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In the first of what is expected to be multiple hearings on the Biden administration’s response to COVID-19, Republicans on Wednesday peppered top U.S. health officials with questions about masking and social distancing, vaccine mandates, vaccine safety and the National Institutes of Health funding of gain-of-function research.
Top Biden officials from federal health agencies faced tough questioning about their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic on Wednesday in a joint congressional hearing of the Oversight and Investigations and Health subcommittees.
Republican lawmakers indicated this will be the first of many hearings into the administration’s handling of the pandemic. A separate committee will investigate questions around the potentially fraudulent mishandling of $5 trillion in COVID-19 relief funds.
“President Biden’s public health leaders are here today because they have broken the American people’s trust,” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said in her opening remarks.
“My message today to all the administration public health officials is that this is going to be a long road. Trust is broken a lot faster than it is built. And many will say that the American people deserve an apology, but they deserve much more,” she added.
Chair @cathymcmorris to @CDCDirector, @FDACommissioner, and @NIHDirector:
“My message today to all of the administration’s public health officials is this is going to be a long road. Many will say that the American people deserve an apology but they deserve much more.” pic.twitter.com/6IpMC1EScR
— Energy and Commerce Committee (@HouseCommerce) February 8, 2023
Dr. Lawrence Tabak, acting director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH); Dr. Robert Califf, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA); and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) responded to four hours of questioning.
Committee Republicans pressed the officials on their failed oversight of gain-of-function research, challenged the agencies’ rationale for vaccine mandates, mask mandates and school closures, and interrogated them on their role in suppressing information on social media, all of which they said have caused a loss of faith in public institutions during the pandemic.
Committee Democrats largely praised the officials.
“I’m immensely grateful for the witness’s leadership,” said Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) in her opening comments, capturing the sentiments expressed by other Democrats.
“I look forward to hearing how you plan on incorporating the lessons learned from COVID-19 to further strengthen your agencies and these important missions for the future,” Castor added.
Republicans are pursuing investigations into the virus’ origins.
Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chair Griffith (R-Va.), Health Subcommittee Chair Guthrie (R-Ky.), and Reps. Burgess (R-Texas), Carter (R-Texas), Duncan (R-S.C.), McMoriss Rogers and Lesko (R-Ariz.) raised questions about the NIH’s lack of oversight into funding for EcoHealth Alliance, an NIH grant recipient that funded research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where the virus may have originated.
Late last month, an internal federal watchdog agency found the NIH had made significant errors in its oversight of EcoHealth Alliance grants. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a report outlining missed deadlines, confusing protocols and misspent funds — raising and reinforcing concerns about the government’s system for monitoring research on potentially risky pathogens.
Republican committee members made several requests to the NIH for documents relating to EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan lab. The requests were ignored until the night before the hearing.
Griffith accused Tabak of stonewalling the committee and pressed him on why, after EcoHealth Alliance failed to comply with NIH documentation requirements, the NIH continued to fund it.
Carter asked whether NIH was funding, or had ever funded, gain-of-function research, which is banned from funding by HHS.
Tabak said they had brought EcoHealth Alliance into compliance and that the NIH did not now, and had never, funded the type of gain-of-function research people were concerned with, except for once, in the Netherlands in research on influenza.
But Republican committee members were not convinced. Lesko asked Tabak how he could be certain the NIH wasn’t funding gain-of-function research given that they didn’t have the reports from their subgrantees, as indicated in the OIG report.
🚨🚨 The NIH Director claims the NIH do NOT fund COVID-19 gain-of-function research. How do they know if they don’t have the full report?
WATCH my remarks in the @HouseCommerce: pic.twitter.com/BCDcQFYaRZ
— Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (@RepDLesko) February 8, 2023
Duncan directed Tabak to check with his staff and amend his definitive responses on gain-of-function research.
Several Republicans on the committee who are medical professionals said they were frustrated with federal officials over their use of faulty science for determining mitigation strategies like masking, vaccine mandates and school closures, which they said led to loss of public trust in their institutions.
“It’s demoralizing, and it is depressing that agencies that were once held in such esteem cannot translate and transfer research and evidence and respond to real-world evidence when they come up with strategies and policies,” said Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), a physician.
“It’s not just a messaging problem, it was a problem of bias within the agencies,” Miller-Meeks said.
