Joe Biden & Pfizer CEO Speech on Global Vaccination Effort Transcript

Joe Biden: (00:00)
Our condolences on behalf of Jill and I to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth ll, the entire royal family, and the people in the United Kingdom. Today would have been Prince Phillip’s 100th birthday. I know there are a lot of people feeling his absence today. In addition, I’d like to point out that the greet from the British government has been exemplary. We’ve had a good first full day here in the UK. Prime Minister Johnson and I had a very productive meeting. We discharged and discussed a broad range of issues on which the United Kingdom and the United States are working in very close cooperation. We affirmed the special relationship, this is not said lightly, the special relationship between our people, and renewed our commitment to defending the enduring democratic values that both our nations share, and the strong foundation of our partnership.

Joe Biden: (01:04)
80 years ago, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt signed an agreement known as the Atlantic Charter. It was a statement of first principles, a promise that the United Kingdom and United States would meet the challenges of their age and they would meet it together. Today, we build on that commitment with a revitalized Atlantic Charter, updated to reaffirm that promise while speaking directly to the key challenges of this century; cyber security, emerging technologies, global health and climate change. We discussed our common goals for driving ambitious global action to address the climate crisis, and the Climate Leaders Summit that I hosted in April was in part about helping drive forward the momentum toward the critical COP26, that the UK will host in Glasgow later this year.

Joe Biden: (02:04)
We talked about the shared sacrifices our service members have made, bravely serving side by side in Afghanistan for close to 20 years. The UK was with us from the start, as they always are, equally committed to routing out the terrorist threat. Now, we’re coordinating our withdrawal together and of course, we talked about how our two nations can together lead the global fight against COVID-19. That’s been a major focus of the G-7 under British leadership, particularly in focusing and coordinating our resources to help vaccinate the world. Tonight I’m making an historic announcement regarding America’s leadership in the fight against COVID-19.

Joe Biden: (02:50)
America knows firsthand the tragedies of this pandemic. We’ve had more people die in the United States than anywhere in the world, nearly 600,000 of our fellow Americans, moms, dads, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, grandparents, more deaths from COVID-19 in the United States than from World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, and 9/11 combined. Combined. We know the tragedy. We also know the path to recovery. The United States has now vaccinated 64% of our adults with at least one shot. Just four and a half months ago, we were at only 5% with one shot.

Joe Biden: (03:44)
It took a Herculean effort on the part of our government to manage one of the biggest, and I would say most complicated logistical challenges in our history. It took the ingenuity of scientists, building on decades of research to develop a vaccine. It took the full capacity of American companies manufacturing and delivering the vaccines around the clock. As a result, we have the lowest number of daily deaths since the first day of this pandemic. Our economy is rebounding. Our vaccination program has already saved tens of thousands of lives, with that count growing each day has allowed millions, millions of Americans get back to living their lives. From the beginning of my presidency, we’ve been clear-eyed that we need to attack this virus globally as well.

Joe Biden: (04:40)
This is about our responsibility, our humanitarian obligation to save as many lives as we can, and our responsibility to our values. We value the inherent dignity of all people. In times of trouble, Americans reach out to offer help and offer a helping hand. That’s who we are, and when we see people hurting and suffering anywhere around the world we seek to help as best we can. That’s why under both Republican and Democratic presidents, the United States has made transformative commitments to bolster global health, commitments under President Bush, like PEPFAR, which changed the global fight against HIV/AIDS. In this moment are values call on us to do everything that we can to vaccinate the world against COVID-19.

Joe Biden: (05:38)
It’s also in America’s self-interest. As long as the virus rages elsewhere, there is a risk of new mutations that could threaten our people. We know that raging COVID-19 in other countries holds back global growth, raises instability and weakens governments. As we’ve seen in the United States with evidence clearer day by day, the key to reopening and growing economies is the vaccinate your people. Our vaccination program has helped the American economy began to recover from the worst economic crisis in a century. Over 2 million new jobs created just in the last four months, since I’ve become president and a historic decline in long-term unemployment. Businesses reopening and a projected economic growth of 6.9%, the fastest in nearly four decades in America. Just as the American economy’s recovering, it is in all of our interests to have the global economy began to recover as well, and that won’t happen unless we can get this pandemic under control worldwide.

