The US government's green signal to roll out Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine even as million doses of Pfizer vaccine doses sit in warehouse has fueled speculations about Donald Trump owning stocks in the pharma giant. However, the conspiracy theory holds no merit and is found to be fake.
The US Food and Drug administration authorized the emergency use of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine developed by Moderna, as cases continued to spike in all the states. The pandemic has infected over 18 million people and killed more than 320,000 in US alone.
Netizens Question the Slow Distribution of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine
Pfizer, which has so far distributed 2.9 million doses of its mRNA COVID—19 vaccine, recently issued a statement claiming that millions of doses of its Covid-19 vaccines are lying in the warehouses because the federal government has not given them shipping locations.
The pharma giant released the statement after Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar accused the company of experiencing "manufacturing challenges" and "hiccups" in regards to the COVID-19 vaccine.
"#DeathSantis is obviously waiting for Moderna's vaccine to benefit stock portfolios that belong to Trump & Friends," tweeted a user.'
"Look at trump, he's got skin in Moderna. My guess is he's slowing Pfizer so he can make $$$ on Moderna market share. Hey CIA, check his offshore account or China account," said another.
"It is a purposeful delay so we are forced to take the moderna one because trump has stock in it," wrote a user as other added, "Trump knee Capping the Pfizer Vaccine shelving 40% for over a week so his Moderna Vaccine can catch up seems to have worked.. His Moderna Stock will do nice this week."
Does Trump Really Own Stock in Moderna Inc?
Snopes slashed down the widely circulated conspiracy theory by claiming them to be false. Insisting that the US President has no stock ownership in Moderna, either directly or through externally managed funds, Snopes wrote that a 'look at Trump's most recent financial disclosure forms (for the 2019 business year) show no ownership of Moderna, Inc. stocks.'
The outlet further reported that majority of Trump's investment is from three family trusts, each of which are, in part, invested in mutual funds. It was also found that some of these mutual funds include holdings in pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca.
However, at least one mutual fund included in all three Trump family trusts owns an extremely minor stake (0.07 %) in Moderna, which being an indirect interest, does not constitute ownership of Moderna stock, Snopes reported.