As the only committee member to comment on vaccine injury, Miller-Meeks also expressed frustration with “the failure of the CDC to acknowledge myocarditis, pericarditis and young people and still advocate for vaccines in young men.”
Miller-Meeks said:
“Despite that risk, which we talked about finally last year, there’s a risk-benefit that has to be considered, but was not considered in these mandates — menstrual irregularities and young women …
“The failure of the FDA to utilize their own advisory boards when approving vaccines in certain age groups and rushing approval in these age groups, and then their slowness to advance any therapeutics.
“And what evidence can you tell me, what evidence-based research that shows 6-ft. distancing is appropriate?”
Walensky on multiple occasions throughout the hearing emphasized the evidence-based nature of all CDC recommendations and said the CDC will continue to support vaccination.
She also said the CDC will continue masking when “community levels” of COVID-19 are high, despite the recent Cochrane review that found little-to-no evidence for the effectiveness of masking to prevent COVID-19 transmission. She disagreed with the review’s findings.
Reps. Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Sarbanes (D-Md.), Eshoo (D-Calif.), Pallone (D-N.J.) Kuster (D-N.H.) and Castor focused their questioning in part on how they could support the agencies in accessing better data faster.
Walensky emphasized the need for “data authorities” and “data modernization” for the CDC. She said part of the problem the CDC faced was the lack of infrastructure to share data, and part of it was in the data itself because a lot of data have to be shared voluntarily.
She lamented lacking data on how vaccination was rolling out in communities. “I can’t tell you how many people have been vaccinated in the hospital,” Walensky said. “We don’t have data systems that can do that. We don’t have authority to collect it, and it’s not voluntarily reported.”
Many people were alarmed last month when it was revealed that the CDC had established codes for tracking COVID-19 vaccination status, particularly given the restrictions placed on, and stigma associated with, being unvaccinated, despite widespread concerns about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines.
Reps. Harshbarger (R-Tenn.) and Cammack (R-Fla.) asked officials about the agencies’ role in defining “misinformation” and collaborating with other officials or with Twitter to discredit dissent.
Walensky and Tabak both said they couldn’t comment because of ongoing litigation.
The hearing is expected to be the first of many on the pandemic response and the origins of COVID-19. A separate committee plans to investigate how “hundreds of billions of dollars” in COVID-19 relief funds were lost to fraud during both the Trump and Biden administrations, NBC News reported.
Watch here:
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I look forward to the discussions on the fake vaxxes.
Fake discussions on the fake vaxes.
FIFY
Oh, and fake show trials. No liability for a century. BTW, didja hear about that boy, Lee Harvey Oswald?
Our heroes, the GOP – the “other” party.
I am reminded of the scene in the movie “Braveheart”, where William Wallace is publicly drawn and quartered, thinking what an appropriate punishment that would be for Faucci, Birx, the Bidens, and so on and so forth.
I would buy tickets to such events.
Speaking of Braveheart, I’m reminded of the scene towards the end of the story, when William Wallace chases down the knight, catches him, pulls off his helmet, and realizes he’s been sold out and utterly betrayed by his friend.
Our betrayers have finally been positively identified!!!
War on Terra, meet War on Insouciance.
I said, “insouciance.”
};^D
Watch the whole scene or just skip ahead to 1:35, because that’s what coming, yet again.
Welcome back my friends
To the Show that never ends
We’re so glad you could attend
Come inside, come inside
This is like the Bonanno crime family investigating the Gambinos.
There is zero chance of accountability. Zero.
Agreed. They might pick a chump or two to pin the whole disaster on to satisfy the public, but real accountability is a pipe dream.
Yep. that guy over there with the mop and pail. He and that door greeter guy at wallies conspired and executed this whole scamdemic, we have proof but because its super secret we are not allowed to show you it, but the news people can confirm what we have.
I just reread that and even I now believe it so I imagine that the uniparty will latch onto this angle. So I’m copyright’n this, everybody gots to be paid.
