A senior Johnson & Johnson (J&J) scientist has been captured on hidden camera admitting that the company did not follow standard clinical testing protocols during the development of its COVID-19 vaccine.
Joshua Rys, who serves as a Lead Scientist in Regulatory Affairs at J&J, described a rushed and improvised approach to vaccine testing under intense pressure from the federal government and public demand.
“We didn’t do the typical tests,” Rys said on camera to undercover O’Keefe Media Group (OMG) investigators.
He explained that traditional clinical trial steps were bypassed, with researchers opting instead to use lab models before proceeding directly to distribution.
“This was just, ‘let’s test it on some lab models… and just throw it to the wind and see what happens,’” he added.
The recorded conversation indicates that decisions surrounding vaccine development and release were driven more by urgency than by adherence to normal scientific procedures.
“People wanted it, we gave it to them,” Rys stated.
“Do you have any idea the lack of research that was done on those products?”
Despite widespread public assurances from health authorities that COVID-19 vaccines were “safe and effective,” Rys expressed doubts about the evidence behind those claims.
“There’s no proof. None of that stuff was safe and effective,” he said.
His remarks cast a concerning shadow on the marketing and messaging campaign surrounding the vaccine rollout.
Rys went on to describe how Operation Warp Speed, the federal program designed to accelerate vaccine production and distribution, created a high-pressure environment for pharmaceutical companies.
“The government is like, ‘We need help… You’re solving this problem,’” Rys said.
“People panic, so they try to solve it in whatever way they think is good.”
J&J was one of several pharmaceutical companies that received federal support and emergency use authorization to produce COVID-19 vaccines during the early stages of the pandemic.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a statement defending its oversight procedures, per OMG reporting.
“Even during a public health emergency, pharmaceutical companies are still required to follow strict protocols for clinical testing,” a spokesperson said.
The HHS spokesperson added that companies must provide evidence showing that the benefits of any product approved under emergency use clearly outweigh the risks.
“Oversight doesn’t stop at approval — the FDA and other agencies also monitor products closely once they’re in use,” the statement continued.
According to HHS, ongoing safety monitoring includes real-world safety tracking, review by independent advisory committees and mandatory reporting of adverse events.
These systems are intended to ensure that vaccines remain under scientific scrutiny even after their release to the public.
Still, Rys’s statements have raised concerns about whether those systems were applied in practice.
His comments suggest that some key decisions were made without the level of research and risk assessment typically required in pharmaceutical development.
OMG further noted that amid growing concern about vaccine safety and transparency, two leading physicians—Dr. Marty Makary of Johns Hopkins University and Dr. Vinay Prasad of the University of California, San Francisco—recently introduced a new framework for vaccine safety and public communication.
The framework is built on three pillars: gold-standard science, real-world data and transparency.
The goal is to restore public trust by ensuring that future vaccines undergo thorough testing before licensing and that safety is monitored rigorously after release, according to Makary and Prasad.
Their proposal also includes a stronger commitment to honest communication with the public, so that individuals can make health decisions based on complete and accurate information.
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