Pfizer boss taken to task for jab advice to children

PFIZER’S chief executive has been rebuked by the UK’s pharmaceutical watchdog for making “misleading” statements about children’s vaccines, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.

Dr Albert Bourla in a BBC interview last December claimed “there is no doubt in my mind that the benefits, completely, are in favour of ” vaccinating those aged five to 11 against Covid.

He argued that “Covid in schools is thriving”, adding: “This is disturbing, significantly, the educational system, and there are kids that will have severe symptoms.” The interview was published on Dec 2 – before the vaccine had been approved by Britain’s medical regulator for this age group.

Shortly after publication, a complaint was submitted to the pharmaceutical watchdog – the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA) – by UsForThem, a parent campaign group set up to promote the plight of children during the pandemic. The complaint alleged that Dr Bourla’s remarks about the children’s vaccine were “disgracefully misleading”, arguing that it breached several clauses of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry’s code of practice.

In September 2021, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), had advised against a mass rollout for children aged 12 to 15, citing the low risk to healthy children.

But less than a fortnight later, ministers gave the green light for youngsters to be given a single dose of the PfizerBioNTech jab. It was not until February 2022 that the JCVI ruled that children aged five to 11 could be offered the jab.

A code of practice panel, convened by the PMCPA, found Pfizer breached the code in a number of ways, including misleading the public, making unsubstantiated claims and failing to present information in a factual, balanced way.

Pfizer appealed against the findings, strongly refuting UsForThem’s claims that Dr Bourla had breached the code of practice. They argued that his remarks were based on “up-to-date scientific evidence” and could be substantiated by the “publicly available independent benefit-risk assessments”.

Earlier this month an appeal board met to consider their arguments. The breaches relating to misleading the public, making unsubstantiated claims and the lack of balance were upheld.

The more serious findings – including that Pfizer had brought discredit to the industry, had encouraged irrational use of a medicine and had failed to maintain high standards – were overturned. PMCPA said the full case report will be published in the coming weeks.

Pfizer said it is “committed to the highest levels of integrity in any interaction with the public”.

It added: “We are pleased the UK’s PMCPA appeal board found Pfizer to have maintained high standards and upheld confidence in our industry, the two most serious rulings in this complaint from a UK campaign group.” UsForThem was approached for comment.