A Pfizer executive told European lawmakers on Oct. 10 that neither she nor other Pfizer officials knew whether its COVID-19 vaccine would stop transmission before entering the market last year, in keeping with previous indications that clinical trials were limited to the impact of vaccines on symptomatic COVID-19.
Member of the European Parliament, Rob Roos, asked during a session: “Was the Pfizer COVID vaccine tested on stopping the transmission of the virus before it entered the market?”
Pfizer’s Janine Small, president of international developed markets, said in response: “Did we know about stopping immunization before it entered the market? No … we had to really move at the speed of science to really understand what is taking place in the market.”
The Epoch Times has contacted Pfizer for comment.
The Food and Drug Administration wrote in late 2020: “At this time, data are not available to make a determination about how long the vaccine will provide protection, nor is there evidence that the vaccine prevents transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from person to person.”
Meanwhile, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, around the same time, told NBC News in December 2020 in response to a question about transmissibility: ‘’I think this is something that needs to be examined. We are not certain about that right now.,”
Former White House medical adviser Dr. Deborah Birx in June revealed that there was evidence in December 2020 that individuals who received COVID-19 vaccines, including Pfizer’s, could still transmit the virus.
“We knew early on in January of 2021, in late December of 2020, that reinfection was occurring after natural infection,” Birx, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator during the Trump administration, told members of Congress this year.
‘Not Going to Get COVID’
A number of officials in the United States and around the world had claimed COVID-19 vaccines could prevent transmission. Among them, President Joe Biden in July 2021 remarked that “you’re not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations.”
Chief Biden administration medical adviser Anthony Fauci in May 2021 said in a CBS interview that vaccinated people are “dead ends” for COVID-19, suggesting they cannot transmit the virus. “When you get vaccinated, you not only protect your own health and that of the family but also you contribute to the community health by preventing the spread of the virus throughout the community,” Fauci said.
Two months later, in late July of that year, Fauci said that vaccinated people are capable of transmitting the virus.
In the coming months, Fauci, Biden, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, and others pivoted to say the vaccine prevents severe disease, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19.
This article, including the headline, has been updated to accurately reflect the context of Pfizer executive’s remarks. The Epoch Times regrets this error.