A statewide grand jury concluded that there was no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers violated any federal or state laws during the production and distribution of the vaccines, according to a report released Tuesday.
The grand jury’s report was finalized more than two years after Governor Ron DeSantis requested the Supreme Court to establish the investigation into possible misconduct surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines. DeSantis, who was then eyeing a presidential run, argued that misrepresenting a drug’s effectiveness violated Florida law.
Despite the lengthy investigation, the grand jury decided against issuing any criminal charges, wrapping up its 144-page report on November 22. On Tuesday, Christopher Sabella, chief judge of Florida’s Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, authorized the release of the report to the public.
“We did not find any statute that we believed would be an appropriate vehicle for a criminal indictment based on the facts we have laid out in this Final Report,” the jurors stated.
Instead of criminal charges, the report criticizes the close cooperation between regulatory bodies like the Food and Drug Administration and the vaccine manufacturers, Pfizer and Moderna.
“Records and testimony we collected in our tenure showed that time and again, sponsors operated hand-in-glove with regulators to promote their products in the marketplace,” the report reads. “Often, the claims of sponsors and federal regulators alike were based on less-than-ideal supporting evidence, but we must presume from their conduct that these regulators understood the quality of this supporting evidence and they were satisfied with it.”
Governor DeSantis did not address the lack of criminal evidence in his post about the grand jury’s findings on X, instead focusing on the recommendations the grand jury made.
“While we are still reading through the report and its recommendations, it details that, through deception and taking ‘advantage of scientific journal infrastructure’ to hide adverse events from the public, Big Pharma engaged in a ‘pattern of deceptive and obfuscatory behavior,’” DeSantis wrote.
The grand jury’s report offers several recommendations to both the federal government and Florida’s state lawmakers. For instance, the jury urges the FDA to reinstate the ban on direct-to-consumer advertising for therapeutics and to prevent revolving-door employment between regulatory agencies and the private sector.
“This Grand Jury finds itself in the awkward position of advocating for a series of changes to a group of private and public entities who did not ask for them and are unlikely to be particularly interested in adopting them,” the report notes.
The FDA declined to comment on the report’s findings.
The grand jury also accused Pfizer, Moderna, and other pharmaceutical companies of “running out the clock” in providing evidence and testimony. The COVID-19 grand jury convened for 18 months, following a six-month extension.
Pfizer responded to the findings in a statement to the Florida Phoenix.
“Pfizer stands by the strength of the science behind its mRNA vaccines and the transparency with which we conducted our COVID-19 clinical trials and communicated their results,” said a media representative. “Regulatory agencies across the world have authorized or approved the use of our COVID-19 vaccines. Those authorizations or approvals are based on robust and independent evaluation of the scientific data on quality, safety and efficacy.”
The grand jury also recommended modifications to Florida law to include a discovery period before grand jury members are sworn in. They further proposed that the state criminalize noncompliance with grand jury subpoenas.
As of December 23, CDC data shows that around 16.1% of Florida’s adult population has received the latest COVID-19 vaccine. In the first seven days of 2025, the Florida Department of Health reported 2,823 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths.
Neither Moderna nor the governor’s office immediately responded to the Phoenix’s requests for comment.
{Matzav.com}