An image purportedly showing a “made in China” Pfizer coronavirus vaccine “vaporizer cartridge” has gone viral online. But, We found that neither does Pfizer manufacture COVID-19 vaccine in China nor is it making vaporiser cartridges for the coronavirus vaccine.
CLAIM
While several users seemed to recognise that the product is not real and took it as a joke, many others used captions on Facebook that read, “Look, the vaccine for the China virus, was made in China!”
This false claim was widely shared on Facebook and Twitter.
WHAT WE FOUND
Upon analysing the image, we found three errors – the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was not available in a vaporiser cartridge, Pfizer doesn’t manufacture the vaccine in China, and the vaccine is a two-dose vaccine.
1. COVID-19 VACCINE VAPORIZER CARTRIDGE
A Google search for COVID-19 vaporiser cartridges didn’t return any relevant results. We looked-up on Pfizer’s website and didn't find any mention of a COVID-19 vaccine vaporiser cartridge.
Instead, we found on the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website that the vaccines created by the Pharma giant are supposed to be taken as an injection in the muscle of the upper arm.
Pfizer told news agency Reuters on mail that the vaporiser cartridge was fake.
2. SINGLE-DOSE VACCINE
The viral image claims that the vaccine is a single-dose vaccine. However, as per the Pfizer vaccine’s website, the vaccine has to be taken in two doses, 21 days apart.
Health authorities in the US and the UK, where the vaccine has already been rolled out, have also said that people will require two doses of the vaccine.
3. PFIZER VACCINE ‘MADE IN CHINA’
Several people saw the “Made in China” label in the viral image and used captions like, “Why’s the Pfizer vaccine made in China?”
We found from Pfizer’s distribution fact sheet that the real vaccine is being made using Pfizer and BioNTech’s combined manufacturing network in Europe (Germany, Belgium) and the United States.
We have also written to the Indian representatives of Pfizer and this story will be updated with their response.
The vaccine manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been approved for emergency use in several countries and have the health authorities have started administering doses in the US and the UK.
Evidently, the image of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine cartridge is fake and Pfizer does not manufacture coronavirus vaccines in China as of now. The product in the image was likely made as a joke but was then shared by several users with misleading claims.
Several other false and misleading claims about Pfizer vaccine have previously been debunked by the WebQoof team and they can be found here.
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)