President and CEO Albert Burla said Monday that he has started taking Pfizer’s Paxlovid pill treatment and is in isolation while he recovers. Bourla has received four shots of Comirnaty, the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the New York pharmaceutical company along with BioNTech. In a brief statement the company said it was confident of a quick recovery. More than 128 million people in the United States have been fully vaccinated with Pfizer’s two-shot vaccine since it went on the market more than a year ago, and nearly 61 million have received an initial booster dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Scientists say the vaccine still offers consistent protection against hospitalization and serious illness. But the evolving virus has made it more difficult for vaccines to prevent the development of all forms of the disease. Pfizer and another vaccine maker, Moderna, are updating their shots to provide protection against newer versions of the virus for a fall boost campaign. Paxlovid has also been shown in research to be highly effective in preventing serious illness if given soon after symptoms start. Comirnaty and Paxlovid are the top-selling vaccine and treatment for COVID-19 on the market. Combined, they generated nearly $17 billion in sales for Pfizer in the recently completed second quarter.
