Did the CEO of Pfizer get arrested? Was the vice president of Pfizer detained by federal agents recently? No, neither of these claims are true: A spokesperson from Pfizer told Lead Stories that these claims are false. Vancouver Times, which wrote about the Pfizer vice president, is satirical according to its About Us section. Meanwhile, another site -- Fast News…

On November 10, 2021, Lead Stories published a fact check about an article published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) on November 2, 2021. In response, the BMJ published an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg on December 17, 2021, calling our fact check "inaccurate, incompetent and irresponsible." We addressed their concerns in a December 18, 2021, article, going over their…

Did the CEO of Pfizer say that two doses of the vaccine offer very little protection against COVID-19? No, that's not true: He was speaking specifically about the omicron variant, not about other variants of the coronavirus. Clipping the quote in this way robs it of context that makes clear what he meant. The claim appeared in an Instagram post…

Did Albert Bourla, the CEO of biopharmaceutical company Pfizer, say that the company's COVID-19 treatment pill will contain a microchip that transmits information once swallowed? No, that's not true: A Pfizer spokesperson told Lead Stories that the claim is false. Additionally, a 2018 clip of Bourla discussing ingestible technology is unrelated to Paxlovid, Pfizer's COVID treatment pill. The claim appeared…

Did the CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, recently explain why he hasn't gotten the COVID-19 vaccine yet? No, that's not true: The video in this post is an outdated interview from 2020. That's when Bourla said he was waiting his turn as he did not meet the criteria due to emergency rollout measures for those in the priority groups. As…

Was Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, arrested by the FBI on November 22, 2021? No, that's not true: There is no evidence to suggest that Bancel was arrested and the website where the claim originally appeared is a known fake news website. The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published on November 22, 2021, by CelebSaga. One portion of…

Wanted for Defamation On November 5, 2021, a website named Conservative Beaver published a false story about the CEO of Pfizer being arrested for fraud. It wasn't the first false story published by the website and it wouldn't be the last: Only a few days later the site falsely claimed Myriam Bourla (the wife of Pfizer's CEO Albert Bourla) died…

Did Myriam Bourla, the wife of Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, die November 10, 2021 after complications from Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine? No, that's not true: She was photographed with her husband at an awards ceremony on November 11, 2021. Conservative Beaver, the website where the claim originated, often writes fabricated stories about public figures. The claim appeared in an article (archived…

Update: In response to this fact check the BMJ published an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg. Our response is here, we stand by our reporting. We also published an article titled "Context Matters: Why Lead Stories Fact Checked The BMJ" to further clarify the reasons for the fact check after the BMJ published another article claiming this was an case…

Did the FBI arrest Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla in Scarsdale, New York, on the morning of November 5, 2021? No, that's not true: Scarsdale police said there was no FBI raid there and that Bourla no longer lives in the famous bedroom community of New York City. Bourla made multiple live appearances on network television the day he was purported…