DeKalb GA News

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas has ruled against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a case involving the release of documents related to Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine. The court decision requires the FDA to make available the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) file for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine by June 30, 2025.

This legal action was initiated by Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency (PHMPT), which filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking detailed data on the vaccine. Initially, the FDA proposed a timeline that would extend over several decades, suggesting it would take up to 75 years to process and release more than 300,000 pages of documents at a rate of 500 pages per month. This proposal drew public criticism.

In response, U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman intervened with a ruling in January 2022 that required the FDA to expedite its document release schedule significantly. He ordered the agency to provide 55,000 pages each month so that all documents would be disclosed by September 2022.

On Friday, Judge Pittman reaffirmed his stance by mandating an accelerated release of these documents. His ruling highlighted that with the end of the pandemic, there is no longer justification for withholding this information from public scrutiny. Citing Patrick Henry’s statement on government transparency from "The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution," Judge Pittman emphasized: “The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure when their rulers' transactions may be concealed from them.”

To date, over one million pages have been produced by the FDA as part of this lawsuit; however, PHMPT claims critical information remains undisclosed. Aaron Siri, representing PHMPT plaintiffs, argued: “The FDA clearly lacks confidence in its review conducted to license Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine because it is doing everything possible to prevent independent scientists from conducting an independent review.” He added: “The FDA was hiding from court and plaintiff one million pages of clinical trial documents from COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials.”