Pharma executives promise lawmakers they won’t cut corners with Covid-19 vaccines

The major theme that emerged from yesterday's congressional hearing with pharma executives whose companies are developing a Covid-19 vaccine: don't worry about the safety and efficacy of a future vaccine. Representatives from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Moderna, and Pfizer pushed back on concerns lawmakers raised about the FDA prematurely approving a Covid-19 vaccine. Pfizer's chief business officer, for instance, expressed that the speed at which his company was moving toward a vaccine — the company is planning on launching a 30,000-person trial later this month — is not because it's cutting corners but because of the significant financial risk it is undertaking in the process. And when asked about pricing, only two companies — AstraZeneca and J&J — committed to non-for-profit sales of their vaccines.