Pfizer CEO Blasts ‘Criminals’ Peddling Covid-19 Misinformation: ‘They’ve Literally Cost Millions of Lives’

Albert Bourla, the chairman and CEO of Pfizer, blasted “criminals” peddling misinformation about the vaccines on Tuesday.

Atlantic Council CEO Fred Kempe spoke with Bourla about Pfizer’s development of its covid-19 vaccine and working with the Trump and Biden administrations, before getting around to the subject of vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories.

“Where do you feel the primary source of this sort of fake news was?” he asked. “How damaging was this to us?”

Bourla said it was really damaging and recalled how Pfizer in particular was “targeted by a lot of, let’s say, ‘dark’ organizations.”

Pfizer apparently even sat in briefings with the CIA and FBI warning they could be the target of cyberattacks and “the spread of misinformation” around the vaccines.

Bourla acknowledged that many people are afraid of getting the vaccines, and said there are “decent people” who harbor those fears.

“But there is a very small part of professionals,” he continued, “which they circulate, on purpose, misinformation so that they will mislead those that they have concerned.”

Bourla even called them criminals.

Those people are criminals. They are not bad people, they are criminals. Because they’ve literally cost millions of lives.

He did not name anyone in particular, but a recent survey found that an alarmingly high number of Americans believe or are uncertain about various false covid-19 statements. Viewers of Fox News, OAN, or Newsmax were found more likely to believe over four out of eight serious falsities.

You can watch Bourla’s comments above, via The Atlantic Council.