Was the FDA Pressured By Biden Administration to Exceed Its Regulatory Authority?

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust, last week released a report detailing how the Biden Administration pressured the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to change procedures, cut corners and lower agency standards in order to approve the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine and authorize boosters.

The committee, chaired by Rep Thomas Massie (R-KY) held a hearing on June 26, showing that the FDC and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) succumbed to pressure from the Biden Administration to act beyond their authority.

Massie said, in the face of new information about serious side effects from the vaccine, that FDA reviewers were influenced into speeding up their approval so that vaccine mandates could be issued.

Today my @JudiciaryGOP subcommittee held a hearing showing FDA & CDC cut corners to approve and promote Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.

In the face of new information about serious side effects, the FDA’s top vaccine reviewers were pressured to speed up, so vax mandates could issue. pic.twitter.com/ewGfEiHQb5

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) June 26, 2024

According to the interim report, that FDA approval enabled the Biden Administration to mandate the Covid-19 vaccine, in spite of concerns that the vaccine was causing injury to otherwise healthy young Americans.

The committee also found that the administrative state had mishandled reports of vaccine injury, despite requirements to “actively obtain, synthesize, and report feedback on the safety and efficacy of the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) vaccine.”

Two former FDA scientists, Dr. Marion Gruber and Dr. Philip Krause, testified that they felt pressure to cut corners on the vaccine review and to provide immediate approval so the government could mandate vaccines.

The committee reported that despite evidence of harm from the Emergency Use Authorization (EAU) vaccine, the Biden Administration still sought to fully approve the Pfizer vaccine through the Biologics Licensing Application process.

The report noted that by cutting corners in order to promote the Pfizer EAU vaccine as the only licensed “safe and effective” vaccine on the market, the FDA did not do enough to address vaccine-related injuries.

Massie called for accountability among those FDA and CDC employees who exceeded their regulatory authority, saying:

“During the pandemic, politics overruled science at the government institutions entrusted with protecting public health. The FDA abandoned its congressional directive to protect citizens from false claims and undisclosed side effects, and instead ignored its own rules to pursue a policy of promoting the vaccine while downplaying potential harms. Exposing and acknowledging mistakes that were made is a necessary step toward restoring integrity and trust in our regulatory agencies.”