Pfizer accused of profiteering and funding misinformation about AstraZeneca’s vaccine

US drugmaker Pfizer has been accused of paying medical experts to discredit the coronavirus vaccine made by its rival AstraZeneca.

Included in these presentations were slides that listed several disadvantages of the “viral vector” technology that is the basis for the AstraZeneca vaccine, the broadcaster said.

Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, the director of the Oxford vaccine group that developed the Astra Zeneca vaccine, said there was “absolutely zero evidence” that the vaccine “would or could” cause cancer, and that it had been given to millions of immunocompromised people and caused no harm.

Pfizer said it “provided funds for an education programme” but did “not provide presentation materials or influence the presentations”.

In a Channel 4 Dispatches investigation to be broadcast this friday, Tom Frieden, who was director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under Barack Obama, said: “If you’re just focusing on maximising your profits and you’re a vaccine manufacturer … you are war profiteering.”

Ministers have agreed a secrecy clause in any dispute with the drugs manufacturer Pfizer over Britain’s Covid vaccine supply.

The Pfizer vaccine costs just 76p to manufacture for each shot. It is reportedly being sold for £22 a dose to the UK government. This is a near 3,000 per cent mark-up. 

Top shareholders at Pfizer and Moderna made more than £7.8billion ($10billion) in stocks growth in the week after the discovery of Omicron, MailOnline can reveal.

The Channel 4 Dispatches investigation ‘Vaccine Wars: The Truth About Pfizer’ will be aired at 7.30pm on Friday.