Why a Former Pfizer Exec Is Trying to Flee to Canada

A former Pfizer employee who allegedly told colleagues the company delayed announcing its vaccine in 2020 for political reasons is the subject of a new congressional inquiry.

In March, the Wall Street Journal reported that British drugmaker GSK “brought an unusual claim to federal prosecutors in Manhattan” following Donald Trump’s electoral victory.

“A senior GSK scientist, who formerly worked at rival Pfizer, had told GSK colleagues that Pfizer delayed announcing the success of its Covid vaccine in 2020 until after that year’s election,” the Journal reported.

According to the report, the scientist denied telling colleagues what had been reported. However, federal prosecutors were “taking a closer look at what GSK shared with them, which is potentially politically explosive.”

The scientist identified in the Journal’s report was Dr. Phil Dormitzer, who moved to GSK in 2021.

I did not see the Wall Street Journal report when it was first published in March, but I did after Dormitzer was named in a letter authored by Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary, which was published on Thursday.

According to the letter, Dormitzer is attempting to flee to Canada to avoid a federal investigation. Here is the description of the letter the Committee received from GSK:

In November 2024, shortly after the election, Dr. Dormitzer approached a representative from the GSK human resources team to speak about a potential relocation abroad.

As the human resources representative recalls, in their meeting, Dr. Dormitzer was visibly upset; he requested that he be relocated to Canada due to concerns that he could be investigated by the incoming Trump Administration over his role in developing Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. According to the human resources representative, when asked what prompted his request, Dr. Dormitzer made a comment to the effect of: “Let’s just say it wasn’t a coincidence, the timing of the vaccine.”

Pfizer has previously denied the vaccine was timed around the presidential election. Jordan does not appear to believe those denials in light of fresh evidence.

“This new information appears to suggest that Dr. Dormitzer and other senior Pfizer executives conspired to withhold public health information to influence the 2020 presidential election,” he writes.