Today, House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) sent a letter to U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock expressing concerns over more reports the Biden Administration is improperly interfering at the FDA. This time, according to former high-ranking FDA officials, the agency is taking short cuts around the standard decision-making process for COVID-19 booster shots.
“Recently, two former high-ranking FDA officials—including one that resigned because of the alleged political interference by the Biden Administration at the FDA—raised concerns about the agency bypassing the standard process for making decisions related to booster shots for Americans. If true, these short cuts undermine the integrity of our public health system and cause vaccine hesitancy … President Biden should ensure the federal government is not cutting corners in the vaccine recommendations process,” wrote Ranking Member Comer.
On September 14, 2021, Ranking Member James Comer and Select Subcommittee Ranking Member Steve Scalise (R-La.) requested documents and information related to allegations of improper political interference at the FDA by the Biden White House. Since the initial request, concerning reports continue to surface. According to an article published in the Washington Post, the Biden FDA has made three key vaccination related decisions without convening a standing panel of outside scientific experts and again recently while authorizing booster shots for all children 12-15 years of age.
“This is a deviation from the standard practice and is likely a result of ongoing scientific disagreement on the necessity of booster shots,” continued Ranking Member Comer. “The Panel was not going to do the White House’s bidding so instead of engaging in a robust scientific dialogue, the Biden Administration made the calculated political decision to entirely cast aside the Panel. This has become a pattern with the Biden Administration—the Administration that repeatedly promised to follow the science… Instead of being thorough and transparent, this Administration is shortcutting the standard vaccine recommendation process.”
In the letter to Acting Commissioner Woodcock, Ranking Member Comer again calls for all information available regarding booster shot recommendations.
Read the letter here.
