Undercover footage released by James O’Keefe’s O’Keefe Media Group (OMG) features Joshua Rys, a lead scientist at Johnson & Johnson, seemingly admitting that the company’s COVID-19 vaccine was released with inadequate testing and was not genuinely “safe and effective.”
In the video, Rys discusses the accelerated development process, stating, “Do you have any idea the lack of research that was done on those products? People wanted it. We gave it to them.”
He further explains that the usual rigorous clinical trial process, involving small population testing, was bypassed. Instead, Rys says, “Let’s test it on some lab-rat models, analyze, see if it works, and just throw it to the wind and see what happens.” He concluded by suggesting, “I’m sure somebody’s going to get sued for that stuff eventually.”
Following the undercover segment, O’Keefe confronted Rys directly about his statements.
The Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19 vaccine, once promoted as a single-dose alternative to the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, has not been available in the U.S. since its initial release and withdrawal in 2021. By May 2023, all remaining doses had expired, and the CDC directed healthcare providers to dispose of them.
The vaccine’s use declined significantly after reports linked it to a rare but serious clotting disorder called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS). In May 2022, the FDA restricted the vaccine’s use to adults unable to receive other vaccines for medical reasons or those specifically requesting it.
By late 2021, the CDC had shifted its preference to the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, both of which have received contracts for additional injection supply from various governments including Canada.