Rep. James Comer told Newsmax that he and fellow GOP Rep. Steve Scalise are asking the Food and Drug Administration for documentation concerning President Joe Biden's push for booster shots so they can determine the motivation behind his demand.
"Joe Biden's been in office for eight months [and] he has never nominated an FDA commissioner," the Kentucky Republican said on Wednesday's ''Wake Up America."
"What he has over there are a bunch of career bureaucrats that it appears he's trying to strong-arm on this booster shot issue."
Further, Comer pointed out, "a normal president" would have held a press conference while surrounded by health experts from his medical team in connection with a decision as important as recommending booster shots.
Comer's comments came before the FDA's staff announced in a document published on its website Wednesday that it was declining to take a stance on backing booster shots of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine because U.S. examiners had not "independently reviewed or verified the underlying data or their conclusions,”CNBC reports.
The agency said some of the studies, "including data from the vaccination program in Israel, will be summarized during the September 17, 2021 VRBPAC meeting.”
The staff also said there have been observational studies that suggest Pfizer's vaccine has a declining efficacy over time against the delta variant or symptomatic infection, but other studies have not.
Meanwhile, Comer said, Americans are speaking up against vaccine mandates because the nation's borders are open and Biden isn't requiring migrants to have their shots.
"They're not even testing a lot of these people before they move them into sanctuary cities all over the U.S., so Joe Biden is just making the whole vaccination issue worse," Comer said. "I am strongly opposed to mandates for vaccines."
He also blamed Vice President Kamala Harris for much of the nation's vaccine hesitancy because of her comments about not taking the vaccine that then-President Donald Trump was involved in developing.
"We've got a problem with messaging coming out of the White House," Comer said. "That's why Scalise and I are doing this letter because we fear that this decision was made purely for political reasons.
He also commented on the changing stance for mandates after reviewing video clips of both Dr. Anthony Fauci and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi commenting earlier this year about not favoring mandates.
"What's changed is the Democrat poll numbers are plummeting," Comer said.
''Biden, Fauci and Pelosi have all said previously that we would not require vaccine mandates now because of political turmoil facing the Democrat Party. They've changed. That's why we want to see the communication between the FDA and the Biden administration that gave them the basis for this decision to require boosters and recommend booster shots. ''