Joe Biden: (06:58)
That’s why, as I said, in my address to the Joint Session of Congress in April, America will be the arsenal of vaccines in our fight against global COVID-19. Just as America was the arsenal of democracy during World War ll, over the past four months, we’ve taken a number of steps toward this historic effort. We have contributed more than any nation to KOVAX, a collective global effort that is delivering COVID-19 vaccines across the world. We supported manufacturing efforts abroad through our partnerships with Japan, India, and Australia, known as the Quad. We’ve shared doses with our neighbors, Canada and Mexico. In addition, three weeks ago, with America’s vaccine supply secured, and with confidence we have enough vaccines to cover every American who wants one, we announced that we would donate 80 million doses of our own vaccine in house now, to supply the world, by the end of June. Many of these doses are shipping to countries around the world, as we speak.

Joe Biden: (08:13)
Today, we’re taking a major step that will supercharge the global fight against this pandemic. In my direction, the United States will purchase an additional half billion doses from Pfizer, Pfizer vaccine that will donate nearly 100 low and lower middle income countries. They will be the beneficiaries. Let me say that again. United States will purchase a half a billion doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to donate to nearly 100 nations that are in dire need in the fight against this pandemic. That’s a historic step, the largest single purchase and donation of COVID-19 vaccines by any single country ever. Importantly, this is the MRNA vaccine, which has proven to be extremely effective against COVID-19 and every known variant of that virus thus far. These half a billion vaccines will start to be shipped in August as quickly as they roll off the manufacturing line. 200 million of these doses will be delivered this year, 2021, and 300 million more will be delivered in the first half of 2022.

Joe Biden: (09:36)
Let me be clear, just as with the 80 million doses we previously announced, the United States is providing these half million doses with no strings attached. Let me say it again. With no strings attached. Our vaccine donations don’t include pressure for favors or potential.concessions. We’re doing this to save lives, to end this pandemic. That’s it, period. I also want to thank Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s CEO and Chairman for joining me today. We’ve gotten to know each other the last few months. He and I and his entire team have really, he’s really stepped up at this critical stage in our fight against the pandemic. The plan is for a half a billion doses that we’ll be sending around the world to be produced in the United States, including at Pfizer’s manufacturing plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan. 80 years ago, not too far from that plant in Kalamazoo, in the Detroit area, American workers built tanks and planes and vehicles that help defeat the global threat of fascism in World War II.

Joe Biden: (10:51)
They built what became known as the Arsenal of Democracy. Now, a new generation of American men and women, working with today’s latest technology is going to build a new arsenal to defeat the current enemy of world peace, health instability, COVID-19. Albert was gracious enough to welcome me to Kalamazoo plant back in February. It’s incredible, the ingenuity, the care, the safety that goes into every single dose, as I toured the entire plant. Most of all, when you’re there, you feel the pride of every worker there feels, have the pride they feel in what they’re doing. I’ve been to a lot of plants. I’ve worked, I’m a big union guy. I’ve been doing it my whole career, but you could see the looks on their faces. They were proud. I mean this sincerely. They were proud of what they were doing. They knew what they were doing.

Joe Biden: (11:49)
American workers will now produce vaccines to save lives of in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. People they will never meet, and have never met, places they’ve never visited and probably won’t have an opportunity to, but lives saved all the same thanks to American leadership, American worker’s hard work and values. Let me close with this. This is a monumental commitment by the American people. As I said, we’re a nation full of people who step up at times of need to help our fellow human beings, both at home and abroad. We’re not perfect, but we step up. Well, We’re not alone in this endeavor. That’s the point I want to make. We’re going to help lead the world out of this pandemic, working alongside our global partners. Under the UK chairmanship of the G7, democracies of the world are posed to deliver as well. This US contribution is the foundation for additional coordinated efforts to help vaccinate the world.

