Noubar Afeyan: recommendation

Transcript context

…Now, as you know, Moderna has already issued a no-comment statement on the policy idea of “First Doses First” for extra vaccines. In general, when should companies — whether it’s Flagship or Moderna — speak out on policy? Because you all know the most, yet at the same time, you have a fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders of the company. How do you weigh speaking out on policy issues versus your duties to the company? That’s a very tough question, and I think it’s answered largely on a case-by-case basis, which is inadequate but necessary, particularly given that we’re in uncharted territory. There is such a heightened degree of scrutiny on every single word that’s uttered, and amplification and, potentially, misdirection, that I think that we have to be even more careful. Plus, I think people in a pandemic are vulnerable to believing excesses, and we don’t want to play into that by being misconstrued. The first thing is utmost care. Second is in the right context. We have the ability to express our views on policy in places where those are relevant — with government colleagues, with certain nonprofits that are focused on issues. But we have to be, as you said, careful about that because of the way in which the world is processing information on these things. It’s not easy. It’s not an easy situation for any of us. Now, when it comes to the Boston-Cambridge area as an innovation center, what is both its greatest underappreciated strength and its least recognized drawback?…

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