I cannot consider Pfizer’s handling of the covid vaccine a success. I will leave the safety debates to others and focus on two other major failures. Both of these failures could be business school and public health / public policy case studies for decades.
1). Public health and policy: Pfizer leadership did not control the message, the resulting narrative or set an understanding for a new type (mRNA) vaccine. Pfizer allowed incorrect messaging about efficacy, herd and “protecting others” to run rampant. HCPs were not informed or prepared to answer questions about MOA so patients found their answer of choice in the internet cesspool. Subsequent mRNA vaccines now have a steep hill of trust to climb and it is a slippery slope that Pfizer created. The future promise of mRNA vaccination is tarnished, if not compromised.
2). Financial: Pfizer sold billions in a product and market that did not exist in the forecast. Yet even with billions pouring in, Pfizer became less and less connected to reality in every new forecast while squandering newfound revenue on something (maybe acquisitions?) that have produced no accretive value. In the future, before the next pandemic comes, academics will tear apart the bone headed decisions that reduced company value and reputation during a period when both could have soared