House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) subpoenaed former Pfizer executive Dr. Philip Dormitzer after he failed to comply with previous oversight initiatives.
Dormitzer, the Former Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of RNA and Viral Vaccines for Pfizer, declined to participate in oversight investigations regarding whether “some Pfizer employees sat on the positive results of clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine in advance of the 2020 presidential election,” a news release explains.
“The allegation that some Pfizer employees worked to withhold public health information, apparently so as to influence the 2020 presidential election, implicates substantial federal interests and requires additional inquiry, which will in turn inform potential legislative reforms,” the release adds.
Dormitzer’s attorney, Susan Brune, informed Congress in May that the former pharmaceutical executive would not comply with the probe. “Ms. Brune’s response offered no reason why you cannot comply with our request for testimony and provided no explanation for your refusal to do so,” Jordan wrote in a letter to Dormitzer. “In addition, Ms. Brune’s response did not address any of the four categories of documents specifically sought by the Committee.”
“As we explained in our May 15 letter, the allegation that senior Pfizer executives conspired to withhold public health information so as to influence the 2020 presidential election implicates substantial federal interests and requires additional inquiry, which will in turn inform potential legislative reforms,” Jordan added. Reforms include modifying federal law, implementing criminal penalties for withholding public health information, or increasing criminal penalties for making false statements to a federal entity as it pertains to health matters.
