Pfizer CEO did not say that Pfizer aims to reduce the world population by 50%

The viral video is edited to give a false impression that Albert Bourla said that his company’s goal is to reduce 50% of the population of the world.

As the world still struggles to fight Covid-19, doctors, and medical experts urges everyone to vaccinate in order to stand strong against this pandemic. Amidst this, a video of Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla is widely circulating on social media, claiming that he said that his company’s goal is to reduce 50% of the population of the world. However, our investigation found these to be misleading as the claim had been made based on an edited version of a speech by the Pfizer CEO by omitting part of his full statement.

Social Media Claims

In the viral video Pfizer CEO purportedly says, “I think that is really fulfilling of a dream that we had, together with my leadership team when we started in '19. The first week we met in January of '19 in California to set up the goals for the next five years, and one of them was by 2023 — we will reduce the number of people in the world by 50 per cent. I think today, this dream is becoming a reality.”

The caption of the post states, “Cozy #WEF-talk between #Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and Klaus Schwab: Bourla: “In 19' we met and set up the goals for the next 5 years and one of them was, by 2023, we will reduce the number of people in the world by 50%”. #Schwab: “So it is really a purpose driven company.”

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Fact Check-

We observed the background of the World Economic Forum in the video and ran a relevant keyword search on YouTube. We found a video on the official YouTube channel of the World Economic Forum. The video was uploaded on 25 May 2022 with the caption, “Conversation with Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer.” The video shows a conversation with Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla and Klaus Schwab, the Executive Director of the World Economic Forum at Davos. 

Klaus Schwab can be heard questioning about Pfizer's non-profit plan for dispensing drugs to 45 economically disadvantaged nations. To this, Albert Bourla can be heard saying, “I think that is really fulfilling of a dream that we had, together with our leadership team when we started in 2019. The first week we met in January of 2019 in California to set up the goals for the next five years, and one of them was by 2023, we will reduce the number of people in the world that cannot afford our medicines by 50 per cent. I think today, this dream is becoming a reality.”

The original video makes it very clear Albert Bourla actually said, “We will reduce the number of people in the world that cannot afford our medicines by 50 per cent.” However, this video has been edited to falsely portray that Bourla said, “We will reduce the number of people in the world by 50 per cent.”

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo found the viral video to be Edited. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla originally said, “By 2023, we will reduce the number of people in the world that cannot afford our medicines by 50 per cent”. The viral video is edited to give a false impression that Albert Bourla said that his company’s goal is to reduce 50% of the population of the world.