Top FDA Officials Concerned About Pressure to Authorize COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters: Emails

Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), testifies to a Senate panel on Capitol Hill on May 11, 2021. Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool/Getty Images

Top officials at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were worried about what they saw as pressure being placed on them by vaccine companies and the White House to clear COVID-19 vaccine booster doses, according to newly released emails.

Dr. Marion Gruber, director of the FDA’s Office of Vaccines Research and Review (OVRR), said she was “very concerned that companies (such as Pfizer and Janssen) are trying to put pressure on OVRR by way of PR,” or public relations, in one of the missives.