Joe Biden: (12:59)
The British government, the prime minister has led a strong campaign to get people vaccinated across the UK. I’m grateful they’re making their own generous donation. Tomorrow, the G7 nations will be announcing the full scope of our commitment, our meaning the G7. I want to thank all of my G7 partners for stepping up to recognize our responsibility to meet the moment. I’m looking forward to working with my counterparts on these efforts in the coming days and much more. One final point I want to make clear. This is not the end of our efforts to fight COVID-19 or vaccinate the world. We have to turn manufactured doses into shots in arms to protect people in communities.

Joe Biden: (13:52)
That’s why the United States has already provided hundreds of millions in funding to support last-minute vaccination efforts, including new funding from Congress as part of the American Rescue Plan and working with programs in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. We’re going to keep manufacturing, doses, donating doses, getting jabs, as they say here in the UK, in arms, until the world has beaten this virus. I’m going to thank you all. Now I’d like to turn it over to my friend, the CEO and Chairman of Pfizer, Albert Bourla. Albert, it’s all yours, and again, personally, thank you for stepping up.

Albert Bourla: (14:36)
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President, and it is of course, a great honor to be with you today for this historic announcement. As the G7 countries come together for this critical summit, the eyes of world are on the leaders of these powerful nations to help solve the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. While great progress has been made in many developed nations, the world is now asking the G-7 leaders to solve their responsibility to help vaccinate people in all countries. Mr. President, I know from our conversations that we agree that every man, woman and child on the planet, regardless of financial condition, race, religion, or geography, deserve access to life-saving COVID-19 vaccines. Once again, the United States has answered the call, and we are grateful to you and your administration for your leadership in this front. Today, we are providing 500 million doses of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine to the world’s poorest nations.

Albert Bourla: (15:50)
This will significantly enhance our ability to meet our goal of providing 2 billion doses of the vaccine to low and middle income countries over the next 18 months. Thanks to the ingenuity of so many scientists and the dedication of so many manufacturing workers, today, we can see clearly the light at the end of the tunnel, but we still have work to do. I can assure you, Mr. President, that we will be relentless in pursuing more solutions to end the pandemic. Just this week, we began dosing participants aged five to 11 years old in a global Phase Two, Three study. As we speak, we continue our studies in pregnant women. We are also closely monitoring and addressing the emerging variants. We are testing our vaccines response to newly-arising variants and to coordinating with public health authorities around the world on surveillance efforts. So far, data saw that none of the existing variant strains has escaped the protection provided by our vaccine.

Albert Bourla: (17:04)
I repeat none, not one, Still, we have built a process to develop within 100 days, an new vaccine if needed, God forbid. Our scientists are also pursuing an oral treatment against COVID-19. Initial indications are promising and if things goes well, we could apply for approval before the end of this year. But I wanted to finish my, by coming back to the importance of your announcement today, Mr. President. In a pandemic, everyone is only as protected as their neighbors, their neighbors down the street, as well as their global neighbors around the world. Today’s announcement with the US government gets us closer to our goal, and significantly enhances our ability to save even more lives across the globe. Mr. President, I want to thank you for your leadership, vision and partnership. We look forward to continue to work with your administration to ensure that science wins the battle against COVID-19. Thank you.

Joe Biden: (18:17)
Thank you.

Speaker 3: (18:17)
Mr. President, do you believe-

Speaker 4: (18:17)
Mr. President-

Speaker 3: (18:18)
Mr. President, do you believe your meeting with Putin can change his behavior in a way sanctions have not yet?

Speaker 4: (18:25)
Mr. President, did you warn Prime Minister Johnson that his trade deal with the US [inaudible 00:18:33].

Albert Bourla: (18:43)
[inaudible 00:18:43] Thank you very much.