US House panel demands Pfizer records over 2020 COVID vaccine announcement timing

By Gizem Nisa Cebi

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US House Judiciary Committee, led by Republican Chair Jim Jordan, is demanding records from Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and seeking testimony from former Pfizer executive Dr. Philip Dormitzer amid fresh scrutiny over the timing of Pfizer’s 2020 COVID-19 vaccine announcement.

The inquiry follows a Wall Street Journal report revealing that British pharmaceutical firm GSK relayed concerns to US prosecutors about statements Dormitzer allegedly made after joining the company.

According to the report, Dormitzer told GSK colleagues that Pfizer intentionally delayed announcing its vaccine’s success until after the 2020 US presidential election.

In a letter dated Thursday, Jordan cited GSK’s internal account of Dormitzer allegedly requesting to be transferred to Canada in late 2020 out of fear that "he could be investigated by the incoming Trump Administration."

The letter further quotes a GSK human resources account of Dormitzer saying, "Let’s just say it wasn’t a coincidence, the timing of the vaccine."

Jordan also referenced claims that Dormitzer told GSK employees the "three most senior people in Pfizer R&D were involved in a decision to deliberately slow down clinical testing so that it would not be complete prior to the results of the presidential election that year."

Dormitzer has denied those characterizations. "My Pfizer colleagues and I did everything we could to get the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization at the very first possible moment," he told The Wall Street Journal.

"Any other interpretation of my comments about the pace of the vaccine’s development would be incorrect."

Pfizer, in a statement to CNN, defended its actions. "The COVID-19 vaccine development process was driven by science and guided by the US FDA back in 2020," a company spokesperson said.

"Theories to the contrary are simply untrue and being manufactured."

CEO Albert Bourla has previously rejected any political motives behind the vaccine's announcement timing.

In a 2020 interview with CNN’s Sanjay Gupta, he insisted, "The timing had nothing to do with politics."