President Joe Biden’s former science advisor Eric Lander was recently kicked out of the administration for being a bully —but he could have just as easily been dismissed for a giant conflict of interest: Lander had more than a million dollars in BioNTech stock while promoting the vaccine.
“Lander had 90 days from his confirmation in May 2021 to divest his stocks, and, while he unloaded the bulk of them in June, he waited to sell the BioNTech shares, worth $500,000 to $1 million, until Aug. 5, the Washington Examiner reports. “BioNTech, with partner company Pfizer, developed the first authorized vaccine against COVID-19. By the time Lander sold off the remaining BioNTech shares, they were priced at $404.92 a share, an increase of more than $50 from two days prior.”
Lander’s whole gig in Biden’s Cabinet and as director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy was to get people vaccinated. The more he pushed the vax, the more cash he made. He even wrote op-eds for the Boston Globe and the Washington Post —here’s what he said:
“Coronavirus vaccines can end the current pandemic if enough people choose to protect themselves and their loved ones by getting vaccinated.”
The Biden administration saw no problem with Lander’s behavior; totally above board.
“Your reporting shows Eric was fully legally compliant,” an Office of Science and Technology Policy spokesperson told Politico. “The law is clear — and conversations and opinion pieces telling people they should get vaccinated during a global pandemic are not even close to an ethics concern.”
Not even close? The optics on this are terrible. According to the Examiner, Delaney Marsco, the senior legal counsel on ethics at the watchdog Campaign Legal Center, said the situation looks “unsavory.”
“I don’t think you have the most senior scientist in the administration during a pandemic invested in a certain vaccine maker. It looks like something he should have divested immediately,” Marsco says.
Lander was the wealthiest member of Biden’s Cabinet, according to the Wall Street Journal; Mr. Science was worth $45 million dollars. But now, he’s gone after a two-month-long investigation into his behavior. Lander’s legacy in the Biden admin will be one of, quite plainly, a jerk.
But let’s not forget he pushed vaccines and delayed divestment of his BioNTech stock in order to line his pockets. Is anyone in the Biden White House taking the “ethics pledge” seriously?
