Nine rival companies have vaccines they produced which will be developed and tested with “high ethical standards and sound scientific principles.” The statement seems to be an effort by the pharmaceutical industry to improve the public image of the vaccine approval process may be influenced by politics or other interests instead of safety.

The statement which was signed by the CEO of each respective company states: “We believe this pledge will help ensure public confidence in the rigorous scientific and regulatory process by which COVID-19 vaccines are evaluated and may ultimately be approved.”

The companies’ plans for the pledge was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Friday. Among other things, the statement promises that the companies will “always make the safety and well-being of vaccinated individuals our top priority.”

The statement came a week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s initial plans for vaccine distribution was revealed.

Four of the companies that have signed the pledge— Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca — have vaccines in large phase three clinical trials. This phase, which requires tens of thousands of volunteers, is needed to prove that the vaccine candidates are both safe and effective.

If information from one of those trials is positive, the developer can make the choice of sending the information to the Food and Drug Administration, which has harbored the power to approve vaccines in the United States.