The Verdict [False]
Because the clip in this post uses two clips, taken out of context to distort their meaning, we have marked this claim as false.
The claim
A misleadingly edited video clip has gone viral on social media, appearing to show Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla speaking at the World Economic Forum and stating a goal to reduce the human population by 50 percent.
The clip (archived here), which began to go viral on Facebook on March 4, had gathered over 230,000 views and 4,300 shares as of March 11.
The edited clip makes it appear that Bourla says:
“The goals for the next five years… and one of them was by 2023, we will reduce the number of people in the world by 50 percent. I think today this dream is becoming a reality. It is basically a biological chip that is in the tablet, and once you take the tablet and it dissolves into your stomach… it sends a signal that you took the tablet. So, imagine the applications of that compliance…the insurance companies know the medicines that patients should take, and they do take them. It is fascinating what happens in this field.”
While the clip plays, an overlaid caption hovers over the clip, which reads, “They concluded by saying A.i [sic] will make it possible.”
However, Logically Facts found that this post has been made by deceptively editing the clip to distort its meaning.
In fact
This clip is taken from the 2022 World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Bourla’s discussion, from which this 47-second clip was taken, actually lasted over 30 minutes. His discussion did not have to do with reducing the world population, but with reducing the number of people who go without necessary medicines. His full quote – which had been deceptively edited in the viral clip – reads:
“It is a dream we had, together with my leadership team when we started together in ’19, the first week we met, in January of ’19, in California, to set up the goals for the next five years. And one of them was by 2023, we will reduce the numer of people in the world that cannot afford our medicines by 50 percent. I think today, this dream is becoming a reality.”
Reuters and The AP have both fact-checked this deceptive clip, marking it as false. However, Logically Facts discovered that in the current instance, this clip was additionally spliced together with another clip of Bourla speaking at the 2018 World Economic Forum during a panel on healthcare technology.
This clip comes from the question-and-answer section at the panel’s conclusion, during which an audience member asks about technologies that could be used to increase patient engagement in their own care. In his answer, Bourla does note that the FDA has recently approved a pill that could inform others when they have taken the pill. However, the pill Bourla is discussing, Abilify MyCite, is used in specific cases when the patient may or may not be able to verify their own medication consumption, such as in cases of schizophrenia or mania.
The device is meant to allow the patient to monitor their own consumption, and it also gives them the ability to allow their own healthcare providers to monitor the data, so that early interventions could be implemented if they have forgotten to take their medicine – but this would be a patient-led feature.
Logically Facts has previously investigated claims surrounding Bourla’s discussion of Abilify MyCite.
We contacted Pfizer for a statement on this video, and they confirmed that “these clips have been falsified and are completely fake.”
The verdict
The clip in this post uses two clips, taken out of context to distort their meaning. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.
This article is written by Kari Nixon and republished from Logically Facts. Read the original article here.
Reference Links
“Fact Check: Edited video cuts Pfizer CEO’s comments at World Economic Forum,” Reuters – Refutes
“Conversation with Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer,” WEF YouTube – Refutes
“Altered video cuts Pfizer CEO’s comments on low-cost medicine program,” AP – Refutes
“Transforming Health in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” WEF YouTube – Refutes
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-pill-sensor-digitally-tracks-if-patients-have-ingested-their-medication – Refutes
“False: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla introduced ingestible pills with a dissolvable chip during the World Economic Forum’s Davos summit.,” Logically Facts – Refutes
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