Big Pharma companies control approval of COVID-19 vaccines by having doctors on safety boards – report

[Andrew W]

https://www.naturalnews.com/2020-10-23-big-pharma-control-approval-covid19-vaccines.html


An investigation by vaccine safety non-profit Informed Consent Action
Network (ICAN) revealed that doctors in charge of safety and integrity of
COVID-19 vaccine trials are connected to Big Pharma giants – a clear
conflict of interest. This finding prompted ICAN to file a formal demand to
ban these doctors from supervising the vaccine tests.

According to the ICAN report, the doctors were part of the data and safety
monitoring boards (DMSBs) for phase 3 trials for multiple COVID-19 vaccine
candidates. This places them in a role that’s as important as that of the
Food and Drug Administration, the chief regulator for COVID-19 drugs and
vaccines.

The identities of DSMB members are also kept anonymous to ensure integrity
and impartiality. This means that companies select their members — and meet
with them — in secret.

In the U.S., two DSMBs are currently overseeing phase 3 trials for the four
vaccine candidates for COVID-19: the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases, which oversees the trials for AstraZeneca, Johnson &
Johnson and Moderna, and Pfizer DSMB, which supervises the trials for the
vaccine candidate developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.

DSMB doctors – and their connections to Big Pharma – unmasked
To note, reports have identified doctors who are part of the DSMB: Dr.
Richard Whitley, a pediatric disease expert at the University of Alabama at
Birmingham, serves as the head of the NIAID DSMB, according to a Kaiser
Health News report; meanwhile, a CBS article identified Dr. Kathryn Edwards
as a member of Pfizer’s five-person DSMB.

Ironically, the article identifying Whitley said: “Shielding the identities
of [people] on the board is meant to insulate them from pressure by the
company sponsoring the trial, government officials or the public.”

Health authorities have emphasized that DSMBs supervising vaccine trials are
independent of pharmaceutical companies. NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci
told Today, Explained host Sean Rameswaram during a Sept. 24 podcast:
“People need to understand that … the [DSMB] is beholden to no one, not to
the president, not to the vaccine companies, not to the FDA, not to me.”

Fauci added that the DSMB is composed of independent health and science
professionals that have exclusive access to data on vaccine trials. However,
further scrutiny by ICAN revealed that the two doctors on the NIAID and
Pfizer DSMBs are not as impartial as they appear.

ICAN’s investigation revealed that both Whitley and Edwards have been
consultants, advisers and paid speakers for various pharmaceutical giants.
These include GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis, Sanofi, Moderna, AstraZeneca
and Pfizer – the last three companies having their own coronavirus vaccine
candidates. The doctors also received millions of dollars in cash from these
drugmakers, aside from meals and trips on these companies’ tabs. Whitley and
Edwards’ connection with these companies contradict Fauci’s statement that
DSMBs are “not beholden” to anyone.

Given this clear conflict of interest, ICAN sent a formal letter addressed
to Fauci, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, FDA
Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Director Peter Marks and White
House Coronavirus Task Force adviser Scott Atlas – with a copy furnished for
President Donald Trump. The letter, prepared by ICAN attorney Aaron Siri,
urged Fauci to remove “any member of the NIAID DSMB … who has ever been a
consultant, on a speaker’s bureau, or has had meals or travel paid for by
any pharmaceutical company” – including Whitley.

An impartial DSMB plays a key role in ensuring that any approved vaccine
will be safe to use, especially that the development of a coronavirus
vaccine is being fast-tracked under the Trump administration’s Operation
Warp Speed. (Related: The rule of law is dead: There will be no legal
recourse for anyone injured by new COVID-19 vaccines.)

Two vaccines overseen by the NIAID DSMB, where Whitley is part of, have
encountered issues. Trials for AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate have
been temporarily halted after two volunteers experienced spinal
inflammation. Johnson & Johnson also suspended trials for its vaccine after
a participant developed an “unexplained illness.”

Follow Vaccines.news for more information about the race to create a vaccine
against the novel coronavirus.

[Lucifer]

That's like God. So many people promoting God but not one sighting.