Propagandists are spreading information on social networks that Pfizer, together with the Ukrainian government, is conducting research on Ukrainian children. Like, an employee of the Kyiv office of Pfizer reported this in her TikTok. According to her, a vaccine has been developed in Germany, which is being tested on Ukrainians as a flu shot, and more than 40 children have already died from it. Such tests are carried out in violation of moral and medical standards. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that the video with such information was posted on a private channel in TikTok, so it was impossible to view it. However, a recording of Anna Sakhno’s story can be found on YouTube. It was posted by an anonymous user registered online in early February 2024. This is his first and only video. Anonymity and the absence of other content may indicate that the account is fake and specifically created to spread false information.

An appeal from an alleged “Ukrainian Pfizer employee” is also being spread in the English-language segment. The source there is, in particular, an article from the Chicago Chronicle. However, this resource is also fake, as evidenced by a number of signs. The Chicago Chronicle is a well-known local newspaper in Chicago, but it was published from 1895-1907. The site, it claims, has been around since 2021, but the first news appeared on it just two weeks ago. One can also see news categories on the site, but there are publications in only three of them: Business, Politics and Health, the other categories are empty.

There are other signs that a site is fake. For example, the “About Us” section is written in Latin, and the translation of the description shows that it is a set of individual sentences. All links below the page are inactive. Additionally, the study used an outdated Pfizer logo. If this was a current publication, it would use the organization's new logo, introduced in 2021.

So far, no clinical studies are being conducted at the Kyiv representative office of Pfizer. According to the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, not a single company in Ukraine is testing vaccines to prevent influenza.

Propagandists spread such fake news to intimidate society and cause panic. In addition, in this way they justify Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.