A Texas Lab Performs Crucial Testing For Pfizer's COVID Vaccine

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/08/20/ [login to see] /a-texas-lab-performs-crucial-testing-for-pfizers-covid-vaccine
The government says people who were vaccinated against COVID-19 eight months ago will need a booster.

That decision is based in part on blood tests that show antibody levels in vaccinated people decline over time.

Some of those tests were done at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas.

Why there?

In part because of the special facility that's there, in part because of a test developed there and in part because of a personal relationship between an executive at Pfizer and a professor at the university.

The UTMB campus is a mix of old and new buildings near the north end of Galveston Island.

Virologist Pei-Yong Shi moved there six years ago from Singapore, where he worked for the drug company Novartis. He was drawn to Galveston because it has what's called a BSL-3 facility, for biosafety level 3 — a special lab that allows researchers to safely work on dangerous viruses.