Christopher BarrettLive Nation executive president of international touring, and Concert Promoters Association chairman, Phil Bowdery is among leading figures in the events industry to warmly welcome the news of the successful Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
“We are very happy with the news. We have to take it with a certain amount of caution, as it will take time to roll out, but it is the most positive news we have had in a very, very, long time,” said Bowdery.
AIF CEO Paul Reed said news of positive progress in the production of an effective vaccine for Covid-19 is cause for cautious optimism among independent festival organisers: “This, alongside other areas to monitor such as the development of treatments, rapid testing regimes and scientific studies including Germany’s Restart-19 are all important steps towards making festivals viable again next year. There’s still some way to go, of course, but this latest development should bring some hope to promoters, artists and fans alike.”
Bowdery said that while testing is not as important as a vaccine it is “pretty close”: “Testing is a very big part of our road back to events because if we can refine the process to the extent that we have a swift, effective and affordable testing regime then that is going to be a way forward for us.”
Laura Farrow, co-director of August festival Beautiful Days (cap. 17,500) in Devon, said, “It is a very promising development. There are still a lot of hurdles before we can get back to any kind of semblance of where we were before but it feels like we are heading in the right direction.”
The vaccine has been tested on 43,500 people in six countries and no safety concerns have, reportedly, been raised.