Trump rips Pfizer, accuses CEO of profiteering with vaccine boosters

"That sounds to me like a money-making operation for Pfizer"

Published August 18, 2021 4:00PM (EDT)

Donald Trump | A phial of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine  (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)
Donald Trump | A phial of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump is ripping COVID-19 booster shots as a money-making scheme and accusing the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer of profiteering.

On Wednesday morning, in a phone interview on Fox Business with Maria Bartiromo, Trump claimed COVID-19 booster shots were a lucrative business endeavor for Phizer.

"You know what? That sounds to me like a money-making operation for Pfizer," Trump said. "Think of the money involved. An extra shot — that's tens of billions of dollars. How good a business? If you're a businessman, and you say 'let's give them another shot,' that's another ten billion dollars," Trump continued. "The whole thing is just crazy."

Trump criticized the "guy that runs Pfizer," calling out Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla for announcing that the vaccine was ready just days after the 2020 election.

"You know, when these first came out, they were good for life," Trump said. "Then they were good for a year or two. I could see the writing on the wall. I could see the dollar signs in their eyes — of that guy that runs Pfizer. You know, the guy that announced the day after the election that he had the vaccine. But we knew that, and I knew that, and the people knew that."


By Brenley Goertzen

Brenley Goertzen is an editorial intern at Salon and a graduate student at New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. Follow her on Twitter @BrenleyGoertzen

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