VP Pence tweets: HUGE NEWS: Thanks to the public-private partnership forged by President @realDonaldTrump, @pfizer announced its Coronavirus Vaccine trial is EFFECTIVE ...
Pfizer didn’t receive any funding from Operation Warp Speed for the development, clinical trial and manufacturing of the Coronavirus Vaccine. Rather, its partner, BioNTech SE, has received money, from the German government.
BioNTech is credited for contributing the messenger RNA technology, which prompts the body to make a key protein from the virus, creating an immune response. The biotechnology company already had a history of working with Pfizer on influenza vaccines, and in March they clinched a deal to co-develop a shot to prevent against Covid-19 at research sites both in the U.S. and Germany. The two companies began human testing of the vaccine in April, before the existence of Operation Warp Speed.
Berlin gave the German company $445 million in an agreement in September to help accelerate the vaccine by building out manufacturing and development capacity in its home market.
The US precommitted to pay $1.95 billion for 100 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine once it was approved. Pfizer are right to emphasise that they did not receive government funding, because they were exposed to all the costs and risk of vaccine development.
source: Bloomberg