No, Pfizer Vice President Rady Johnson Was Not Arrested

Social media circulated yet another rumour about the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer targetting its Vice President Rady Johnson this time around. Originating from a satire website called Vancouver times, the viral message falsely claims that Johnson was arrested after Pfizer released a new set of documents about the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

The website tagged the article as satire but several social media users shared the piece believing it to be true.

The claim reads, "VP of Pfizer group arrested after leaked documents show only 12% vaccine efficacy and severe side effects."

Some claims on Twitter and Facebook also added that the mainstream media was not covering his arrest as it cast aspersions on the COVID-19 vaccine.

The message for Indian audiences went a step further to thank the Indian government for not allowing the sale and distribution of the vaccine in Indian markets. It added, " Remember how Kejriwal, Uddhav Thackeray and Ashok Gehlot openly advocated for Pfizer Vaccines. TRUTH IS OUT"

BOOM received the message on its WhatsApp helpline requesting verification.

Globally, the claim discusses how Pfizer as been getting away with fraudulent lies. The claim is also viral on Twitter and Facebook.

Fact Check

The original post was published by satirical website "Vancouver Times" on May 6, 2022. As soon as the link of the article opens, one can find that the article has been tagged as satire.

The article was published after Pfizer released its documents on the COVID-19 vaccine. The released documents amount to 80,000 pages of material and anti-vaxxers have also been spreading rumours about the content of the papers. They have been suggesting that the actual efficacy of the vaccine is not 95 percent as claimed by the pharmaceutical giant.

After US-based fact-checking website Snopes highlighted that this article was satirical, the website added three different disclaimers about the article and asked people to check their about us section. The 'About us' section clearly mentions that the website is the most trusted source for satire on the West Coast and that they write satirical stories on issues that affect conservatives.

This is not the first time that the vaccine manufacturer and its chief executives have found themselves dragged into misinformation. Pfizer has continuously been surrounded by misinformation about the contents of the vaccine. It ranges from the vaccine causing infertility to it containing aluminum and magnesium. There have also been rumours of the CEO Albert Bourla being arrested as well as rumours of his wife Myriam dying after taking the vaccine. BOOM has been actively debunking misinformation about the pharma company since it announced that it was making a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 along with BioNTech.