"The CEO of the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Albert Burla, spoke today (Saturday) with the Financial Times."
Burla spoke about the decision to make Israel the first significant customer of the company's corona vaccines, and praised the conduct of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Burla told a reporter, David Crowe, during lunch at a Greek restaurant in New York that he had heard that "in Tel Aviv, glasses are being raised for Pfizer's life."
The article states that Israel received vaccines made by Pfizer for its entire population, in exchange for medical data that will show how effective the vaccine is.
Burla told the reporter that what made him choose Israel was its relatively small population size with an impressive electronic data collection capability.
Burla said it was easy to choose Greece, but the country's medical data collection system did not meet the conditions set by the company.
He also said that Sweden was also being considered, but he feared that this would upset other countries in Europe.
The former prime minister alongside Pfizer vaccines who arrived in Israel, Moti Milrod, GPO
"The thing that became clear very quickly was Netanyahu's level of proficiency and control. He just knew everything. He would call me every half hour and ask, 'What about the young people?'
How do they respond to the vaccine?
What about the South African variant?
What are you doing about it? '
"I'm sure he did it all for his people, but I'm also sure he thought 'it could very well serve me politically,'" Burla told the reporter.
When Crowe said that in the end Netanyahu was forced to relinquish power, the CEO replied: "Maybe, but he functioned very well."
Burla also spoke about the conversation he had at the time with the development department of Biontech, in which the data indicated the efficacy of more than 95 of the vaccine developed. "I did not believe, I thought I did not hear well," the CEO admitted. But now, as the Delta variant erodes the vaccine's capabilities and it turns out that its effect fades over time, Burla also expressed concerns: .