering breakthroughs that can help patients suffering from other equally debilitating conditions.”