Pfizer delivers the first Covid vaccine profit — and it's likely just getting started

LinkedIn fodder... American pharma giant Pfizer has notched a few notable firsts: the first Covid vaccine authorized in the US, the first mRNA vaccine ever authorized for human use, and now... the first Covid vax profits. The Pfizer-BioNTech vax is also the most administered Covid vaccine in the US: 131M Americans have received Pfizer's shot, 109M got Moderna's, and ~8M got J&J's. And it shows...

• $3.5B: Pfizer's Covid vax sales last quarter, nearly 25% of its total sales (and its biggest source of revenue). It splits vax sales with BioNTech.
• $26B: Pfizer's expected vax sales this year, up from its previous estimate of $15B. That's nearly 40% of its forecasted total sales.
• $900M: Pfizer's estimated pretax vaccine profit last quarter. Unlike J&J and AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna aren't forgoing vax profits.

Zoom out... Some countries have vaccinated large swaths of their populations (the US has vaxed 44%, and Israel has vaxed 60%). But globally, Covid cases are still rising. India and Brazil now account for half of new cases. India, where cases just crossed 20M, is suffering a shortage of vaccines, oxygen, and hospital beds. Brazil is setting death toll records, and its healthcare system is collapsing.

• The Pfizer vax is becoming more available around the globe, but it's mostly reaching wealthy countries — which, as of mid-April, had secured ~87% of the doses distributed worldwide.
• There's been some vaccine "comparison shopping," with some on TikTok and other apps touting the Pfizer vaccine as a "status vax." That could help Pfizer's brand, but may promote a negative/false public health perception. See: CDC guidelines.