PolitiFact – Pfizer facility destroyed by tornado didn’t manufacture COVID-19 vaccines

After a tornado struck a Pfizer facility in North Carolina on July 19, some social media users claimed the company’s vaccine supply had been demolished.

Multiple Instagram posts shared July 19 claimed the Pfizer warehouse destroyed by a tornado was “full of Covid vaccines.”

These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The tornado swept across 16.5 miles of central North Carolina, damaging several structures, including the Pfizer facility in Rocky Mount, about 60 miles northeast of Raleigh. 

More than a dozen people were injured. Pfizer confirmed all 3,200 workers at this facility were able to evacuate.

Amy Rose, a Pfizer spokesperson, told PolitiFact that COVID-19 vaccines and Paxlovid, a medicine that treats coronavirus infections, are not produced at the Rocky Mount facility.

In a press release, Pfizer said this facility has been a key producer of sterile injectables since 1968, and it is currently responsible for manufacturing 25% of the company’s sterile injectables, including anesthesia, analgesia, therapeutics, anti-infectives and neuromuscular blockers.

The site is closed while the pharmaceutical company assesses the tornado damage.

An initial assessment found that the warehouse facility sustained most of the damage. Pfizer said it stores raw materials, packaging supplies and finished medicines awaiting release. There does not appear to be any major damage to the medicine production areas.

We rate the claim that the North Carolina Pfizer facility damaged by a tornado was “full of Covid vaccines” False.

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