Fact check: Ursula von der Leyen kept in contact with the CEO of Pfizer in order to gouge the price of COVID vaccines and pocket the profit.

1. Summary of the results

The original statement contains both verified and unsubstantiated claims. While there is confirmation that Ursula von der Leyen did communicate with Pfizer's CEO during vaccine negotiations ^[1], and that these communications are currently under investigation, there is no evidence to support claims about price gouging or personal profit ^{[2] [3]}.

The situation involves:

• An ongoing investigation by the European Public Prosecutor's Office into potential criminal wrongdoing ^[1]
• A lawsuit by the New York Times seeking access to text messages ^[4]
• A massive vaccine deal worth approximately 35 billion euros for 1.8 billion doses ^[5]

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

Several crucial pieces of context are missing from the original statement:

• The European Commission has been found guilty of maladministration by the European Ombudsman for not properly searching for the text messages ^[6]
• The Commission claims the messages weren't registered in their document system ^[6]
• The investigation specifically concerns "interference in public functions, destruction of SMS, corruption and conflict of interest" ^[1]
• There was a reported 25% price increase in the vaccine contract ^[4]
• The European Court has criticized the Commission for excessive redaction of vaccine contract details ^[2]

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original statement contains several misleading elements:

• It presents as fact what are currently only allegations under investigation ^[1]
• It makes unfounded claims about personal profit, which none of the sources substantiate ^{[7] [2] [3]}
• It oversimplifies a complex legal and administrative issue into a straightforward corruption narrative

Who benefits from these narratives:

• Political opponents of von der Leyen, especially with European elections approaching ^[4]
• Transparency advocates and media organizations pushing for access to communications
• The pharmaceutical industry benefits from keeping contract details confidential, as evidenced by the Commission's argument about protecting commercial interests ^[3]