evidence: The following month, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health announced the Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) public-private partnership to develop a coordinated research strategy for prioritizing and speeding up development of COVID-19 vaccines and pharmaceutical products.[118] Pfizer joined the partnership as an industry "leadership organization", and participated as a collaborator in ACTIV-led clinical trials.[119][120] CEO Albert Bourla attended the GAVI COVAX AMC 2021 Investment Opportunity Launch Event, otherwise named One World Protected, on April 15, 2021.[121] [...] As the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic became apparent, Pfizer partnered with BioNTech to study and develop COVID-19 mRNA vaccine candidates. Unlike many of its competitors, Pfizer took no initial research funds from the United States' Operation Warp Speed vaccine development program, instead choosing to invest roughly $2 billion of its own funds. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has said that he declined money from Operation Warp Speed to avoid government intervention, stating later that "when you get money from someone that always comes with strings. They want to see how we are going to progress, what type of moves you are going to do. They want reports. And also, I wanted to keep Pfizer out of politics, by the way."[123] [...] - ^ "Pfizer CEO: Current wave will be last with so many restrictions". Israel National News. Retrieved January 17, 2021.