Fact Check: Claim That the Covid-19 Pandemic Never Happened Is False

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Various posts claiming that the Covid-19 pandemic never existed circulated via WhatsApp, Threads [archive], Facebook, and Instagram on February 8, 2026. The posts cited former Pfizer Vice President Michael Yeadon, who claimed that the virus does not cause severe symptoms, rendering the vaccine useless.

“...it was all a lie so they could inject 5.5 billion people with a dangerous substance that has now killed over 17 million,” wrote several accounts spreading the content.

Tempo received a reader request to verify the narrative. Was it true that the Covid-19 pandemic never happened?

FACT CHECK

Tempo verified the content by conducting a Google reverse image search and comparing the narrative with information from credible sources. The results showed that, although Michael Yeadon made some of these claims, his statements contradict scientific facts.

Michael Yeadon Resigned from Pfizer in 2011

Several fact-checking organizations, including Snopes, Full Fact, The Journal, Myth Detector, Reuters, and AAP, have confirmed that Michael Yeadon is a British biochemist and pharmacologist. He worked as an allergy and respiratory researcher at Pfizer Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, in 1996. His final position there was Vice President of the Allergy and Respiratory Research Division.

Yeadon had already resigned from his position long before the 2020 global outbreak of Covid-19. After leaving Pfizer, he led the biotechnology company Ziarco from 2011 to 2017.

A Reuters investigation shows that Yeadon initially supported vaccination as a way to address the pandemic. "Covid-19 is not going away. Until we have a vaccine or herd immunity – natural resistance resulting from prior exposure to the virus – all that can be done is to slow its spread," he wrote in March 2020 when the first wave hit the UK. He also made predictions about vaccine availability.

“A vaccine might be along towards the end of 2021, if we’re really lucky,” he said. However, Yeadon's tone has changed since April 2020, when he expressed a controversial opinion that anti-vaccine groups often cited.

The reason for Yeadon's change is unknown. He deleted his Twitter account in February 2021 and updated his LinkedIn profile to reflect his retirement.

Yeadon's Covid-19 Claims Are Inaccurate

The video clip of Yeadon's remarks that was used in the claims was circulated on the social media platform Rumble.com on December 4, 2023. Former British Conservative Party MP Andrew Bridgen initiated the meeting at which the video was screened. This meeting occurred several months after Bridgen left the party for comparing the Covid-19 pandemic to the Holocaust.

In the video, Yeadon claimed that the Covid-19 pandemic never existed, citing Malaysian data on the death rate from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. According to him, there was no spike in deaths before the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020.

Tempo reexamined the claim on the official website of the Malaysian Ministry of Health and found contradictory facts. The data shows that the number of patients with Covid-19 in hospital ICUs increased, as did ventilator use and mortality rates, throughout 2020 in Malaysia.

On March 12, 2020, Malaysian media outlet Astro Awani reported a spike in cases on March 12, 2020, with the first death of a Covid-19 patient with the virus occurring five days later. Since vaccination, the number of cases has tended to decline.

Vaccines Help Control the Covid-19 Pandemic

World o Meter recorded that more than 704 million people worldwide had been infected with Covid-19 as of April 14, 2024, with the death toll reaching around 7 million. The virus first emerged in January 2020, triggering a surge in global deaths when the Delta variant spread in mid-2021.

From 2020 to 2024, the graph of the number of confirmed cases and deaths from Covid-19 shows a significant downward trend. This decline is partly due to the widespread adoption of vaccinations.

The following graphic shows data on cases and deaths of people with Covid-19 from its initial emergence to its decline.

Studies of healthcare workers revealed that hospitalization rates decreased from 23.5 percent to 14.3 percent following vaccination. Another study in West Sumatra found that the vaccine was 97 percent effective in preventing severe symptoms, 95 percent effective in reducing the need for ICU care, and 90 percent effective in reducing mortality.

These findings confirm that achieving widespread vaccination coverage, particularly among vulnerable groups, is essential for minimizing severe cases and fatalities. Research from the United Kingdom, Spain, and Estonia consistently shows that the risk of post-Covid-19 symptoms is lower among vaccinated individuals, particularly adults.

CONCLUSION

Tempo's investigation found that the claim that there is no Covid-19 pandemic, citing Yeadon's statement, is false.

TEMPO FACT-CHECK TEAM

**Do you have information or claims that you want to have fact-checked? Contact our ChatBot. You can also send criticism, objections, or feedback for this Fact-Checking article via email to [email protected].