Light at the End of the Tunnel.

Boardroom Governance Newsletter #6 | November 2020 Edition

There is a lot of relief around the world with the positive news on COVID-19 vaccines. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was found to be more than 90% effective and Moderna’s 94.5% effective. Check out this profile of Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci, the husband-and-wife team that founded BioNTech, the German biotech company that partnered with Pfizer to develop the vaccine. Their work and friendship with Albert Bourla, the Greek CEO of U.S.-based Pfizer, is a very inspiring story of immigration, market economy and open society. Similarly, Moderna’s co-founders and CEO are also immigrants: Noubar Afeyan (Armenian from Lebanon, via Canada), Derrick Rossi (Canada) and Stéphane Bancel (France). Definitely a win for immigrants!

Despite these good news (there are also 320 other vaccines in development) the distribution of these vaccines to the general public will take time. So better keep your masks on, as we may have a tough winter ahead (new lockdowns have already been announced in California and …