A medical pioneer, whose career began in animal health, is the mystery man behind the accelerated development of the first life-saving Covid vaccine approved last November. His company, the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, has churned out 2.5 billion dosages for distribution to 116 nations.
Dr. Albert Bourla, the drug firm's chairman and chief executive officer, steered the company in the development of a ground-breaking vaccine using mRNA technology. He green-lighted $2 billion in research and development for the technology. His decision was a gigantic risk for his company.
Although mRNA technology had been studied for decades, many in the scientific community considered it a tricky challenge to use it for a COVID vaccine. Scientists hoped an mRNA vaccine could be engineered to teach our cells to make a protein that triggers an immune response to COVID.
Dr. Bourla made the decision to collaborate with BioNTech, a German firm with experience in the field of immunology and a leader in the development of therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. The partnership marshaled the resources and scientists of two firms to tackle the vaccine conundrum.
Development of the vaccine turned out to be a supply chain nightmare. The 280 different materials or components in the vaccine were sourced by suppliers in 19 countries. Adding to the challenge, many of the countries were locked down, including the U.S. It was a daunting obstacle to overcome.
Additionally, Pfizer had to create a manufacturing process from scratch. An army of scientists, engineers and manufacturing workers developed an efficient manufacturing machine for the vaccine. The first dosages were shipped on December 15, less than nine months after the project was launched.
The vaccine development was hailed as a stunning scientific achievement, reducing the timeframe from years to months. For Dr. Bourla, it was the capstone of a more than 25-year career at Pfizer that began in 1993 when he was hired as the firm's technical director in the Animal Health Division in Greece.
Dr. Bourla holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree and a PHD in the Biotechnology Reproduction from the Veterinary School of Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece. An unlikely degree path for someone who would occupy the CEO office at the one of the world largest pharmaceutical companies.
What makes his life story fascinating is that he was born in the Ancient Greek city of Salonica, where his mother and father were among the few Jews to survive Nazi Germany's brutal occupation. Of the more than 50,000 Jews living in Salonica before World War II, about 2,000 survived the death camps.
Bourla's father, uncle and two brothers eluded the initial Nazi roundup for Jews in the Greek city, escaping to Athens on fake ID's supplied by leaders in the Greek Orthodox Church. His mother dodged death under miraculous circumstances.
She was facing execution by Nazi soldiers in Salonica. She was lined up against a brick wall facing a machine gun just feet away. Seconds before the firing began, two Nazi soldiers arrived in the nick of time with an order for her release. They whisked her away to safety.
According to Dr. Bourla, his mother's freedom was purchased by a bribe paid by her wealthy Christian brother-in-law to Salonica's top Nazi SS officer. Her father and three of his brothers found each other after the war had ended in the old city.
Dr. Bourla's says his parents' account of their gruesome memories of Nazi occupation motivated him to lead a positive life, despite his family's past, cocooned in the darkness of Germany's horrific occupation of his homeland.
The irony of Pfizer's decision to ally with a Germany company to create a vaccine that saved countless lives is not lost on Dr. Bourla. He credits his parents with engraining a spirit of forgiveness and thankfulness in their children.
"They never spoke to me about revenge," Dr. Bourla recalls. "They never told us that you should hate those that did that to us. The way their stories always ended was a celebration of life. 'We were almost dead and now we are alive. Life is wonderful.'"
These lessons are worth celebrating on this Thanksgiving and throughout our lives.
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