The vaccine was approved for use with young children weeks after the Pfizer boss’s statements (Danny Lawson/PA)
Pfizer’s boss was rapped by industry regulator over vaccine interview
By August Graham, PA11:33 - February 10, 2023
A series of online claims over the last week say that a court has ruled against drugs giant Pfizer.
Some posts claimed that the court said that the company’s chief executive had misled people about the safety of vaccines.
Evaluation: Missing context
Many of the online posts on this topic are untrue. Others are not misleading, but need more context.
Pfizer did not get found guilty in court. In fact there was no court case. No court said that the Pfizer vaccine was not safe.
Instead the body run by the pharmaceutical industry’s trade body found that Pfizer’s chief executive had erred when speaking to the BBC and might have led people to believe there was no need to be worried about side effects and that benefits outweighed the risks when vaccinating young children.
His statements were made a month before the UK authorities authorised the Pfizer-BioNTech for use in five to 11-year-old children.
The facts
The interview
On December 2, 2021 the BBC published an interview with the Pfizer chief executive Dr Albert Bourla.
On December 22, 2021 the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved the use of his company’s Covid-19 vaccine in children aged five to 11. It followed a similar approval by the US Food and Drug Administration in October.
During the BBC interview Dr Bourla was asked about the use of Covid-19 vaccines in this age group.
The BBC’s medical editor Fergus Walsh asked: “Do you think immunising that age group is likely to happen in the UK and Europe? And if so, why is it a good idea?”
Dr Bourla said that it was up to the health authorities in the UK to approve the vaccine’s use, but added: “I believe it’s a very good idea.”
He said that Covid was thriving in schools, that the educational system was providing a pool in which the virus could create new variants, that some children will get severe symptoms and warned of long Covid.
He added: “So there is no doubt in my mind about the benefits completely [completely] are in favour of doing it.”
The complaint
Following the interview a campaign group called Us for Them filed a complaint with the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA).
Us for Them is a group that campaigned against school closures during the pandemic. It has also expressed scepticism over the use of face masks.
PMCPA is the self-regulatory body for the pharmaceutical industry. It administers the code of practice for the trade body Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).
Pfizer is a member of this group and a panel from PMCPA can decide whether Pfizer has erred from the code of practice.
The complaint alleged that Pfizer was promoting an unlicensed medicine during the interview with the BBC.
It also claimed that the company had brought discredit on its industry and not maintained high standards.
The findings
The panel at the PMCPA was not given a full transcript of the interview by the BBC as that went against the broadcaster’s own policies.
The panel dismissed eight of these 17, but found there had been breaches in nine cases.
Pfizer appealed this ruling. The appeal board overturned the panel’s findings in several cases, but upheld five breaches of the code out of the alleged 17.
The breaches of the code came from Dr Bourla’s quotes. The first was: “I believe it’s a very good idea.”
The second quote was: “So there is no doubt in my mind about the benefits completely [completely] are in favour of doing it.”
The appeal board said that these statements in favour of vaccinating 5-11 year olds could wrongly make people believe there was no need to be concerned about potential side effects.
It also found that they might make people think that the benefits outweighed the risks before the UK authorities had published any such conclusions.
However, this did not mean that the board thinks the vaccine was unsafe. Merely that all medicines can come with side effects that should not be downplayed.
The outcome
Pfizer has given an undertaking to the PMCPA.
An undertaking means that the company accepts it breached the code of practice and promises “that all possible steps will be taken to avoid similar breaches of the Code in future.”
Links
Second claim on Twitter (archived tweet and video)
Press release on vaccinations for children aged 5 to 11 (archived)
PMCPA about us page (archived)
ABPI membership list (archived)
PMCPA what is an undertaking (archived)
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