Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer, said Tuesday that people who spread false information about COVID-19 vaccines are “criminals”.
CNBC reported that Bourla spoke to Atlantic Council CEO Frederick Kempe. Bourla said “Those people are criminals”.
“They’re not bad people. They’re criminals because they have literally cost millions of lives,” he added.
Bourla explained that a “very small” group of people have been spreading misinformation about the vaccines.
Bourla says there are two groups of people: those that get vaccinated and those that don’t. He noted that both groups are afraid of something, whether it’s the virus or the vaccine, and that their fear is understandable.
He then pointed out that there are professionals who spread misinformation on purpose “so that they will mislead those that they have concerned”. Those people are who he calls “criminals”.
A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll discovered that 8 in 10 Americans believe or are unsure of at least one false statement about the coronavirus vaccines.
The poll found that 18% believe vaccine deaths are hidden by the government and 38% believe the government has exaggerated the amount of people that died from the virus.
Bourla said he hopes life can get “back to normal” after more people get vaccinated. “The only thing that stands between the new way of life and the current way of life is, frankly, hesitancy to vaccinations”.