A vlogger known for spreading COVID-19 disinformation took out-of-context the Pfizer CEO’s recent statement. She used his remarks to falsely insinuate that two major vaccine manufacturers are creating conditions that will lead to more severe disease and hospitalizations and that their vaccines will be sold as “cure.”
“They have a proposal: [Pfizer and Moderna] will be active in giving the cure to you. The two companies that made the most [vaccines] in the world have the same message. They will propose a remedy, maybe for what they have done,” said Lynn Agno in a mix of English and Filipino, in a Facebook Live video on Jan. 12.
She made this claim after saying Pfizer chairperson and CEO Albert Bourla “predicted” more severe disease and an increase in hospitalizations in the future.
Agno misleads. Bourla had only warned about the possible side effects of lower vaccination rates.
In a webcast of a discussion with Bourla at the 41st Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Jan. 9, the Pfizer chief shared his company’s 2023 business plan.
Bourla said they were working on the assumption that there would be less immunized people, which, come new waves of COVID-19 infections, might lead to more severe disease and more hospitalization.
Agno provided no support for her insinuation that Pfizer will manufacture diseases.
Below is a transcript of what Bourla said:
“Vaccination rate, as I said, will stabilize to way lower levels than the levels that we saw when we launched the product. So, first dose, 80%; second dose, 75%, right? So that’s the prime. Then in the booster, we went down to 50%, 60%. In the second booster, the fourth dose, we went down to 30%, as I said. I think we’ll stabilize somewhere there.
This is not enough, because as the population is — as time passes, the population will be less immunized, less current. And as a result, the waves that will be coming will come in with higher — the clinical manifestation of these waves will be more severe disease and more hospitalization, basically. That will drive a higher level of treatment demand. So that on volumes, how we see that happening.”
Source: Pfizer Inc. (PFE), 41st Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference (Transcript) (start at 29:21)
Agno has been previously flagged by VERA Files Fact Check for spreading COVID-19 disinformation. In this video, she referred to vaccines as “tuklaw,” which is Filipino for “snake bite.” She also referred to Pfizer as “fixer.”
Her misleading video got a total of 1,700 interactions, 2,400 comments, and 20,000 views. It appeared three days after the J.P. Morgan healthcare conference.
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