The Twitter Files – COVID-19 Edition - have been released, revealing collusion between pharma giant, Pfizer, a Washington DC lobbyist who also did work for the White House and Twitter’s former ownership..Elon Musk gave the task of putting together the COVID-19 edition to independent journalist, Alex Berenson, who has been critical of the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines..Berenson was banned from Twitter, but successfully sued to have his account reinstated under allegations the ban came about due to pressure from the White House..Interesting to note, while other conservatives have sued Twitter over being banned, Berenson's claim was unique due to the pressure from government officials to remove his account..Berenson opens with a bombshell..“Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb secretly pressed Twitter to hide posts challenging his company's massively profitable COVID jabs,” he writes. “To funnel his demands, Gottlieb used the same Twitter lobbyist the White House did — fresh evidence of overlap between the company selling mRNA shots and the government forcing them on the public.”.Berenson explains that on Aug. 27 2021, Gottleib saw a tweet he didn’t like, one that could affect sales of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccines..“By suggesting some people might not need COVID vaccinations, the tweet could raise questions about the shots,” writes Berenson..“Besides being former FDA commissioner, a CNBC contributor and a prominent voice on COVID public policy, Gottlieb was a senior board member at Pfizer, which depended on mRNA jabs for almost half its US$81 billion in sales in 2021. Pfizer paid Gottlieb $365,000 for his work that year.”.The tweet that drew Gottlieb’s ire was from Dr. Brett Giroir..“The tweet explained correctly that natural immunity after COVID infection was superior to vaccine protection,” writes Berenson. “It called on the White House to “follow the science” and exempt people with natural immunity from upcoming vaccine mandates.”.“Further, the tweet actually encouraged people who did not have natural immunity to ‘Get vaccinated!’”.In response, Gottlieb emailed Todd O’Boyle, a lobbyist in Twitter’s DC office who was also Twitter’s point of contact with the White House. In the email Gottlieb, called the tweet “corrosive” and worried it would “end up going viral and driving news coverage.”.O’Boyle forwarded the email to the Twitter Strategic Response Team (SRT), the group responsible for handling concerns from the company’s most important employees and users, says Berenson. .“Please see this report from the former FDA commissioner,” O’Boyle wrote, failing to mention that Gottlieb was a Pfizer board member with a financial interest in pushing mRNA shots..An SRT analyst said the tweet did not violate any of the company’s misinformation rules..“Yet Twitter wound up flagging Giroir’s tweet anyway, putting a misleading tag on it and preventing almost anyone from seeing it,” says Berenson. “It remains tagged, even though several large studies have confirmed the truth of Giroir’s words.”.On Sept. 3, 2021, Justin Hart, a lockdown and vaccine skeptic with 100,000+ followers, tweeted: “Sticks and stones may break my bones but a viral pathogen with a child mortality rate of <>0% has cost our children nearly three years of schooling.” It prompted Gottlieb to send another email to O’Boyle..“Why Gottlieb objected to Hart’s words is not clear, but the Pfizer shot would soon be approved for children 5 to 11, representing another massive market for Pfizer, if parents could be convinced COVID was a real threat to their kids,” says Berenson..“O’Boyle referred to “former FDA Commissioner Gottlieb” when he forwarded the report, again ignoring Gottlieb’s current work for Pfizer.”.“This time, though, Gottlieb’s complaint was so far afield that Twitter refused to act.”.In an interview on CNBC, Gottlieb said he had asked Twitter to act because he was concerned tweets raised the threat of violence against vaccine advocates..“The inability of these platforms to police direct threats, physical threats about people, that’s my concern about what’s going on in that ecosystem,” Gottlieb said. "I'm unconcerned about debate being made, I'm concerned about physical threats being made for people's safety.".In a tweet that morning, Gottlieb doubled down, writing: “Respectful debate and dialogue is one thing and should be encouraged and protected. But there's no place for targeted harassment, and misleading dialogue which can instigate a small but persuadable group of people to make targeted and dangerous threats.”.But Giroir’s tweet about natural immunity was the definition of “respectful debate and dialogue.” And in his own email to Todd O’Boyle, Gottlieb did not raise any security concerns about it. He simply complained that it might wind up “driving news coverage..Gottlieb is not just a Pfizer board member, says Berenson..“He is one of seven members of the board’s executive committee and the head of its regulatory and compliance committee, which oversees “compliance with laws, regulations, and internal procedures applicable to pharmaceutical sales and marketing activities.”.Berenson promises more Twitter Files, the COVID-19 edition, in the coming days.
