A video has emerged of a Food and Drug Administration executive suggesting there are plans for annual COVID-19 vaccines to be implemented in the United States.
But the FDA says the executive isn’t involved with “vaccine matters.”
The footage was taken with a hidden camera by conservative outlet Project Veritas and shared in what the organization called an effort to “expose” the health agency.
Project Veritas, founded by right-wing political activist James O’Keefe, “is known to publish surreptitiously recorded and selectively edited videos to embarrass liberals and mainstream media outlets,” according to the Columbia Journalism Review.
“You’ll have to get an annual shot [COVID vaccine]. I mean, it hasn’t been formally announced yet ‘cause they don’t want to, like, rile everyone up,” a man purported to be Christopher Cole, the FDA’s executive officer of Medical Countermeasures Initiative, is heard saying in the video.
“The person purportedly in the video does not work on vaccine matters and does not represent the views of the FDA nor does he speak on behalf of the agency,” FDA spokesperson Abigail Capobianco told McClatchy News in a statement.
The video also records the official saying that “there’s a money incentive for Pfizer and the drug companies to promote additional vaccinations.”
Cole’s LinkedIn page shows that he’s the executive officer for the FDA’s Medical Countermeasures Initiative, which coordinates “medical countermeasure development, preparedness and response” to protect the U.S. from threats such as infectious diseases like COVID-19.
Medical countermeasures include “drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tests,” according to the FDA.
Another agency official emphasized in a statement to McClatchy News that the FDA isn’t in charge of setting the price of vaccines or issuing vaccine mandates.
“Whether a state, local government, or employer, for example, may require or mandate COVID-19 vaccination is a matter of state or other applicable law,” the official said.
Additionally, the official said that “since the early days of the pandemic, the FDA has always followed the science in this ever-changing situation.”
“We don’t yet know if individuals will need to receive additional booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccines in order to provide continued protection against COVID-19 and the associated serious consequences that can occur including hospitalization and death.”
“As we have done throughout the pandemic, we will carefully evaluate the data and information as it becomes available in making any future determinations and continue being transparent in our communications throughout the process,” the official continued.
The video shared by Project Veritas also captures the official saying that the FDA won’t “approve [emergency use authorization for children 5 years old or less]” regarding COVID-19 vaccines, the group says.
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is the only brand authorized by the FDA for emergency use in children 5 and older, according to the agency. No vaccines have been authorized for children younger than 5 by the FDA.
“Based on the agency’s preliminary assessment of new data that have recently emerged regarding Pfizer’s emergency use authorization request for the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine in children 6 months through 4 years of age, the FDA believes additional information regarding the ongoing evaluation of a third dose should be considered as part of our decision-making for potential authorization,” the FDA official said.
The agency postponed a Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meeting scheduled Feb. 15 “to consider the additional data, allowing for a transparent public discussion as part of our usual scientific and regulatory processes for COVID-19 vaccines,” according to the official, to “ensure the data support effectiveness and safety before authorizing a COVID-19 vaccine for use in our youngest children.”
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