Wenstrup, McClain, Select Subcommittee Republicans Press for Information, Transcribed Interviews on Political Interference in Vaccine & Booster Approvals

WASHINGTON—Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio.), Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), and Select Subcommittee Republicans are pressing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide documents and communications related to the FDA’s COVID-19 vaccine approval, as well as any coordination between the Biden Administration and the FDA related to administering guidance to the American people on booster shots. The lawmakers are also requesting transcribed interviews from top officials at the FDA related to vaccine research and review.

“According to new internal U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) communications, it appears the Biden Administration may have bypassed, compressed, and possibly compromised the longstanding process for awarding a full biologics approval to a vaccine. This effort may not have been to save lives, but concernedly to provide cover for implementing and enforcing vaccine mandates across the country,” wrote the lawmakers.

The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is conducting oversight of COVID-19 vaccine development and investigating potential political influence the Biden Administration wielded over the COVID-19 vaccine approval process. The Select Subcommittee is concerned the Biden Administration may have sidelined experts and irresponsibly fast-tracked the approval of vaccines. According to internal FDA communications, Dr. Marion Gruber, the former Director of the FDA’s Office of Vaccines Research and Review (OVRR), expressed concern about the Biden Administration wanting to cut corners to fast-track the vaccine approval, but was sidelined by political leadership.

“The Biden Administration’s political interference in the impartial vaccine approval process is a recurring theme. Last Congress, Select Subcommittee Republicans wrote to the FDA requesting information about potential political interference with the FDA’s booster shot approval process.  In that letter, we inquired into President Biden’s announcement that booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine would be available to Americans starting September 20, 2021, prior to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or FDA concluding their independent reviews of the data. It was reported at the time that, this political push by Biden’s White House contributed to the decision of two top career scientists, Dr. Gruber and Dr. Krause to leave the FDA,” the lawmakers continued.

Read the letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf here.