Healthcare

FACT CHECK: Did Pfizer Create A COVID-19 Vaccine ‘Vaporizer Cartridge’?

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An image shared on Facebook purportedly shows a coronavirus vaccine “vaporizer cartridge” from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer.

Screenshot/Facebook

Verdict: False

The product is a hoax that was likely meant to be a joke. A spokesperson for Pfizer confirmed the pictured device is not a product from the company.

Fact Check:

The image shows what appears to be a pre-packaged, single-dose COVID-19 vaccine “vaporizer cartridge” produced by Pfizer, the company that collaborated with German pharmaceutical firm BioNTech to create a COVID-19 vaccine that recently received an emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The package, which seems authentic at first glance, includes a Pfizer logo and information about the dosage and production.

Pfizer, however, has not released the pictured electronic cigarette product, despite some social media users appearing to believe the “vaporizer cartridge” is legitimate. Had the company put out such a product, it would have been covered by major media outlets, yet none have reported on it. Pfizer has also not published a press release about the coronavirus vaccine “vaporizer cartridge.”

Aspects of the packaging suggest the fake Pfizer product may have been created as a joke. For instance, the phrase “Makers of ‘The Boner Pill’” appears below the Pfizer logo.

“That is not a Pfizer product,” confirmed Pfizer spokesperson Andy Widger in an email to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Our COVID-19 vaccine currently comes in multi dose vials and is an injectable vaccine.”

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is administered via injection “intramuscularly as a series of two doses (0.3 mL each) 3 weeks apart,” according to an FDA fact sheet. The vaccine received an EUA from the FDA on Dec. 11.