FDA ‘Turned a Blind Eye‘ to ’Submission of Fraudulent Data' on COVID Vaccine, Says Former Criminal Investigator

Pfizer and FDA respond to leaked OCI email

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in White Oak, Md., on July 20, 2020. Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

On Nov. 2, 2021, The BMJ broke the story of Brook Jackson, the regional director who blew the whistle on data integrity issues in Pfizer’s pivotal COVID-19 vaccine trial. Weeks later, documents were leaked supporting Jackson’s complaint about “falsified data.”

Among the leaked documents was an email, authored by a former federal agent in the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI), claiming Pfizer knowingly submitted fraudulent data to the FDA, and the agency responded by turning a blind eye.