Authored by Patrick Howley via National File,
The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is holding a virtual meeting Tuesday, October 26 to discuss authorizing a Pfizer-BioNTech Coronavirus vaccine for children between the ages of 5 to 11 years old.
This committee has a lot of sway with the FDA and their findings will be relevant, considering the Biden administration is getting ready to ship vaccines to elementary schools and California has already mandated the vaccine for schoolchildren pending federal authorization.
But the meeting roster shows that numerous members of the committee
and temporary voting members have worked for Pfizer or have major connections
to Pfizer.
Members include a former vice president of Pfizer Vaccines, a recent Pfizer consultant, a recent Pfizer research grant recipient, a man who mentored a current top Pfizer vaccine executive, a man who runs a center that gives out Pfizer vaccines, the chair of a Pfizer data group, a guy who was proudly photographed taking a Pfizer vaccine, and numerous people who are already on the record supporting Coronavirus vaccines for children. Meanwhile, recent FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is on Pfizer’s board of directors.
HERE’S THE MEETING ROSTER: Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee October 26, 2021 Meeting Draft Roster.
Acting
Chair Arnold S. Monto was a paid Pfizer
consultant as recently as 2018.
Steven Pergam got the Pfizer vaccine: Building trust in safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines (fredhutch.org)
Committee member Archana Chatterjee worked
on a research project related to vaccines for infants between 2018-2020, and
the research project was sponsored by Pfizer.
Myron Levine has
mentored some U.S. post-doctoral fellows, and one of his proteges happens to be
Raphael Simon, the senior director of
vaccine research and development at Pfizer.
James Hildreth, a temporary voting member, made a financial interest disclosure for this meeting
in which he disclosed more than $1.5 million in relevant financial interests,
including his work as president of Meharry Medical College, which administers Pfizer Coronavirus vaccines.
Geeta K. Swamy is
listed as the chair of the “Independent Data Monitoring Committee for the
Pfizer Group B Streptococcus Vaccine Program,” a committee sponsored by Pfizer Duke University states that “Dr.
Swamy serves as a co-investigator for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine trial.”
Gregg Sylvester previously
served as a vice president for Pfizer Vaccines, where he launched Pfizer
vaccines including one for children.
Among the meeting’s “temporary voting members,” Ofer Levy, Boston
Children’s Hospital, is for the Pfizer
vaccine for children, Eric Rubin is pro-vaccine
for children, Jay Portnoy supports authorizing
Coronavirus vaccines for kids, and Melinda Wharton complained over
the summer about how orders for the CDC’s “Vaccines For
Children” program dropped.
FDANews stated last
December: “FDA advisory committee members in the past have frequently been the
target of heavy politicking by industry representatives of whatever drug they
were considering for a recommendation at in-person meetings. That process has
been somewhat altered by the fact that during COVID-19, meetings are being held
virtually. But it’s likely that behind-the-scenes pressuring still goes on. The
industry defends the attempts to influence committee members as simply efforts
to best present their case.”
In short, a staggering conflict
of interest . . .
Follow Patrick on
Twitter @HowleyReporter and at gab.com/patrickreports
