WASHINGTON — A former Pfizer scientist was subpoenaed Monday by House Republicans over allegations that senior executives at the pharma giant colluded to “deliberately slow down” clinical tests of its COVID-19 vaccine ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
The House Judiciary Committee ordered Dr. Philip Dormitzer, the ex-vice president and chief scientific officer of RNA and viral vaccines for Pfizer, to appear for a deposition on July 22 after demanding answers about allegations “that senior Pfizer executives conspired to withhold public health information so as to influence the 2020 presidential election.”
“To date, you have failed to voluntarily comply with our requests,” wrote Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). “Therefore, the Committee must resort to compulsory process to obtain your testimony and the requested documents.”
In a May 29 letter to the Judiciary panel, Dormitzer attorney Susan Brune indicated that her client did not have any relevant records and promised “Pfizer’s representatives are or will be in communication … to provide whatever details you might request.”
Jordan’s panel wrote to Pfizer’s chairman and CEO, Dr. Albert Bourla, in May asking for emails, texts, meeting notes and other documents showing any data from the clinical trials or communications with federal public health agencies.
Brune and reps for Pfizer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The London-based drugmaker GSK had first revealed the purported conspiracy to Jordan in an April 16 letter, claiming that Dormitzer had asked to be relocated outside the US in November 2024 “due to concerns that he could be investigated by the incoming Trump Administration over his role in developing Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.”
Asked why he wanted to move, Dormitzer told the GSK employee: “Let’s just say it wasn’t a coincidence, the timing of the vaccine.”
Dormitzer also disclosed to other GSK employees “in late 2020, 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,” according to the letter to Jordan.
Notably, GSK denied that Dormitzer was admitting to intentionally “delaying disclosure of completed results,” but described it as “a situation of slowing down results before disclosure became necessary.”
Pfizer’s COVID vaccine results, first reviewed by independent experts for effectiveness and safety, were shared by its team of scientists just five days after polls closed for the 2020 election on Nov. 3.
Media outlets called the race for former Vice President Joe Biden on Nov. 7.
Dormitzer has previously denied that he or anyone at Pfizer tried to delay the vaccine rollout, and said his comments to his colleagues at GSK have been misinterpreted.
Dormitzer has only donated to Democratic campaigns, Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show, shelling out hundreds of dollars in the 2010s to congressional candidates while working in vaccine development at Novartis.
Manhattan prosecutors first unearthed the bombshell allegations about the vaccine trials as part of a federal investigation into Pfizer.
“The COVID-19 vaccine development process was driven by science and guided by the U.S. FDA back in 2020,” a rep for the company previously said in a statement.
“We have consistently and transparently reiterated the facts and the timeline of the tireless work of scientists, regulators, and thousands of clinical trial volunteers who made the vaccine possible. Theories to the contrary are simply untrue and being manufactured.”
