The Back Room Deals That Launched mRNA Vaccine

By Paula Jardine

On December 2, 2020 the UK Regulator Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) launched the global deployment of SARS-CoV2 vaccines by issuing a temporary use authorisation (TUA) for a single batch, EJ0553, of the Pfizer / BioNTech mRNA vaccine. It is however apparent from the wording of a July 2020 Pfizer press release that the company was discussing the TUA authorisation mechanism which sped up a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) in December 2020 with UK vaccine taskforce representatives before Pfizer agreed to an aggressive timeline in its Operation Warp Speed Contract (OWS). The UK vaccine taskforce, whose expert advisory board included five people with a direct interest in the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine and two with direct links to entities with ownership stakes in BioNTech appear to have planned with the companies and US government official months in advance, secretly agreeing to authorise the Pfizer / BioNTech mRNA vaccine in return for American financing for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.