More than 30 of America’s top scientists, academics, and professors from the most prestigious universities filed a lawsuit in September demanding that the FDA hand over the Pfizer data and information it used to license its Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine.
It was all crickets until Monday when the FDA responded that they agreed to hand over the more than 329,000 pages — with a caveat. It asked the judge to release the documents at a rate of 500 pages per month to allow for processing. This means the last pages would be received sometime in the year 2076.
FDA Asks Federal Judge to Grant it Until the Year 2076 to Fully Release Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine Datahttps://t.co/Y0K7U3CRjo pic.twitter.com/jp8ReTvnfo
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) November 18, 2021
The group, Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency (PHMPT), had first filed a request via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) back in August. The group’s sole purpose is “to obtain and disseminate the data relied upon by the FDA to license COVID-19 vaccines.”
They requested an expedition of their FOIA request. They contended a “compelling need” for the FDA to speedily release Pfizer vaccine data “because a lack of transparency erodes the confidence the medical and scientific community and the public have in the conclusions reached by the FDA.”
The FDA never responded to the FOIA request.
So when it finally responded to the lawsuit on Monday, attorney for the group, Aaron Siri, was appalled. He questioned how the FDA could conduct an intense, robust, thorough, and complete review and analysis in just 108 days. Yet, it asks for a timeframe infinitely greater to release the documents.
The FDA cited a court precedent that determined a rate of 500 pages per month to be an efficient response to a large request like this one. It claims the FOIA response office isn’t funded or staffed to respond quicker to a request of this breadth. It suggested that if the group wants a faster response, they can reduce the size of their request.
Siri questioned, “So, let’s get this straight. The federal government shields Pfizer from liability, gives it billions of dollars, [and] makes Americans take its product. But won’t let you see the data supporting its product’s safety and efficacy. Who does the government work for?”
Siri has already filed a rebuttal, asking the judge to force the FDA to release the documents in the same 108-day timeframe or by March 3, 2022. He called the review for the vaccine approval a “far more intricate task” than the simple release of records.
- West Point Reimposes Rules on Unvaxxed Cadets - January 31, 2023
- Warroom Host Claims Mother Jones Magazine Publishes Chinese Propaganda - January 31, 2023
- CCP Allegedly Weaponizing the DOJ - January 25, 2023
