Raise your hand if you would love your kids, grandkids, partner, parents or siblings using your birthday as an occasion to convey a fear message from Pharma including the news that you are old?
It is part of Pfizer's "RSV Isn't Just A Cold; Not All Dangers Have Warning Labels" campaign which stoops to a new low in selling a disease to move a drug--in this case Pfizer's ABRYSVO vaccine.
Why a new low? Not only is Pharma using a child actor to sell its drug, the many doctors with whom I work say RSV almost never occurs in adults--it is a mostly a risk that young children get! According to the CDC, RSV "causes mild, cold-like symptoms [and] Most people recover in a week or two."
Still, older adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, heart disease, diabetes and chronic kidney disease," could be at greater risk from RSV mongers Pfizer with a gleam in its eye. (Pfizer also uses the proven sales technique of giving a disease snappy initials like RA, EPI, COPD to move product.)
Scare Tactics
Scaring adults about the risk of getting RSV is similar to Pfizer's scare campaign on the radio to sell its Prevnar 20 to protect against pneumococcal disease. "Pneumococcal pneumonia can strike anywhere, anytime," mongers Pfizer. "It can be serious and could put you in the hospital." The drug will protect you from pneumococcal pneumonia and if you already have been vaccinated against pneumococcal pneumonia it "can help provide you with additional protection," says Pfizer, not wanting to lose a sale.
But, and it's a big "but," if you have a "weakened immune system" the drug may "lower [your] immune response" and be harmful instead of helpful. Ooops.
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