Is Zachary Levi anti-vax? Pfizer controversy, explained

Zachary Levi is a 42 year-old actor who has been active in television and film for over 20 years. He is espeically prolific when it comes to appearances in big budget superhero movies, with appearances in Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok, and the titular role in the Shazam! duology.

Unfortunately, there is now a massive cloud over Levi regarding comments he has made on social media, as well as appearances on outlandish podcasts on the “intellectual dark web”.

Is Zachary Levi anti-vax?

In late Jan. 2023, Levi tweeted out his agreeance over the apparent dangers of biotech pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. The multinational, which is responsible for one of the most widely distributed COVID-19 vaccines, has been consistently under fire from disinformation espoused particularly by far-right individuals.

Levi shared what many believe to be anti-vaccine sentiments on his Twitter. The account he replies to does no belong to a medical expert. Lyndon Woods is a wealthy entrepreneur who describes himself as a self-made type, and again, is not a scientist, nor does he appear to have any information to back up his claims.

The reality is there’s no proof that Pfizer, who have also conducted research and produced many other vaccines on various other medical conditions, are anything more than just a large pharmaceutical company. Non COVID-related criticism of the company mostly comes from the very Americanized way it “unfairly” increased its prices in the United Kingdom, leading to a £63 million fine.

Levi seems to only cite a decade old Department of Justice fine against Pfizer totaling $2.3 billion for fraudulent marketing to back his suspicions. This particular case, however, concerns Pfizer putting to market alternative uses and unadvised doses for anti-inflammatory Bextra, in the process circumventing the Food and Drug Administration’s requirement of defining the drug’s exact use.

It’ is difficult not to suspect Levi of being anti-vax, especially since the criticisms of Pfizer seems to almost entirely coincide with vaccine skeptics and COVID conspiracy theories. Prior to the pandemic, you’d be hard-pressed to find any American outside of the pharmaceutical industry who had strong opinions on the company.