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Dec. 10, 2024 10:12AM EST
Nov. 09, 2020 07:06PM EST
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on the blockbuster COVID-19 vaccine news
Pfizer on Monday announced that its COVID-19 vaccine has proven effective in over 90% of previously uninfected people, and added that it could have 50 million doses available by year-end.
Axios Re:Cap talks to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla about vaccine data, distribution, politics, and how he reacted upon receiving the news.
Highlights:
- Pfizer expects to release safety data next week.
- It plans to let public health officials, in the U.S. and other countries, determine who receives initial doses.
- Once Phase 3 trials are completed and analyzed, Pfizer will release its data for peer-reviewed publication.
- Pfizer did not accept government money for development, in order to better "liberate our scientists" and to "keep Pfizer out of politics."
- Pfizer's independent vaccine advisory committee began receiving data last Thursday or Friday, and met Sunday at 11am. Bourla was informed of the results around 2pm, and says that had the data been available before the election, he would have released it before the election.
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Aug. 30, 2021 11:34AM EST
The harm the Fed wants to avoid by tapering too early
Fed chair Jerome Powell isn’t in a hurry to dial back loose monetary policy because he doesn't want to cause “lasting harm” to the economy.
Why it matters: With the economy progressing, everyone wants to know when the Fed will taper its monthly purchases of $120 billion worth of bonds, an emergency policy intended to keep interest rates low and financial markets liquid during the pandemic.
Driving the news: Speaking at the Kansas City Fed’s Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole on Friday, Powell reiterated his position that the Fed “could” begin to taper its asset purchases by the end of this year.
- He stopped short of formally announcing the timing and pace of that taper, in line with what economists were broadly expecting.
What they’re saying: Powell spent a good deal of his speech explaining why he thinks the forces driving up inflation in recent months are transitory. At one point, he even warned of the perils of dialing back loose monetary policy after misreading inflation signals, a discussion that multiple Fed-watching economists characterized as dovish.
- “If a central bank tightens policy in response to factors that turn out to be temporary, the main policy effects are likely to arrive after the need has passed,” Powell said. “The ill-timed policy move unnecessarily slows hiring and other economic activity and pushes inflation lower than desired.”
State of play: The personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy (core PCE), is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation and it was up 3.6% year over year in July. This is well above the Fed’s average inflation target of 2%.
- However, total employment remains about 5.7 million jobs below pre-pandemic levels.
- “Today, with substantial slack remaining in the labor market and the pandemic continuing, such a mistake [of an early policy move] could be particularly harmful,” Powell said. “We know that extended periods of unemployment can mean lasting harm to workers and to the productive capacity of the economy.”
The big picture: Despite all of this caution, Powell said “it could be appropriate to start reducing the pace of asset purchases this year” as the trajectory of the labor market suggests employment will continue to rise at a robust rate.
What to watch: The next U.S. jobs report will be released on Sept. 3. If the number is strong, we could hear the Fed announce the timing of tapering as soon as its next Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Sept. 22.
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