Since the early stages of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in the U.S., vaccine skeptics have used outdated interviews to spread claims that executives are refusing shots developed by their own pharmaceutical companies.
The latest iteration of this misinformation targets Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech, a German biotechnology company that collaborated with Pfizer to develop COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots. Social media users claim a video shows him admitting he will not get injected.
"Dr Ugur Sahin CEO of #BioNTech and inventor of the BioNTech/#Pfizer jab refuses to take the jab for safety reasons," reads the caption of a Dec. 5 Facebook video that accumulated more than 100 views.
The approximately two-minute clip, which recently made its way to Facebook, Twitter and other websites, shows Sahin answering questions from a reporter about his COVID-19 vaccination status, saying he is not legally allowed to get a shot.
But the video is from December 2020, before the vaccine rollout started in Germany. Sahin has since been vaccinated against the virus, according to a company spokesperson.
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The social media users who shared the video did not return requests for comment.
BioNTech spokeswoman Jasmina Alatovic told USA TODAY via email that the claim is "wrong" and that Sahin got his first and second dose of the...
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