One of Australia’s top doctors has hit back at claims from Pfizer CEO, Albert Bourla, that people will need a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose.
Australia’s former Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Nick Coatsworth, said Bourla needed to stop talking about more doses of the COVID vaccine and instead use some of the enormous profits Pfizer has made to help tackle pneumococcal disease.
“Be like Astra,” Dr Coatsworth tweeted on Tuesday.
READ MORE: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla discusses journey to deliver COVID vaccine and investing in Greek youth.
Pneumococcal disease is a bacterial infection which kills more than 300,000 children under the age of five each year, with the majority of deaths occurring in low-income countries.
Dr Coatsworth told news.com.au that the pneumococcal vaccine would have an even greater impact for children globally than the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Pneumococcal disease is a bigger problem than COVID,” he said.
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The Australian doctor said Pfizer’s actions were quite the contrast to AstraZeneca which had pledged not to profit from the vaccine as long as it remained a pandemic.
While AstraZeneca has recently announced it is moving to a for-profit model for the COVID-19 vaccine it developed with the University of Oxford, the vaccine will continue to be sold at cost for developing nations.
Source: news.com.au.
