In a Twitter post on October 11, 2022, a Pfizer official allegedly admitted that Covid-19 vaccines had not been tested.
How Did the Claim Spread?
Many allegations were made about the safety of vaccines on social media last week when Rob Ross, a member of the European Parliament, asked a Pfizer official whether vaccines had been tested before they were released.
On October 11, 2022, Dutch politician and member of the European Parliament Rob Roos shared a video on Twitter. At the beginning of the video, Roos quotes the Dutch Minister of Health saying, “You’re not only getting vaccinated for yourself, but for others as well.” So Roos questions the claim that the vaccine reduces transmission of the virus. Later, during the session, Dutch politician and European Parliament member Rob Roos asked Pfizer officials the following question:
“Has Pfizer been tested to stop transmission of the virus before its Covid-19 vaccine is released? If not, please specify clearly. If yes, are you ready to share data with this committee?
Pfizer executive Janine Small said the effect of the vaccine on transmission of the virus has not been tested, as Roos needs to act quickly in response to the problem. Rob Roos also shared this speech on his Twitter account. Roos’ video received over 13 million views and over 250,000 likes.
“As for your question, did we know before we launched the vaccine that it would stop the virus? No. As you know, we had to go at the speed of science to really understand what was going on in the market and we had to risk everything about it. Who would have done it if we didn’t.” Dr. Bourla understood what was going on in the world, and we spent two billion dollars on vaccine production and risked it with Pfizer’s self-financed money.
Above all, we have taken risks in research, development and production to ensure we are in a position to help the pandemic. It feels good to note in a recent Imperial Collage article that we saved four million people in the first year vaccines were released. From that perspective, I feel like we’re there when the world needs us to make sure we can help people all over the world with vaccines and oral therapy. I don’t want to imagine what we would be like in the world right now if companies like us didn’t take the risk and do clinical research and development to make sure we develop this vaccine. I really understand your frustration, but I hope at some point you’ll appreciate what we’ve done with drugs to develop vaccines so quickly.”
Janine Small continues to talk about vaccine sales and other issues in the continuation of her speech.
Does Pfizer Official Admit the Vaccine Has Not Been Tested?
As can be understood from the question and text in the speech, the main debate here is whether the vaccine stops the spread of the virus. Roos criticizes Pfizer for making it available without testing whether the vaccine can transmit the virus. In other words, there is no problem with the reliability of the vaccine directly. A Pfizer official states that this has not been tested.
Currently, vaccines were first introduced to reduce the hospitalization and death rate of the virus. Although the spread of the virus did not stop completely, vaccinated people had the disease much more severely than unvaccinated people, and the vaccine was offered as a remedy. Indirectly, it was determined that the virus spread more slowly in this way. However, from the very beginning of the vaccination process, vaccine companies have not made a statement that the spread of the virus has completely stopped.
Also, the video doesn’t contain any confessions because when the vaccines were first made available with emergency use approval, there was no evidence that they prevented transmission of the virus. In later studies, it was stated that vaccines reduced the rate of transmission of the virus as well as the death rate.
The claim is FALSE
In a post on a Twitter account, he claimed that Kovid-19 vaccines were not tested. When the claim was examined, the Pfizer official stated that the infection rate was not tested, and was offered for use without being tested. But when vaccines were first introduced, they were used not to prevent virus transmission, but to reduce death and hospitalization rates. In addition, Covid-19 vaccines have been tested and approved by many national and international institutions.
