Sixty thousand Jews lived in Thessaloniki, Greece on the eve of the outbreak of World War II - A living and vibrant Jewish community. Most of the people who worked in the port of Thessaloniki were Jewish. The port of Thessaloniki was even closed on Saturday. Great rabbis lived there as well.
The Nazi terror brutally rose against this glorious community. Hitler took Greece by storm to secure his southern wing before launching Operation Barbarossa and the Nazi offensive against Russia. Out of 60,000 Thessaloniki Jews, about 50,000 were exterminated in Birkenau in a very short time.
Among the few survivors was the Bourla family. After the war in 1961 a son was born to the Bourla family. And they named him Israel - Abraham. (Albert). Albert grew up and studied veterinary medicine. He received his doctorate in reproductive biotechnology from the Aristotle University of Salonika Veterinary School.
At the age of 34 he moved to the United States. He married a Jewish woman named Miriam and had two children. In the United States, Bourla was integrated into the medical industry. He progressed very quickly and joined the Pfizer company where he became 'Head of Global Vaccines'. He became the CEO of Pfizer in 2019.
Throughout the past year, Dr. Bourla led the company's efforts to find a vaccine for the new coronavirus in a super effort. The development of the vaccine that will save the lives of millions of people around the world was led by a Jew – the son of Holocaust survivors. From Thessaloniki.
Israel was the first country to receive the vaccine. In memory of Albert's grandparents. The vaccine will reach Germany, where thousands have died from Covid-19.
Pfizer executives, including its CEO Albert Bourla, won't "cut the line" to get a COVID-19 vaccine, Bourla told CNBC on Monday, saying "I'm 59 years old, in good health, I'm not working on the frontline, so my type it is not recommended to get vaccination now."