My eyes just glaze over these days whenever I hear about Congress, especially the Republicans, grilling anyone in regards to the various crimes that have been committed against the populace. I’m just so far removed from actually believing any of this shit anymore. It’s more ridiculous than high school theater. My parents and my wife’s parents are all still firmly attached to the notion that all the bad people will be punished any day now, especially once the Republicans get busy with sorting this stuff out.
same. The Republican sheeple show up at the bar and see the sign on the door, “sorry closed for Covid/War/Racisms, but COME BACK FOR FREE BEER TOMORROW” and go home excited about going back tomorrow.
“Mishandled”
Nuremberg 2.0:
“Your Honor, we were only mishandling people . . . as ordered.”
CDC/FDA smoking gun of smoking guns
They confess: they had no virus when they concocted the test for the virus; they “contrived” a model by pretending to find what they wanted to find; it’s called a self-fulfilling prophecy This is the con and the crime that drove millions of lives, and economies, into ruin by Jon Rappoport
Trust the made-up science. Here, have a variant . . . of ordinary flu season. No, really. This time it’s different, Charlie Brown.
The Orange Man is still pushing the shots? Right?
Yeah, but bright boy wuz robbed, yo:
So Big Orange fanboys will say . . .
You are missing the point. Last time he was make’n murika great again. This time he’s coming back to Save murika and he’ll be play’n 283.6D chess, hire a gaggle of communists to help him and no way will he get duped again, C’mon man.
More fake investigations/hearings etc fucking useless circle jerk that doesn’t solve a thing.
I will bet that those bureaucrats are really scared. The congress will cut off their funds. The DOJ will prosecute them after the FBI gives them an anal exam. NOT!
Another dog and pony show. Stoking hope for some, that accountability will be had, with just punishment.
Unfortunately we’ve seen this show before.
Can’t afford to even pay attention anymore. Not worth the time.
Put your focus and time on areas that give greater ROI.
Congressional committees have fire breathers for the sole purpose of RNC/DNC fundraising. No one is ever held accountable.
A rotisserie works well to bring deep and hidden information to immediate memory for those being interrogated.
Grilling is the one thing House Republicans know how to do. Medium well.
Speaking of grillers. How about the big game this weekend? First time ever two black QBS! Also first time ever the MIC bizdev recruiting flyover will feature all “female” pilots! Personally, I am most disappointed that the CDC issued that warning about Guacamole being linked to strokes. I rather enjoyed snacking off the replacement theory menu.
And throughout the entire 4 hour “grilling”, the bureaucrats spoke in platitudes and avoided answering questions directly, as is typical for these Kabuki theater productions of CONgress.
Perhaps Covid 19 should have been called Masons2020? Know and identify the invisible enemy.
Thankfully this story, just like the Hersh expose of the US destruction of NordStream 2, is being completely ignored by the MSM. I mean hey, it’s not like 330,000,000 Americans were affected by this Scamdemic.
And spiraling down the DC rabbit hole they go …
Somewhere there is a paper shuffling federal employee that is about to take the fall for all the upper elitist DC piles of lying shit .
What a pathetic display of what once was a great and powerful nation now in control of self serving lunatics
“House Republicans Grill Top U.S. Health Officials Over ‘Mishandling’ of COVID Response”…characterizing the response as “mishandling” is like labeling the recent Turkey earthquake a tremor.
Rather than have all of these political hacks questioning these folks — why not let people who’ve been warning US against this whole propaganda exercise since January, 2020, ask the questions — the Really … Tough … Questions?
Folks like Dr. Michael Yeadon … and RFK, Jr. … and Dr. McCullough … and numerous others whose warnings and advice were censored via government and its proxies in private industry?
As for an apology? That’s not what We The People want or need … we need the truth revealed and criminal charges brought against those who turned against all of US … TheFauci, Birx, Walensky, Bill from the Gates of Hell and countless others … including the heads of PFE and MRNA and other BigPharma friends of Fauci’s …
Moreover, our Government leadership needs to totally disassociate the United States from NATO, the UN and all of its tentacles — especially the WHO …
I don’t care what they say. I will watch what they do.
“mishandling”
hahahahahahahahahaa ha ha ha ha ha hah hah hah…..
Dokters Falsi, Scarf, and Wallnskee were just the porte-paroles for the big LIE machine. Like Dokter Tedros, DVM over at the Yew En.
(Auntie would rather characterize the response to the Pestilence as the cosmically epic catastrophic medical fuck-up of all-time.)