Pfizer’s Susan Rienow: from Covid to fighting the ‘silent pandemic’

The pharma giant's UK chief is adding the company's voice to scientists' warnings of the dangers of antibacterial resistance

It's just over two years since the first Pfizer Covid jabs reached Britons' arms, with the goal of quickly preventing deaths and halting further strain on the NHS. Now, the US pharmaceutical giant hopes once again to play a part in protecting the health service, at a time when staff are striking, waiting lists in England stand at more than 7 million, and the organisation is at breaking point.

Pfizer's president in the UK, Susan Rienow, is lobbying to switch the focus towards early-stage illness to prevent people being hospitalised. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity coming out of the pandemic to try to break the cycle of ill health that holds back the economy, the NHS and the health of the population. The key to that is prevention," she says. We don't have enough hospital beds for all the patients who need them."