Login
During a May 2020 briefing with the CIA, Dr. Scott Gottlieb — a Pfizer board member and former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — dismissed two studies suggesting COVID-19 infections were far more widespread, and possibly less lethal, than official case counts indicated, according to a newly released agency memo.
Gottlieb, who profited from his board position, served as FDA commissioner from May 11, 2017, to April 5, 2019. He joined Pfizer’s board in June of 2019.
The May 7, 2020, CIA briefing took place just two days after Pfizer announced the start of a U.S. clinical trial for four COVID-19 vaccine candidates.
According to the CIA executive summary, Gottlieb discounted seroprevalence studies that tested blood samples to determine what percentage of people living in two California counties — Santa Clara and Los Angeles — already had antibodies against COVID-19. Both studies found evidence of substantially more infections than official testing data showed.
“On ‘herd immunity’ Dr. Gottlieb discounts the 2 major studies from Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties showing high seroprevalence,” the CIA summary states.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) subpoenaed the document as part of his investigation into COVID-19 and former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci.
Gottlieb acknowledged participating in the briefing but told the Daily Caller that CIA officials knew of his position with Pfizer.
“I was asked by some political officials in the first term to attend a briefing,” Gottlieb said. “These were the early days of COVID when they were gathering a lot of different perspectives.”
Studies challenged early COVID assumptions
The California studies were among the earliest attempts to determine how many people had actually been infected with SARS-CoV-2 rather than relying solely on confirmed cases.
The Santa Clara study, co-authored by Stanford researchers including Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D., estimated that approximately 53,000 people had been infected in the county by late March 2020, compared with roughly 1,200 confirmed cases at the time. The researchers estimated an infection-fatality rate of 0.17%.
A separate Los Angeles County study estimated that 4.65% of adults had antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 by April 10-11, 2020, indicating that infections were substantially more widespread than confirmed case counts suggested.
If the virus had infected far more people than official case counts indicated, the infection-fatality rate would be lower than the case-fatality rates dominating public discussion during the early months of the pandemic.
The CIA memo says Gottlieb agreed that infections were being undercounted but rejected the magnitude suggested by the California studies.
According to the memo, he estimated national seroprevalence at approximately 20% to 25%. He said that level was insufficient to establish herd immunity.
The memo is an agency summary of Gottlieb’s briefing rather than a verbatim transcript, meaning it may not precisely capture his words.
‘The picture’ that made vaccines look necessary
Critics of the pandemic response believe the meeting represented how leaders sold the COVID-19 vaccines to the public.
Investigative journalist Sonia Elijah, who reviewed the CIA material, said the briefing’s significance lies in the combination of the participants, timing and subject matter.
Elijah told The Defender the CIA briefing “fit the pattern” she documented to “treat the public as still fully susceptible, treat confirmed cases as the measure of risk, and keep the path clear for a novel product.”
It was not the meeting itself that built Pfizer’s manufacturing capacity or directly produced a particular policy outcome, Elijah said. However, the meeting’s implications suggested a way to promote the need for vaccines.
“I would not claim this meeting built the factories,” she said. “I would say the picture it defended made a whole-population product look absolutely necessary.”
The evidence does not establish that Gottlieb’s comments caused the U.S. to pursue mass vaccination.
However, it does reveal that an executive with monetary ties to Pfizer was advising the CIA about the pandemic, vaccine technologies and the emerging evidence about population immunity precisely when Pfizer was beginning U.S. vaccine trials.
Lawyer Robert Barnes said the consequences of this and other such decisions shaped the COVID-19 response and its aftermath.
“The marriage of the intelligence community and Big Pharma led to the lockdowns and COVID lies that terrorized the world,” Barnes told The Defender.
Dr. Helmut Sterz, a former Pfizer toxicologist and author of “The Vaccine Mafia,” said the pattern of hiding information about COVID-19 was guided by the desire to instill widespread panic among the American public.
“Fear was the backbone of their strategy,” Sterz told The Defender. “An influenza-like disease would not have allowed them to build a strong business model.”
The CIA, FDA, Pfizer and Gottlieb did not respond to requests for comment.
‘This will certainly be a lucrative move for you’
Gottlieb’s financial relationship with Pfizer predates the COVID-19 pandemic. Pfizer elected the former FDA commissioner to its board on June 27, 2019. The company’s 2020 SEC filing shows that Gottlieb received $72,438 in cash fees and $159,183 in Pfizer stock awards during his partial first year on the board. Entering 2020, he owned 3,737 Pfizer stock units.
At the time, Gottlieb’s appointment to the Pfizer board drew scrutiny. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) criticized the appointment. Warren called on Gottlieb to resign, citing a need to prohibit pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer from hiring or compensating senior government officials for at least four years to prevent “undue influence.”
In a July 2, 2019, statement, Warren argued that Gottlieb’s position at Pfizer could create conflicts of interest following his tenure as FDA commissioner.
Warren pointed to Pfizer’s compensation for its board members, noting that directors received cash retainers as well as Pfizer stock. She described Gottlieb’s move to the company’s board as raising ethical issues about “revolving door influence-peddling.”
“This will certainly be a lucrative move for you,” Warren wrote in a letter to Gottlieb, while urging him to step down from Pfizer’s board.
The Defender is 100% reader-supported. No corporate sponsors. No paywalls. Our writers and editors rely on you to fund stories like this that mainstream media won’t write. 
This article was funded by critical thinkers like you.
‘Government concealed known risks to maintain the COVID narrative’
The CIA meeting memo was only one of several linking pharmaceutical companies to government officials who had the power to shape public announcements around COVID-19.
Dr. Chris Flowers told The Defender that the “messaging disconnect ran even deeper” than the FDA, and the latest documents only worked to “confirm what many suspected: the government concealed known risks to maintain the COVID narrative.”
“Dr. Anthony Fauci’s private comments on masks, social distancing and viral origins contradicted his public pronouncements,” Flowers said.
Documents obtained by the Daily Caller show Fauci’s NIAID signed an agreement with the CIA’s Biological Technology Center to conduct bioterrorism-related “forensic microbiology” research, with the CIA funding and helping obtain samples while retaining control over data-sharing.
Flowers said Fauci and the FDA also hid information about miscarriage risks and pregnancy complications, along with risks of myocarditis caused by COVID-19 vaccines. This led to a lack of safety testing for mRNA gene therapy and the FDA’s reliance on pharmaceutical analysis, which indicated “no serious new safety signals.”
“Full transparency is non-negotiable,” Flowers said. “Sunlight must reach every corner before this era gets memory-holed. Do your own research. Question official pronouncements. Trust, if it returns at all, will take years to rebuild.”
Related articles in The Defender
- Pfizer Freezes Air Traffic Control Funds Over COVID Vaccine Contract Dispute With Poland, Romania
- Clinical Trial Results Were Clear: Pfizer’s COVID Vaccine Delivered More Risk Than Benefit
- Congress Asks Pfizer, Merck for Details About Clinical Trials in China
- HHS Says No Decision on COVID Vaccine Deal With Pfizer, But Questions Persist About $1.24 Billion Contracts
- CDC Awards Pfizer $1.24 Billion for COVID Vaccines for Kids and Adults
