President Joe Biden’s Justice Department is refusing to participate in a lawsuit involving a whistleblower who is alleging that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials were fraudulent, though the government may attempt to get the lawsuit dismissed at a later date.
According to Just the News, the DoJ, which is representing the Food and Drug Administration, last month filed a “notice of election to decline intervention,” which was more than a year after the lawsuit was filed.
However, the department asked a federal judge to first obtain “written consent” from the government if the parties seek to dismiss or settle the case.
“The government reserves the right to intervene at a later date in the False Claims Act lawsuit, which seeks to recover damages on its behalf and for the whistleblower, Brook Jackson,” the outlet reports, adding:
Jackson accuses Pfizer and two contractors of “cutting corners in clinical trials” and falsifying clinical trial documents in their “race to secure billions in federal funding and become the first to market.” The result, she claims, was millions of Americans receiving “a misbranded vaccination which is potentially not as effective as represented.”
Pfizer delegated management of the worldwide clinical trial to Icon and hired Ventavia Research Group to run Phase 3 test sites in Texas. As Ventavia regional director, Jackson oversaw its trials in Fort Worth and Keller.
She internally aired her concerns, including ineligible trial participants, lack of informed consent, failure to preserve “blinding” and report adverse events, poor record-keeping, unqualified vaccinators, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act violations, “improperly dilut[ing]” the vaccine, and “deviations from recommended temperature,” which is crucial for mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer’s.
Ventavia “allowed the majority of violations to continue unabated” while summarily firing Jackson after she called an FDA hotline Sept. 25, 2020, to report violations of the trial protocols as well as concerns over patient safety, the suit notes further. When she informed Pfizer, the drug maker responded by “expanding its trial to include even more participants.”
Though Jackson only saw alleged misconduct in Texas, the suit claims that “Pfizer and Icon’s oversight failures and fraudulent misconduct vis-a-vis Ventavia bring the entire Pfizer-BioNTech clinical trial into question.”
“We are gratified the government has declined the case,” said Lauren Foreman, Ventavia director of business development and communications, in an email to Just the News.
“Ms. Jackson worked for us for only 18 days and, as a result, did not complete the requisite training for the role for which she was hired. We are confident in our practices and procedures in conducting clinical trials, and, should her case move forward, we will respond to the litigation accordingly.”
Just the News reported that Pfizer declined to comment on the case and neither the Justice Department nor the FDA bothered to explain why they won’t take part in the case.
“We’re going to pursue the case without the help of the government,” Jackson told The Epoch Times.
She also noted that she wasn’t surprised by that decision but felt “total disappointment” when, after over a year’s delay, the government declined to intervene.
And while the odds of success aren’t good, Jackson said “it’s just a chance I have to take.
“I just feel like somebody has to be held accountable,” she added.
