A health worker seen holding a vial containing the Cominarty vaccine.
Comirnaty, the name of Pfizer's vaccine, was mocked on social media and TV.
Teresa Nunes/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
  • The FDA approved Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine and the vaccine's official name – Comirnaty.
  • Late night TV hosts and people on Twitter roundly ridiculed the name.
  • Jimmy Fallon said the name "sounds more like a drunk person trying to say community."
  • See more stories on Insider's business page.

Though the news that the Food and Drug Administration approved Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine was met with cheers, the vaccine's official name, Comirnaty, has attracted widespread ridicule on social media and among late-night talk show hosts.

"The new name of the fully approved Pfizer vaccine is Comirnaty," Jimmy Fallon said during a recent episode of "The Tonight Show." He added that the name "sounds more like a drunk person trying to say community."

The name Comirnaty is an amalgamation of COVID-19, immunity, community, and messenger RNA. The name is supposed to evoke the word community and highlight the inaugural approval of an mRNA vaccine.

Late-night host Seth Meyers wasn't too impressed with this explanation. In his show, "Late Night With Seth Meyers," he mimed smoking a joint, before saying "it actually makes sense, dude."

A successful drug name should be strong and distinctive, as well as symbolic of the innovation that brought the product to life, Scott Piergrossi, president of operations and communications at the Brand Institute, the drug-naming company behind Comirnaty, told Fierce Pharma. Meyers wasn't convinced though.

"We've finally run out of pharmaceutical names," he said. "Did the approval catch Pfizer so off guard that they yelled out a name before they were ready?"

Pfizer declined to comment on the ridiculing of the vaccine's name.

Twitter users also chimed in en masse to jeer the official name.

"I feel like the brainstorm session that came up with the name 'Comirnaty' either ended too soon or went on way too long," Nick Mark, a pulmonary and critical-care physician said on Twitter.

"The person(s) who came up with this name should never be allowed to name anything ever again. They shouldn't even be allowed to name their pets," Christopher Bouzy, a product developer said.

"With Pfizer officially naming its COVID vaccine "Comirnaty," Moderna should follow up by naming its vaccine "Ehrmagerd! Verksern!" Chicago Tribune humor columnist Rex Hupke wrote on Twitter.

Seth Meyers did, however, call the full approval of the vaccine amazing news.

"It will hopefully convince more people to get vaccinated, and we should all be thrilled," he said.

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