Coronavirus: Thread

grarpamp grarpamp at gmail.com
Tue Dec 7 23:57:35 PST 2021


Pfizer Accused Of Spreading "Misinformation" About Rival COVID Jabs

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10280959/Pfizer-accused-funding-lies-AstraZenecas-jab.html

Leave it to the Brits to highlight all the flaws inherent in the
US-led effort to develop (and reap immense profits from) COVID
vaccines while the WTO holds the line on denying the sharing of IP
rights to allow developing nations to produce their own jabs.

The UK's Channel 4 has produced a new documentary that exposes
Pfizer's efforts to undermine its rivals, including AstraZeneca, which
developed a jab in the UK with help from Oxford University. And
teasers from this new doc, released late Monday, purports to show that
Pfizer criticized AZ in a presentation where the company said the
rival jab was potentially dangerous.

Furthermore, the speakers claimed AZ's jab could cause cancer and was
not safe for immunosuppressed patients.

The presentation in question was delivered in Canada sometime last
year, although it's unclear whether it was a one-off event or whether
the speaker had made the claim multiple times. The program, entitled
"Vaccine Wars: The Truth About Pfizer", will air in its entirety on
Friday.

Pfizer responded to the claims made in the documentary by insisting
that the presentation cited therein had been "wrongly attributed" to
Pfizer, and that it actually had been made by a third party.

In a statement to the Daily Mail, Pfizer insisted that it's priority
"has always been getting high-quality, well-tolerated and effective
vaccines..."

    "We refute any suggestion that Pfizer has sought to undermine
others’ scientific endeavors," a company spokesman told the Daily
Mail.

    "Our priority has always been getting high-quality, well-tolerated
and effective vaccines to patients all over the world as quickly as
possible and to help put an end to this deadly pandemic."

The documentary also purports to show that Pfizer is price gouging
governments and insurers by estimating the cost of producing a single
jab is just 76 pence ($1.02). The vaccines are then sold for 20x that,
or roughly $20 a dose (and Pfizer hopes to raise prices in the coming
months, particularly if it's forced to reformulate its vaccines for
omicron).

Responding to this claim, Pfizer insisted that the $1.02 figure is
"grossly inaccurate", and that the cost estimate didn't factor in the
resources expended during research and development.

Pfizer seems to be embracing the strategy of 'deny, deny, deny', and
it's not hard to see why. Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, the director
of the Oxford vaccine group that developed the AstraZeneca vaccine,
responded to the claims in the presentation, and warned about the
dangers of spreading vaccine "misinformation."

    "There is huge risks of misinformation, because anything that
makes people hesitate about being vaccinated can risk their lives,"
the professor said.

    "It can undermine and impact on decisions that people make about
their own health, but also create uncertainty for policymakers."

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Pfizer said the company had provided funds
to a third-party agency with an independent scientific committee to
produce an educational program about vaccines in Canada following the
approval of the company's jab in the country. Pfizer hired the firm
following "numerous requests" from Canadian health professionals.

Fortunately for Pfizer, its deal to supply jabs to the UK stipulates
that it can't be sued for anything relating to COVID. Any disputes
must be resolved in secret arbitration.

As for the Channel 4 documentary, it airs 1930 London Time on Friday.


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