But our parents did, and the thing that they always did was that they never spoke to us about hate. They never spoke to us about revenge. They never [made us think] that we must pay back those that did that to us or to our family. Not at all. On the contrary, it was always a celebration of life. They were telling their stories, and then the moral of the stories was that nothing is impossible. We almost died and we survived, and look what we have now… our family.
I think this is what stamped my personality from the early days, this optimism, and this belief that it’s never the end before it is really the end, and you can always do things to change your fate, and I’m grateful to them for that.
FREDERICK KEMPE: You also said that your Jewish upbringing in Greece, coming from a small country on the world stage, being of a religious minority from the country, taught you to fight for what you believe is right and never to give up. And were there elements of that in the vaccine fight as well?
ALBERT BOURLA: I believe so because the personality of someone is really built in the early days of his life, and then it follows in whatever they do. [We], living as a very, very small minority in Greece, we had to learn how to be able to thrive while we’re very, very different than everybody else. And the same is as a Greek coming to America with a very thick accent. Trying to be able to prove yourself also requires that you fight for what you believe is right.
