Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has made a surprising statement that President Donald Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in developing COVID-19 vaccines through Operation Warp Speed. The pharmaceutical executive said the program saved more than 14 million lives globally and prevented economic collapse during the pandemic.
Bourla’s comments came after Trump called on drug companies to “justify the success of their various COVID drugs” on Truth Social. The president wrote that many people think the vaccines are “a miracle that saved millions of lives” while “others disagree.” Trump also demanded that companies show their data to the public and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to Newsweek, when asked about his desire for a Nobel Peace Prize in a recent interview, Trump said: “No. I just want, I want to be treated fairly. But the word crave, and even if I did, I couldn’t answer that question, because it would sound terrible.” Trump has previously expressed frustration about not winning the prestigious award despite what he believes are his achievements.
Pfizer CEO calls Trump’s Operation Warp Speed ‘worthy of Nobel Peace Prize’
Bourla defended the safety and effectiveness of Pfizer’s COVID vaccine and praised Trump’s Operation Warp Speed program as “a profound public health achievement.” He said the program “restored consumer confidence, saved over $1 trillion in health care costs due to reductions in serious illness and avoidance of hospitalizations, and rapidly scaled up domestic production.”
“Such an accomplishment would typically be worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize, given its significant impact,” Bourla wrote in his statement. The CEO also noted that the program helped develop mRNA technology that could lead to breakthroughs in cancer research.
India getting closer to Russia and China is another failure of Trump’s foreign policy.
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) September 1, 2025
The NYT reports that relations soured after PM Modi refused to support Trump’s lie that he “ended” the India-Pakistan war and refused to nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize. pic.twitter.com/oSrgKCMyrq
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana supported Bourla’s view, writing on social media: “President Trump deserves a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed.” Several other countries and lawmakers have nominated Trump for the prize this year, though many nominations came after the January deadline for the 2025 award.
The program launched in May 2020 provided $14 billion to speed up vaccine development and manufacturing. Operation Warp Speed was a public-private partnership designed to encourage faster approval and production of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. The name came from Star Trek terminology for faster-than-light travel to show the sense of rapid progress.
Trump’s push for vaccine transparency comes at a tense time for health agencies. Last week, CDC Director Susan Monarez was fired after she refused to resign amid pressure from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to change vaccine policies. Kennedy has made controversial changes to vaccine recommendations, including limiting access to COVID vaccines and questioning routine childhood vaccinations.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner for 2025 will be announced on October 10. If Trump were to win, he would become the fifth U.S. president to receive the award, joining Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama.
