A video covering a series of conspiracies regarding COVID-19 vaccines is being shared on social media. The video contains the false suggestion that vaccine manufacturer Pfizer should halt production due to deaths among vaccine recipients. There are other claims and opinions in the video that fall outside the scope of this check.
The video (here) features a man talking to the camera and saying, ‘Pfizer, which is responsible for the 23, which is now 30 deaths in Norway, is stopping production. If you now have a conspiracy like me, you would say that it is because of the large numbers of deaths. (Time stamp 0.20)
Reuters has already addressed claims that the Pfizer vaccine, used in Norway (here) has caused deaths among elderly recipients in the country (here). Norway vaccinates residents of care homes, including those with serious underlying illnesses. On average, 400 people die each week in nursing homes and long-term care institutions in Norway, and the deaths of 13 patients who received the vaccine, which has so far been assessed by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, have not been shown by health authorities to show vaccines were to blame. .
The Norwegian fact controller Faktisk has published further information, including an update on the number of deaths reported to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (here).
However, Pfizer announced on January 15 that its plant in Puurs, Belgium, would deliver fewer doses next week as part of a plan to increase production. Pfizer told Reuters in an email that production “will be back to the original delivery schedule to the European Union from the week of January 25, with increased delivery at the beginning of the week of February 15” and that they will be able to ‘deliver the fully committed’ amount of vaccine doses in the first quarter and significantly more in the second quarter. They also said that the production and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in the USA had no delays.
VERDICT
Untrue. Vaccine deaths have not been found to be caused by the vaccine. Pfizer delayed production in Belgium for a week, but this was so that production could be increased in February and production in the United States could not be affected.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.