Fact check: The Wuhan Institute of Virology is not owned by GlaxoSmithKline
By Reuters Staff
4 Min Read
Social media users have made an unfounded connection between pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline, and a Chinese laboratory that has been the subject of COVID-19 conspiracy theories.
Reuters Fact Check. REUTERS
Posts featuring the false claim can be seen (here , here). The Chinese biological laboratory in Wuhan is owned by Glaxo. Who, by chance, owns Pfizer (the one who produces the vaccine.)", the posts read, whilst also linking Pfizer to asset manager BlackRock, and Microsoft CEO Bill Gates.
Unverified theories have suggested the virus that causes COVID-19 was synthesised by the Wuhan Institute of Virology (here). However the majority of virologists and infectious disease experts say the new virus is most likely to have evolved naturally (here).
Pfizer, meanwhile, has been involved in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine that has been approved for use in the UK and the U.S. (here).
But GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a British pharmaceutical company, does not own either Pfizer or the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The institute is part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (here), which is in turn governed by the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China (here).
In 2019, a CAS member wrote an open letter maintaining that it was not run or financed independently from the Chinese government (here).
CAS has never sought or achieved financial autonomy, the representative wrote in science journal Nature.
Over the past 40 years, half of its income has come directly from central-government investment; the rest has been from competitive funding or technology transfer.
While GSK has embarked on joint ventures with Pfizer, the two are separate companies (uk.reuters.com/companies/GSK.L , uk.reuters.com/companies/PFE).
In fact, Pfitzer does not have one owner, but is owned by both members of the public and a range of institutions, with the top shareholder being the Vanguard Group (here) (here).
VERDICT
False. GlaxoSmithKline does not own Pfizer or the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .
For real or not ?
The Cookie Crumbles.Fact or Fiction?
The cookie starts to crumble...the masks begin to fall off!
The Chinese biological laboratory in Wuhan is owned by Glaxosmithkline,
which (accidentally) owns Pfizer, the one who makes the vaccine against
the virus which was (accidentally) started at the Wuhan Biological Lab and
which was (accidentally) funded by Dr. Fauci, who (accidentally) promotes
the vaccine!
GlaxoSmithKline is (accidentally) managed by the finance division of Black
Rock, which (accidentally) manages the finances of the Open Foundation
Company (Soros Foundation), which (accidentally) manages the French AXA!
Soros (accidentally) owns the German company Winterthur, which
(accidentally) built a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan and was bought by the
German Allianz, which (coincidentally) has Vanguard as a shareholder, who
(coincidentally) is a shareholder of Black Rock, which (coincidentally)
controls central banks and manages about a third of global investment
capital.
"Black Rock" is also (coincidentally) a major shareholder of MICROSOFT,
owned by Bill Gates, who (coincidentally) is a shareholder of Pfizer (which
- remember - sells a miracle vaccine) and (coincidentally) is now the first
sponsor of the 'WHO!
Now you understand how a dead bat sold in a wet market in China has infected
the WHOLE PLANET!
Smells like bull sheet to me, Reuters think so as well.
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-wuhan-lab-idUSKBN28R2UK
Fact check: The Wuhan Institute of Virology is not owned by GlaxoSmithKline
By Reuters Staff
4 Min Read
Social media users have made an unfounded connection between pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline, and a Chinese laboratory that has been the subject of COVID-19 conspiracy theories.
Posts featuring the false claim can be seen (here , here). The Chinese biological laboratory in Wuhan is owned by Glaxo. Who, by chance, owns Pfizer (the one who produces the vaccine.)", the posts read, whilst also linking Pfizer to asset manager BlackRock, and Microsoft CEO Bill Gates.
Unverified theories have suggested the virus that causes COVID-19 was synthesised by the Wuhan Institute of Virology (here). However the majority of virologists and infectious disease experts say the new virus is most likely to have evolved naturally (here).
Pfizer, meanwhile, has been involved in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine that has been approved for use in the UK and the U.S. (here).
But GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a British pharmaceutical company, does not own either Pfizer or the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The institute is part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (here), which is in turn governed by the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China (here).
In 2019, a CAS member wrote an open letter maintaining that it was not run or financed independently from the Chinese government (here).
CAS has never sought or achieved financial autonomy, the representative wrote in science journal Nature.
Over the past 40 years, half of its income has come directly from central-government investment; the rest has been from competitive funding or technology transfer.
While GSK has embarked on joint ventures with Pfizer, the two are separate companies (uk.reuters.com/companies/GSK.L , uk.reuters.com/companies/PFE).
In fact, Pfitzer does not have one owner, but is owned by both members of the public and a range of institutions, with the top shareholder being the Vanguard Group (here) (here).
VERDICT
False. GlaxoSmithKline does not own Pfizer or the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .
W T F has this got to do with just joking?
No idea, but it's here so it must be a joke.