Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla announced Monday that he has tested positive for COVID despite receiving four doses of his company’s vaccine.
Bourla shared the news in a Twitter post on Monday morning and in a statement on Pfizer’s website.
“I would like to let you know that I have tested positive for #COVID19. I am thankful to have received four doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and I am feeling well while experiencing very mild symptoms,” Bourla tweeted. “I am isolating and have started a course of Paxlovid.”
I would like to let you know that I have tested positive for #COVID19. I am thankful to have received four doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and I am feeling well while experiencing very mild symptoms. I am isolating and have started a course of Paxlovid.
— Albert Bourla (@AlbertBourla) August 15, 2022
Despite Bourla’s positive test, the Pfizer leader claimed he looked forward to a quick recovery.
“We have come so far in our efforts to battle this disease that I am confident I will have a speedy recovery,” he shared in another post. “I am incredibly grateful for the tireless efforts of my Pfizer colleagues who worked to make vaccines and treatments available for me and people around the world.”
Pfizer’s vaccine was the first approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the U.S. in December 2020. It has since been approved for Americans 16 years of age and older, as well as for children as young as six months.
The pharmaceutical company has also marketed an authorized booster shot and has most recently been working on updated vaccines to fight against the Omicron variant that Pfizer expects to release for public usage later in the year.
Pfizer’s longer statement announcing Bourla’s positive case included additional details regarding Paxlovid. The FDA granted emergency authorization in December to treat mild to moderate COVID for adults and children 12 and up who meet certain conditions.
President Joe Biden also used Paxlovid when he tested positive for COVID in July. He was also vaccinated and had received two booster shots.
The president experienced four days of consecutive negative tests but tested positive again on the fifth day in what was called a rebound case of the virus.
Biden later tested negative and has ended his quarantine, since traveling to his Delaware beach house and visiting flood victims in eastern Kentucky.
Dr. Anthony Fauci also tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this summer and was treated with Paxlovid. According to a statement from the National Institutes for Health, he is fully vaccinated and has been boosted twice.
The uptick in cases in recent weeks also led Fauci to advise Americans to mask up while indoors regardless of vaccination status.
While not advocating for required mandates, Fauci said during an MSBNC interview last month “when you’re in an area where you have a high dynamic of infection, and we’re not talking about mandating anything, but we’re saying recommending people when they are in indoor congregate settings to wear a mask.”