President Trump is demanding that drug companies come clean about what they knew and when they knew it. He says they showed him “extraordinary” private data on treatments during Operation Warp Speed but refused to release it broadly to the American public. That omission now looks suspicious, as Trump authorized billions of taxpayer dollars to fast-track vaccines and underwrite contracts for guaranteed distribution. Today, with the EUA era ending and the mRNA vaccines narrowed to high-risk groups only, Trump clearly senses there was more than science at play. Accountability for transparency, results, and profits is overdue. The American people were asked to trust the system, but the system may have betrayed that trust.
Billions in revenue were generated, not just for the drug companies, but for government institutions that claimed ownership of key patents. Moderna admitted in 2023 that it owed the NIH a $400 million “catch-up” payment and agreed to ongoing royalties for the spike protein stabilization technology. BioNTech reached settlements totaling nearly $1.26 billion, including $791.5 million to NIH and another $467 million to the University of Pennsylvania. Pfizer, as BioNTech’s partner, is on the hook for reimbursing part of those settlements. To put it plainly, taxpayers funded the science, government institutions patented the discoveries, and then those same institutions collected massive royalty checks when the vaccines were rolled out under EUA protections. That pipeline signals that the system was designed with a profit over health motive.
The conflict of interest is baked into the system. Government scientists are legally entitled to share in patent royalties when their discoveries are licensed to industry. That means the very same agencies recommending vaccines—NIH, NIAID, FDA—were positioned to profit from their own guidance. Worse, Congress has allowed these royalty flows to remain largely hidden. FOIA requests and watchdog groups uncovered that NIH scientists had received over $710 million in royalties, but the names of and amounts to recipients were redacted. When agencies earn money from the products they regulate, it undermines credibility. Even if individual scientists had good motives, the system itself rewarded pushing vaccines while suppressing alternatives that might have threatened EUA status and reduced royalty streams.
We are reminded of Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Money is not evil in itself, but when public health turns into a payday for government and corporate elites, the incentives become corrupting. Americans trusted their leaders, scientists, and doctors during a crisis. Many are now discovering that conflicts of interest, secrecy, and greed shaped decisions that altered lives and cost lives. With EUAs revoked and the smoke clearing, it’s time for real accountability. Transparency is the only way forward—naming who profited, how decisions were made, and whether public health was compromised for private gain. Only then can trust be rebuilt on truth rather than profits.
Sources
- Trump demands drug companies release data on COVID vaccines to the public– New York Post
https://nypost.com/2025/09/01/us-news/president-trump-demands-drug-companies-release-data-on-covid-vaccines-to-the-public/ - Trump calls for more Covid vaccine data to stop CDC ‘being ripped apart’– Financial Times
https://www.ft.com/content/7fd181dc-3c03-41d2-84b8-fa01278af457 - Moderna pays US government $400M ‘catch-up payment’ under new COVID-19 vaccine license– Fierce Pharma
https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/moderna-pays-us-government-400m-catch-payment-under-new-covid-19-vaccine-license - BioNTech inks settlements with NIH, Penn in COVID-19 vaccine royalty disputes– Fierce Pharma
https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/biontech-inks-settlements-nih-university-penn-covid-19-vaccine-royalty-disputes - BioNTech Enters Into Settlements With NIH, UPenn Over COVID-19 Vaccine Royalties– Reuters via ASCP
https://www.ascp.org/news/external-news/industry-news/2024/12/30/BioNTech-Enters-Into-Settlements-With-NIH-UPenn-Over-COVID-19-Vaccine-Royalties - NIH scientists made $710M in royalties from drug makers—a fact they tried to hide– New York Post
https://nypost.com/2024/06/02/nih-scientists-made-710m-in-royalties-from-drug-makers-a-fact-they-tried-to-hide/
