House GOP requests records from Pfizer CEO and former executive in probe of Covid vaccine delay allegation

The GOP-led House Judiciary Committee is requesting records from Pfizer’s CEO and an interview with a former company executive to investigate an allegation that clinical testing related to the development of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine was purposefully delayed until after the 2020 presidential election.

The GOP-led House Judiciary Committee is requesting records from Pfizer’s CEO and an interview with a former company executive to investigate an allegation that clinical testing related to the development of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine was purposefully delayed until after the 2020 presidential election. Pfizer’s CEO has previously said that the vaccine timing had nothing to do with politics. The committee probe comes after a Wall Street Journal report that British drugmaker GSK approached federal prosecutors with a disputed allegation that a former Pfizer executive who came to work for them, Dr. Philip Dormitzer, told his new colleagues at GSK that Pfizer delayed announcing that its Covid vaccine was a success until after the election. Dormitzer disputed that account, telling the newspaper, “My Pfizer colleagues and I did everything we could to get the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization at the very first possible moment,” and that “any other interpretation of my comments about the pace of the vaccine’s development would be incorrect.” CNN has attempted to reach out to Dormitzer for comment. Pfizer’s news about the effectiveness of its Covid-19 vaccine came nearly a week after Election Day, but Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has said the timing had nothing to do with politics. In an interview with CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta in 2020, Bourla threw cold water on the idea that there was any political motivation behind releasing the news after voters in the United States chose their candidate for president. GSK is a rival drugmaker. House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan sent a letter Thursday to Dormitzer seeking documents and information as well as his testimony in a transcribed interview. The letter cites excerpts from information the committee says it received from GSK about Dormitzer’s interactions with a GSK human resources representative in November 2024. The committee highlighted information GSK provided, but CNN has not reviewed the full GSK letter. CNN has reached out to the committee to request the letter.