The fear of getting bad press, in a way, tended to keep politicians and business leaders on their toes. It sure seemed that way, back when I was in the PR business, I mentioned in the Daily Post, recently.
Seeing this Boston Herald headline — “Biopharma CEOs sign pledge committing to safety and science in hunt for COVID-19 vaccine” – I realized that fear may still be working, to some degree.
Why sign the pledge? Possibly because the CEOs were caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place? President Trump has been hinting about a vaccine being ready, possibly before the end of the year. Coincidentally, around election day.
Big pharma is under pressure on many fronts, but, still, developing a vaccine prudently and safely is pretty important. Imagine the bad press, if a vaccine that’s rushed to market, so to speak, is found to be ineffective — or worse — if it happens to cause serious medical problems! The reputational fallout for pharma firms could be significant and long-lasting, according to news media.
As a matter of fact, as I’m writing this, on Tuesday afternoon, there’s news about one of the pharma companies putting a hold on its vaccine because of an “unexplained illness,” according to USA Today.
To control — or to put an end to — the pandemic, surely should be a priority. But rushing things can be problematic. So… perhaps that was a factor in the CEOs’ decision to sign the pledge?
At times like these, you’ve got to hope that everyone engaged in addressing something as serious as a pandemic, is on their toes.
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.