This is exactly right. They turned down the money for this reason.Phizer unlike Moderna and the other vaccine manufacturers, took no government money for developing their vaccine. CEO said we don't want the interference that comes with accepting government money. They took all of the risk with their own money and the only agreement was a price per dose premium, IF they could develop a vaccine approved for use by the FDA. (That is my understanding of it.)
Risk/Reward - apparently, some people in government are opposed to capitalism.
As a footnote/reminder:This is exactly right. They turned down the money for this reason.
I would add here that Pfizer had partnered with the original developer (BioNtech) to develop a version of the vaccine months before operation warp speed was ever announced. they did however sign an agreement that summer to provide 100 million doses to the US if the vaccine panned out. In short, they risked $2 billion of their own money with no guarantee of a return. Moderna and J&J are different story.As a footnote/reminder:
Without the red tape of government bureaucracy, Pfizer was the first to be able to bring their vaccine to market with FDA approval in the USA. Which was before Christmas as Trump predicted. Although Trump was criticized by the national media and Dr Fauci (in late September or early October as campaign smoke) for saying from his discussions with company officials he believed by the end of November or before Christmas with certainty would be the timeline.
Israel led the world in getting the majority of their citizens vaccinated earliest because they bid the highest price premium per dose for the Pfizer vaccine.