It’s called the ‘Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine’ in virtually every language and country (see Wikipedia pages per language). Most people outside of Germany just say Pfizer vaccine because it’s a lot shorter and has some preexisting name recognition.

I haven’t even heard people discuss the ‘where’ when getting the vaccine they just want one of the more effective vaccines (be it Moderna or Pfizer- Johnson and Johnson and AstraZeneca are possibly just as effective but that’s hard to communicate and still being studied).

I think either way is probably fine, both companies are sharing the costs and profits equally.

Credit where credit is due. It was developed by BioNtech and Pfizer helped with trial and distribution. Calling it Pfizer vaccine because it is American or just because it is bigger is such a shame. Give credit to the small company that developed it no matter what country it is from. If the company was from the US, there would’ve been hundreds of fluff pieces and heroism on display writing up the company and the name would be known long and wide.

Why? Anyone who would be investing in companies would know it's Biontech if they did 5 minutes of research. I think they'll do just fine after developing the vaccine. The people who matter to their future will know their name.

Don't underestimate the value of political support by having name recognition.

Imagine if instead of Solyndra, the money went to GE or something. The project still failed, the government still lost the money. But it's a lot easier to sell "We gave the money to this well known company, the project failed, it happens" even though the result is exactly the same.

I don't even know how to say BioNtech. Bio-inn-tech? Bion-tech? Bio-and-tech? It's a clumsy name, to be fair, compared to moderna or pfizer.

In the news media in the US, I've heard it Bio-en-tech, where en is the way you'd say the name of the letter "N".

I’d say most of the world’s population does not know how to pronounce “Pfizer” correctly.

And it’s Bion-tech.

In Turkey it’s BioNTech colloquially, probably because the inventors are Turkish immigrants in Germany.

Argentina, Pfizer

The Hong Kong government here usually uses its brand name “Comirnaty”. The news uses every variation “Pfizer-BioNTech”, “BioNTech”, “Pfizer”, or often just “the German made jab”.

So can you walk in and say "give it to me German style" ?

No, you have to book your appointment online.

Referring to "that" vaccine with Pfizer instead of Biontech is like saying that "Yellow Submarine" is from EMI instead of the Beatles because EMI produced the LPs.

That’s why both companies are equally sharing both the costs and the profits?

The vaccine was developed by BioNtech. Not by Pfizer. You also have an Apple AX in your iPhone. Not a TSMC chip, right?

Efficacious vaccine candidates are high in supply (moderna, Pfizer, j&j, AstraZeneca etc etc) - massive manufacturing capacity, testing and clinical trial ability however is not. If Pfizer hadn’t partnered with biontech they wouldn’t have idle manufacturing, they would have partnered with another lab to create something else.

Apple is a customer of TSMC - they pay for fab time to create a specific component they need for their devices. Pfizer and biontech however are splitting the development costs and sharing the profits. That is a very different relationship.

So if they're sharing everything, why is not BioNtech mentioned in the submission's title?

This America first thing is becoming really annoying for the rest of the world. Germany and the EU funded much of the vaccine's development. It's the EU who is supplying the world with vaccines. The US only stand out by blocking exports.

I think the idea is that biontechs contribution is a dime a dozen at this point - the heavy lifting (ie where demand outstrips supply) is being done by Pfizer not biontech

If this were not the case why is it that the EU vaccine rollout has been dismal compared to the US and UK? It’s because they don’t have the negotiating power that comes with having what is actually in demand - production capacity.

> why is it that the EU vaccine rollout has been dismal compared to the US and UK?

Because both do not export any vaccine. And the EU does. So even Canada cannot get vaccines from the US and gets it from the EU which exported about half its production outside the EU. Some even went to the US.

Partnering with Pfizer was done because the BioNtech CEO knew people at Pfizer from before. If they would’ve chosen e.g. Bayer (which is what CureVac did) the story of would’ve been different.

> Because both do not export any vaccine. And the EU does. So even Canada cannot get vaccines from the US

Blatantly Untrue - the US has directly exported vaccine to both Canada and Mexico and it’s companies are producing huge amounts of vaccine worldwide for over 70 countries right now. The UK has fallen short of its export commitments but that is a far cry from ‘do not export any vaccine’.

Again though this just comes back to leverage, the EU and it’s properties generally lack what is in demand: production capacity. That is why we have the short end of the stick right now, blaming everyone but ourselves only fans flames unnecessarily.

Executive order 13962 is still in effect.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/12/11/2020-27...

Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to ensure Americans have priority access to free, safe, and effective COVID-19 vaccines. After ensuring the ability to meet the vaccination needs of the American people, it is in the interest of the United States to facilitate international access to United States Government COVID-19 Vaccines.

Which in no way directly excludes the export of vaccine to other countries - as I have mentioned the US has directly exported to canada and mexico and its properties are creating vaccine for over 70 countries including every country in the EU.

Can you point to a source for your claim that the US has exported (present perfect) vaccines to anybody? All I can find is news articles from about 10 days ago about plans to export vaccines, not mentioning a date.

And the EU is being stupid. Look the disaster of a roll out.

What's the label/musician split again?

Czechoslovakias were often referred to as "Czechs". Go figure.

I always wondered: after the Czechs and Slovaks split up, what ever happened to the O's?

We could have called them the Boris, Merkel, and Trump vaccines ...