The U.S. government is not getting directly involved in a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials included fraud, though it might try to dismiss the lawsuit later.
The Justice Department, representing the FDA, filed a "notice of election to decline intervention" last month, more than a year after the suit was filed, but asked a federal judge to first get "written consent" from the feds if the parties want to dismiss or settle the case.
The government reserves the right to intervene at a later date in the False Claims Act lawsuit, which seeks to recover damages on its behalf and for the whistleblower, Brook Jackson.
Jackson accuses Pfizer and two contractors of "cutting corners in clinical trials" and falsifying clinical trial documents in their "race to secure billions in federal funding and become the first to market." The result, she claims, was millions of Americans receiving "a misbranded vaccination which is potentially not as effective as represented."