Pfizer director used exclusive channel to ask Twitter to censor Covid-19 vaccine skeptics
In yet another release of Twitter insider information by new owner Elon Musk, reporter Alex Berenson reported on Jan. 9 that physician Scott Gottlieb, a member of the board of directors of pharmaceutical company Pfizer, maker of the Comirnaty mRNA vaccine against Covid-19, requested through an exclusive channel to the social network that posts that raised doubts about the vaccine to be censored – a clear conflict of interest.
On Aug. 27, 2021, Gottlieb, who has more than 500,000 followers on Twitter, asked that something be done about another doctor’s tweet, Brett Giroir.
Both were once directors of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a U.S. government health agency responsible for approving vaccines.
Giroir’s tweet said, “It is now clear that natural immunity to Covid-19 is superior to vaccine immunity, and very much so. There is no scientific justification for using the vaccine as proof [of immunity] if a person has had a previous infection.”
“The director of the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and the president should follow the science. Haven’t you had a previous infection? Get vaccinated!”
Gottlieb said the tweet was ‘corrosive’ in the message calling for censure.
“It draws a generalizing conclusion from a single retrospective study from Israel that did not go through peer review. But this tweet will eventually go viral and call for news coverage,” justified the board member of Pfizer, a company that made nearly US$40 billion ($208 billion) from the vaccine in 2021 alone.
The recipient of the Twitter censorship request was Todd O’Boyle, at the time a lobbyist for the social network in Washington and also the central intermediary between the network and the White House.
Gottlieb’s email was forwarded by O’Boyle, with no mention of his connection to Pfizer, to Twitter’s “Strategic Response” team.
An analyst from the team judged that Giroir’s tweet did not violate the rules, but it was still flagged with a “misleading” tag. Comments, retweets, and likes of the tweet were banned.
Gottlieb also called for censorship of another user who raised doubts about the need to vaccinate children against Covid.
At the time, Pfizer was about to get permission from the U.S. government to recommend a diluted dose for children between five and 11 years old – more conflict of interest.
This time, however, Twitter rejected the request for action.
In response to the revelations, Gottlieb tweeted that he suffers death threats on Twitter.
He complained that the social network did not take sufficient action against this but did not deny the Twitter Files revelations.
As reported, skepticism against protection conferred by immunity acquired by previous infection has never been scientifically justified.
Natural and vaccine immunity is similar in protection, but natural immunity is longer lasting.
In the so-called hybrid immunity, they offer the greatest protection, for example, against transmission, although in both cases, the virus remains highly infectious indoors.
The effectiveness of hybrid immunity against transmission is 40 percent, a study of American prisoners has shown.
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