No. Those are the new shoots. You'd do better, if you feel an urge to prune, to take out some of the older, thicker stems, right down to the ground.

you can tell the age of the stems by their thickness and the colour/texture of the bark. The woodier they look the older they are.

Thanks - If I took out a couple old thick stems, I'd be looking at my neighbor's ugly dirty house. It would leave a huge hole - so I guess I'll just leave it be. So glad you told me - I thought they were considered "suckers" .

Ken is absolutely right! They will get top heavy with bare sticks at the bottom. I went out in late March this year and cut all of mine down to about 3 feet, mostly because of the leaf beetle; also cut out some of the oldest stems. They grew back with a vengeance and I can't see through them any where now!.

I generally try to take out the oldest/thickest stem or two every year on every viburnum. I always have new shoots coming and never have that "just pruned" look.

You can see the effect of the kind of pruning we are recommending in your photo. Notice that the new shoots are all growing from the area where a thick stem has been cut out. If you do that again, a bit at a time over the years, the whole shrub will be renewed in due course.