Pfizer denies widely viewed claim it mutates coronavirus for vaccine development
Biopharmaceutical company Pfizer denies a claim that it is considering mutating the coronavirus for use in the development of future COVID-19 vaccines.
The company issued a response late last week after a controversial organization known as Project Veritas released what appears to be a secret recording of an individual who claims to be a senior employee of Pfizer.
In the video, which has surpassed 44 million views on
Twitteralone, the interviewee suggests Pfizer is considering conducting “gain-of-function” research, or experimentation that aims to increase transmissibility or strength of a pathogen in a lab for the purpose of better understanding and preparing future medical countermeasures like vaccines.
Pfizer denies conducting gain of function or directed evolution research in the ongoing development of its COVID-19 vaccine. The company says its research involves using the original SARS-CoV-2 virus to express the spike protein from new variants of concern.
“This work is undertaken once a new variant of concern has been identified by public health authorities,” the Pfizer statement reads. “This research provides a way for us to rapidly assess the ability of an existing vaccine to induce antibodies that neutralize a newly identified variant of concern. We then make this data available through peer reviewed scientific journals and use it as one of the steps to determine whether a vaccine update is required.”
Pfizer also notes that it undertakes in vitro work in its Biosafety level 3 lab to identify potential resistance mutations to its oral COVID treatment, Paxlovid, and assess whether the main protease – a non-infectious part of the virus – can mutate to yield resistant strains of the virus.
“With a naturally evolving virus, it is important to routinely assess the activity of an antiviral,” Pfizer wrote. “Most of this work is conducted using computer simulations or mutations of the main protease ... In a limited number of cases when a full virus does not contain any known gain of function mutations, such virus may be engineered to enable the assessment of antiviral activity in cells.
“It is important to note that these studies are required by U.S. and global regulators for all antiviral products and are carried out by many companies and academic institutions in the U.S. and around the world.”
Fact-checkers like
Snopes and
Newsweek have reached out to Pfizer to determine if the individual in the video, identified as Jordon/Jordan Trishton Walker, is an employee of the company but haven’t received confirmation. They’ve also asked Project Veritas for the unedited video.
A second video featuring the same alleged Pfizer employee was also published by Project Veritas. In it, the group reveals that they’ve been recording him. In his reaction, the man said he was lying while trying to impress a date.
Project Veritas has a reputation for unethical tactics and has been entangled in several legal battles. The New York Times refers to the company as a right-wing group that “regularly carries out undercover stings, surveillance operations, and ambush interviews, mostly against liberal groups and journalists.”
The U.S. has administered more than 398 million doses of Pfizer’s original COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 33 million doses of its updated bivalent booster, according to the CDC.
An undercover interview with an person who claims to be a senior employee has more than 44 million views. It was published by controversial group Project Veritas.
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