Pfizer boasted that they had been named one of the “most sustainable companies” in the world days before Project Veritas released footage of an official appearing to admit that the pharmaceutical firm was considering mutating coronaviruses.
Jordon Trishton Walker, an official who leads research and development for mRNA projects, said to an undercover Project Veritas journalist that the company uses “directed evolution” to mutate the virus to create more potent variants and vaccines. Pfizer nevertheless said last week that they were “pleased” to be called one of the “most sustainable corporations in the world” by Corporate Knights, a research company that maintains a list of firms committed to the environmental, social, and corporate governance movement, also known as ESG.
Among other factors, the ranking considers efforts to reduce carbon emissions, the portion of taxes paid relative to profits, the salary ratio between chief executives and workers, the percentage of board members who are not male, and the share of revenues from products designated as environmentally clean. Some 17% of Pfizer’s revenue is designated as environmentally “sustainable” while 33% of board members are “non-male,” earning the company a rank of 93 out of the planet’s 100 most socially conscious companies.
Corporate Knights considered more than 6,000 firms for the ranking. The company noted that pharmaceutical firms such as Pfizer, Merck, Novavax, and Gilead Sciences have entered the top 100 ranking after the onset of COVID.
Walker admitted during the Project Veritas sting that COVID will be a “cash cow” for years and noted that the company benefits from high turnover between government regulatory agencies and the pharmaceutical industry. Pfizer expected to earn some $32 billion from COVID vaccine sales last year; more than 400 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines and boosters have been administered in the United States, according to data from the CDC.
UPDATE: PFIZER DENIES CONDUCTING COVID GAIN-OF-FUNCTION RESEARCH IN DELAYED RESPONSE TO VERITAS VIDEO
Lawmakers quickly expressed their alarm over the Project Veritas footage. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said in a letter addressed to CEO Albert Bourla that Pfizer has “put its desire for profit over the concern of national and global health” if the claims in the video are true.
Rubio added that “directed evolution” appears to resemble gain-of-function research, the controversial laboratory practice which makes viruses more dangerous to humans. “As a leader in global public health and development of the COVID vaccine, with American taxpayer dollars, it is critical that Pfizer is accountable for their actions and be transparent with the public on the substance and intent of their research,” he wrote.
Elon Musk recently quipped on social media that “the S in ESG stands for Satanic” and has formerly called the investment philosophy a “scam” that has been “weaponized by phony social justice warriors.”
Fraudsters have indeed taken advantage of investors’ appetites for socially conscious companies. Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the defunct healthcare venture Theranos, garnered widespread recognition as one of the most successful female entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley history before she was sentenced to federal prison on various fraud charges. Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX who lost billions in customer assets by commingling the funds with his trading firm, admitted to a reporter that ESG has been “perverted beyond recognition” and boasted that he generated trust among “woke Westerners” through emphasizing his self-professed “effective altruism.”