US Congress Report: $1 Billion failure of Covid propaganda

A recent report by the House of Representatives in the US Congress (ed. - the House of Representatives is led by the Republican Party, whose candidate in the US presidential elections on November 5 is Donald Trump) shows that the Biden administration spent almost a billion dollars to spread misinformation through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) about Covid vaccines, the effectiveness of masks and other protective measures, lies that have eroded public confidence in public health.

According to the cited source, for this campaign, HHS hired the public relations firm Fors Marsh Group (FMG), whose objective was to increase the vaccination rate against Covid. The strategy was based on exaggerating the mortality risk from Covid and downplaying the fact that there was no solid evidence that the vaccine prevented transmission of the virus.

In addition to promoting vaccination, the campaign also promoted the exaggerated effectiveness of masks, social distancing and school closures. This discrepancy between official messages and reality has led to a sharp decline in public confidence in the public health system.

FMG heavily used the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) "guidelines" as their source of science, even though they ignored the FDA's findings on vaccine limitations. Furthermore, the CDC has gone through repeated position changes on masks, a situation that has become frustrating for the public. This ambiguity included, for example, the recommendation to make masks mandatory for young children by 2022, despite a lack of evidence for this.

In December 2022, President Biden's former Covid adviser, Ashish K. Jha, publicly stated that "there are no studies that show that masks are that effective," a claim that came far too late and called the campaign into question since then. In 2021, former CDC director Rochelle Walensky amended social distancing guidelines to keep schools closed at the request of the National Union of Teachers, resulting in extended school closures.

During this period, FMG ran ads to warn parents that schools would close if children did not wear masks and get vaccinated. In March 2021, even though the CDC had announced that vaccinated people no longer needed masks, FMG continued to run ads urging people to wear masks, arguing that "it's not time to give up," even in the absence of evidence that it was useful.

The cited report also shows that also in 2021, to support the vaccination mandate promoted by the Biden administration, FMG promoted the wrong idea that the vaccine prevents the transmission of Covid. In the face of "discovery" infections, public confidence in health authorities has collapsed. Also, when the FDA approved the vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds, FMG told parents that schools would reopen in fall 2021 only if they vaccinate their children, omitting to mention possible side effects such as myocarditis.

In August 2021, the US military mandated the Covid vaccination for all members, which led to the dismissal of 8,300 soldiers. Since 2023, the Department of Defense has tried to reinstate those fired, but questions remain about the national security impact of the move.

The campaign employed celebrities and influencers to convince children to get vaccinated. The public received messages suggesting that the Covid vaccine would prevent "long-lasting Covid" in children, although there was no clear evidence of this. This strategy has been heavily criticized because, in the absence of evidence, this information has contributed to a decline in public confidence in the CDC and, by implication, a general reluctance to other routine childhood vaccines.

The House of Representatives report offers some clear recommendations to prevent such situations in the future:

- Clear definition of CDC's mission with an emphasis on disease prevention.

- Requiring HHS to comply with FDA regulations regarding product labeling.

- Review of the vaccine safety assessment process.

The most important recommendation is that HHS avoid adopting a policy of suppressing the opinions expressed by scientists who disagree with the decisions made by central authorities.