The success of medical research has been one of the few positives of the COVID-19 pandemic. The effectiveness of vaccines in preventing deaths (see graph below), is particularly impressive given the short time in which they were developed.

But if recent allegations from a whistleblower about a Pfizer vaccine trial can be proven, they would indicate that time and financial pressures may have led to serious misconduct.

The whistleblower is Brook Jackson, previously a regional director at a Texas-based contract research organisation called Ventavia, who supplied an account to the BMJ.

She alleges that Ventavia falsified data, “unblinded” patients (that is, researchers could see who was receiving the vaccine and who the placebo), employed inadequately trained vaccinators, and was slow to follow up on adverse events during one of the final trials.