Pfizer Partnership With Trump Administration’s Operation Warp Speed

Monday morning’s news that Pfizer has shown a 90 percent effectiveness rate in its soon-to-be-available vaccine should have been a moment of national unity and joy. More than that, it should have been treated as an achievement by the Trump administration and its efforts through Operation Warp Speed to develop a vaccine. But no sooner had the news broken than outlets like the New York Times and Washington Post sought to make sure Trump got no credit for it.

The Times quoted Kathrin Jansen, the head of vaccine development at Pfizer as saying, “We have never taken money from the US government or from anyone,” and then went on to claim Pfizer was never a part of Operation Warp Speed. This is simply not true.

As NPR reported in July, the government reached a deal for nearly two billion dollars to help distribute the vaccine. Pfizer’s own press release in July announced that the U.S. government placed an initial order of 100 million doses for $1.95 billion. No money went specifically into the vaccine’s research and development, but Pfizer absolutely did take government money, and was forced to walk back Jansen’s statement.

In an update to their story, Newsweek provided this key clarification, “This page has been updated to clarify Jansen’s comments following further details from a Pfizer spokesperson. The spokesperson clarified that its vaccine is linked to Operation Warp Speed, though its research and development has not taken funding from the federal government. The headline was also updated for clarity.”