A Vaccine Company Registered To A PO Box, Run By Ex-Biden Staffers, Received $28 MILLION In Funding During Biden Admin’s Final Months

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ccording to a report from Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), a vaccine company barely in existence, registered to a Maryland post office box, and helmed by former Biden administration officials—was quietly handed $28 million in federal funding from the National Institutes of Health’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) just weeks before the end of the Biden Administration.

In a letter addressed to newly-appointed HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Ernst raised serious concerns about potential corruption, calling the massive federal payout “fishy.”

“A vaccine company registered to a PO Box — and run by two former Biden staffers — got $28 million in the final months of the Biden admin, and that seems fishy. I’ve asked Sec. Kennedy to get the American people answers and end the practice of government slush funds!”

The company in question, Vaccine Company, Inc., appears to be nothing more than a shell operation. Despite having no prior federal research contracts, it was inexplicably awarded $28.2 million in the Fall of 2024 for vaccine research on flaviviruses such as Zika and dengue.

Yet, according to federal records, the company’s listed business address is a only PO Box at a U.S. Post Office in Bethesda, Maryland. A simple records search revealed that no physical office space, lab, or manufacturing facility exists at this location.

Ernst is demanding answers. “How does a company barely in existence, headed by a recent Biden political appointee, use a post office box as an address and get a $28 million check from NIH’s ARPA-H program?” she wrote in her letter to Kennedy.

The situation gets even murkier when looking at the company’s leadership. Public filings show that Sonya Bernstein, a former Biden Administration COVID-response staffer and HHS official, became Vaccine Company, Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer shortly before the company received its windfall funding.

Further investigation into Bernstein’s record suggests that she went from being a Biden White House advisor to running a federally funded vaccine company in record time.

Bernstein wasn’t even the company’s first executive. In just two years, the company has cycled through at least three different leadership teams, with different executives appearing on both Maryland and California business filings.

According to records obtained by Senator Ernst’s office, Vaccine Company, Inc. had previously forfeited its Maryland business registration in 2023 due to failure to file the required paperwork. Miraculously, it was reinstated in 2024—just before ARPA-H awarded it $28 million.

According to the letter:

2022: Vaccine Company, Inc. filed paperwork multiple times for Foreign Corporation Qualification with the State of Maryland, listing the same post office address as the address listed in its Federal ARPA-H award file.9 A 2022 filing indicates the company’s “President or Vice President” is Jay Markowitz.

2023: A little over one year later, on the company’s July 2023 Foreign Corporation Qualification Maryland paperwork, the company’s “President or Vice President” is listed as Sonya Bernstein, a woman who shares a name with that of a former Biden Administration COVID-response team staffer also named Sonya Bernstein.

Though public records on this new Vaccine Company, Inc., are not easy to locate, just months before Sonya Bernstein is named as a top executive in Maryland paperwork, a January 2023 California filing lists the company’s Chief Executive Officer as John Merkels, with the post office box in Maryland listed as his address, while Juha Lauren is listed as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), with the Maryland post office box address listed for him, as well.

2024: A June 14, 2024, California Secretary of State filing shows the Vaccine Company, Inc. listing Sonya Bernstein as its “Chief Financial Officer,” the second CFO in less than two years. The California filing also lists the Maryland post office as the company’s mailing address, though it is unclear why Vaccine Company, Inc.’s 2023 Maryland filing lists the former Biden staffer as the “President or Vice President,” while a California filing shows a different executive in charge, and lists Ms. Bernstein as the CFO in 2024.

Only $2 million of the grant has been spent so far, prompting Ernst to demand an immediate investigation and possible clawback of the funds before the rest disappears into the abyss of government waste.

The controversy stems from ARPA-H, a relatively new program launched by the Biden Administration under HHS. Since its creation, ARPA-H has received over $4 billion in taxpayer funding, despite minimal oversight and repeated concerns from lawmakers.

ARPA-H’s former director Renee Wegrzyn was fired in February 2025 by the Trump Administration. Ernst wrote:

“Mr. Secretary, I’m concerned that ARPA-H’s Director Wegrzyn sent $28 million to a brand-new company with ever-changing executives and a murky past. From federal funding records, it does not appear the Vaccine Company, Inc. received any previous ARPA-H or direct NIH awards,”

She concluded:

“Mr. Secretary, please share all documents related to this ARPA-H award recipient, including the submitted proposal, and any additional information regarding this multi-million-dollar award. Please provide the names and positions of the ARPA-H and HHS officials who signed off on this award. Please provide these documents and answers as soon as possible, but by Monday, March 17, 2025, at the latest.” ✪

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