The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has responded to a peer-reviewed study conducted within its own laboratory, which uncovered excessively high levels of DNA contamination in Pfizer’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.
The study revealed that residual DNA levels exceeded regulatory limits by six to 470 times, validating earlier studies from independent researchers that the FDA had previously disregarded.
Published by students in the Journal of High School Science, the study has garnered significant attention since the story broke, with its altimetric score rivaling those of major studies in leading medical journals.
Despite the study being conducted at the FDA’s White Oak campus in Maryland, the agency has sought to distance itself from the findings.
A spokesperson stated that the study “does not belong to the FDA” and is therefore not theirs to disclose.
“The FDA does not comment on individual studies,” the spokesperson added, declining to acknowledge the new scientific findings.
The agency also refused to address the involvement of three of its own scientists — Shuliang Liu, Ph.D., Tony Wang, M.D., and Prabhuanand Selvaraj, Ph.D. — who supervised the students conducting the study.
When questioned about potential regulatory actions, such as issuing a public alert, recalling affected vaccine batches, or notifying other agencies, the FDA stood firm in its defense of mRNA vaccine safety.