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A group of Republican congressmen and senators sent a letter to top US government health officials on Monday demanding answers on recent claims about “directed evolution” research made by a Pfizer employee during an undercover sting operation.
A copy of the letter, which was sent to Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra, Food and Drug Administration commissioner Robert Califf, and National Institutes of Health acting director Lawrence Tabak, was obtained by The Spectator. Senators Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson, and Representatives Chip Roy, Andy Biggs, Greg Steube, Eric Burlison, Bill Posey, Mary Miller, Lauren Boebert and Bob Good all signed the letter.
“We write to express grave concern regarding a recent video in which a Pfizer employee made troubling claims about the company’s research practices and interactions with the Food and Drug Administration,” the Republicans write.
Project Veritas recently released an undercover video in which Dr. Jordon Triston Walker, Pfizer’s director of research and development, strategic operations, revealed that the pharmaceutical company has considered mutating Covid-19 so they can preemptively create vaccines for new strains or improve the efficacy of existing vaccines.
“One of the things we’re exploring is like, why don’t we just mutate it ourselves so we could preemptively develop new vaccines,” Walker said.
Walker also discusses the “revolving door” between government regulatory agencies and the pharmaceutical companies, stating that “when the regulators reviewing our drugs know that once they stop regulating, they are going to work for the company, they are not going to be as hard towards the company that’s going to give them a job.”
The group of Republicans sent a list of questions regarding the Pfizer employee’s comments, including a request for clarification on the definition of gain of function research.
“Do subject matter experts at the FDA or NIH consider Pfizer ‘mutat[ing] [SARS-CoV-2] ourselves so we could preemptively develop new vaccines’ to be gain-of-function research? If not, please explain the distinction,” the letter reads.
They also ask about a potential conflict of interest between pharmaceutical companies and regulatory agencies, writing, “What steps has the FDA taken to guard against regulatory capture and conflicts of interest among its employees?”
