Pfizer CEO did not say he wanted to decrease population by 50%

A post on Facebook falsely claims that the CEO of Pfizer has said “by 2023 we will reduce the world population by 50%”. This is accompanied by a link to a website with the headline: “Pfizer CEO: ‘by 2023 we will reduce the world population by 50%’”.

He actually said that by 2023 they would reduce the number of people who could not afford their medicines by 50%.

If you follow the link to the webpage, it includes a video showing Albert Bourla, the CEO of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, which produces one of the Covid-19 vaccines. He was speaking at Davos, an annual event run by the World Economic Forum (WEF), an international, non-governmental lobbying organisation that says it is “committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas”.

In this video, he appears to say: “The first week we met, in January of ‘19 in California, and set up the goals for the next five years. And one of them was by 2023 we would reduce the number of people in the world by 50%. I think today, this dream is becoming reality.” 

The audience then claps.

But in the full version of the interview, between Mr Bourla and Klaus Schwab, the WEF founder and chairman, shows that he did not actually say this.

The full clip shows Mr Bourla saying: “The first week we met in January of ‘19 in California, we set up the goals for the next five years. And one of them was by 2023 we will reduce the number of people in the world that cannot afford our medicines by 50%. I think today this dream is becoming reality.”

The webpage linked to by the Facebook post does reflect this, and has a correction note saying: “After reviewing the full video, the video I was provided was edited to remove the words ‘who cannot afford our medicines.’ My apologies and you can see the full video below.”

The headline also now says: “Pfizer CEO: ‘By 2023, We Will Reduce The Number Of People In The World That Cannot Afford Our Medicines By 50%’”.

However, the website’s correction note goes on to say: “Nevertheless, with the millions who have died from the shot and millions more who have been injured, are the results not looking the same as a global depopulation? I think they are.”

There is no evidence that millions have died or been “injured” from the Covid-19 vaccine. In England and Wales, 15 deaths have been registered as having been attributed to adverse reaction to a Covid-19 vaccine, with 10 listed as having it as the underlying cause, as of December 2021. It is important to note there is a long lag in registrations of deaths, so this figure may well increase.

According to the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) there is a likely link between the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine and an extremely rare and specific blood clot occurring with low platelets. There have been 81 fatal cases of this following the AstraZeneca vaccine up to 18 May 2022.

The number of deaths and other events reported following a vaccine via the Yellow Card scheme are not necessarily caused by the vaccine as they haven’t been fully investigated. (The Yellow Card scheme is a website run by the MHRA, to which anyone can report a suspected side effect.)

According to the Office for National Statistics: “The COVID-19 vaccination programme led to a very large number of people receiving vaccinations in a relatively short period. Some people will, sadly, die by chance shortly after receiving a vaccine, so the death can be mistakenly attributed to the COVID-19 vaccination by a family member or carer. In the course of such a large-scale programme, this could add up to a large number.”