this housing is a mixed economic areas so that we are not isolating them and beating to other issues like food deserts and the lack of economic and social opportunity. >> when you consider mixed income, may have a homeless family living next week schoolteacher so you do not create a pocket of poverty and accepted throughout the community. >> over the next 20 years, it is predicted that the cost of housing will double that an income of zero will remain the same. if we do not work to build and sustain affordable housing, we will not only see the cost of housing double but the number of homeless people, too. >> to watch this and all winning entries, visit our website at studentcam.org. >> public health officials testified on vaccine safety systems, for the house select

subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic, an expert from the fda said the safety of covid vaccines , saying 3.2 million lives in the u.s. and more than 14 million lives around the world had been saved officials from the cdc said the vaccine safety monitoring system with the agency was the most robust of its kind ever implement it. this is 2.5 hours.

>> i want to welcome everyone here today. without objection, the chair may declare a recess at any time. before i move on to opening statements, i want to go ahead and advise members, very few here, any advice i give, i advise members and remind them of all the rules of decorum. the issues we are debating are important, that members field deeply about. i understand that. while vigorous disagreement is part of the legislative process, members are reminded that we must adhere to established standards of decorum and debate. this is a reminder that it is a violation of house rules and the rules of this committee to engage in personalities regarding other members or to question the motives of a colleague. remarks of that type are not

permitted by the rules and not in keeping with the best traditions of our committee. this is a very serious matter. the chair will enforce these rules at all times. all members should be mindful of their remarks today. if the chair finds a member to be in violation of the member will be suspended from speaking for the remainder of the proceedings. we recognize myself for the purpose of making an opening statement. good morning. vaccines are a crucial public health tool. they save millions of lives. as a physician, i have administered many doses of vaccines, especially covid-19 vaccines. in 2020, i volunteered to participate in the vaccine trials for moderna. having this hearing is not anti- vaccination and i am not anti- vaccination. i should not have to say that.

unfortunately, i do. there are people getting ready to use that very pejorative to discredit this hearing. unfortunately, with soundbites and new cycles, it seems there is little time or nuanced conversation about these topics . today, i hope we can have that nuanced conversation about process. sometimes we don't know any weaknesses in a system until it is truly tested. now is the time to safeguard for the future. in about how we can do better next time. if there are things we recognize that could have been done better. it is not a time to look at the things we did well as well. but we need to restore trust in public health. i am very concerned with the hesitancy by so many today to vaccinate their children. that is a grave concern of mine.

testified before us today are two senior officials in the post marketing vaccine systems. these systems are absolutely critical to keeping the american people safe. but also, preserving trust. and the trust of the physicians that care for patients. our witnesses will discuss how these systems work and what they can and cannot do, and the challenges that they face. that is a fair process. their testimony is important to design their assistance in the future as needed. one such system, the vaccine adverse reporting system, is perhaps the best-known of these surveillance systems. it has been the source of attention and controversy since the beginning of the covid-19 vaccine rollout . however, concerns about these data are met with dismissive replies and

they often point to the fact that it is unable to prove causality. andy contains reports of people being hit by a car after vaccination. they say that it is being misused by anti-vaccine advocates and misinformation. all legitimate concerns of the american people. this seems to ignore many legitimate concerns that have been raised, how does the government utilize this data? we want to know. during her testimony before this committee last june, the director assured us that the cdc had a responsibility to come through every single report to vaers. it is unclear if that has happened or if that is true. people who have submitted reports to vaers have told my staff they were never contacted by cdc or fda officials a

recent british medical journal investigation found this, too. it seems that both sides agreed that there was something wrong. further, while serious injuries caused by vaccines are rare, the government has assumed the responsibility to compensate for them. in doing so, vaccine manufacturers have been shielded from liability, therefore, the government has an important duty, one that is essential in preserving trust in vaccines and how we message completely and honestly about them. appearing before us today is the commander, dr. grimes, the director of injury compensation programs who oversees the countermeasures injury compensation program, cicp, and the vaccine injury compensation program. because covid-19 vaccines were purchased and distributed by the federal government under the public radios and emergency preparedness act, they are

covered under cicp whereas most other widely distributed vaccines are covered under vicp. as of january of 2024 hundred cicp has compensated 11 claims out of the more than 12,000 that have been filed for covid- 19 vaccines . because of its design, cicp payments are significant small and then vicp with an average of about $3700 compared with almost $500,000 in vicp. it appears that cicp may not be designed or equipped to handle a vaccine that was so widely distributed and mandated for many as covid-19 vaccines were. i have concerns that we would not be able to expect people to line up and get vaccinated during the next pandemic if

they feel that in some way they will be abandoned. this testimony is important, designing better systems for the future and establishing best practices. i hope this hearing will provide us with an opportunity to discuss what lessons were learned during the pandemic, about our vaccine safety and surveillance systems, these lessons i believe are critical in preparing for future pandemics. which is the mission, one of the missions, of this subcommittee. i look forward to a robust and on-topic discussion about these issues i want to thank everyone for my being here, especially our witnesses. i would like to recognize the ranking member to make an opening statement. >> thank you to the witnesses for your participation. our nations vaccine safety systems play a critical role in protecting public health, everyday scientists and doctors and public health officials

work together as part of this system to monitor the safety and efficacy of vaccines to ensure the best possible products reach the americans. their efforts have helped protect us from the threat of deadly diseases for decades. their efforts during the covid- 19 pandemic help contribute to one of the most successful vaccine rollout in history which , under the leadership of president biden, led to the country out of the depths of the pandemic. in total, these efforts saved 3.2 million lives. prevented 18.5 million hospitalizations. and saved the united states an estimated $1.15 trillion in medical costs. as a physician who went out into underserved communities to administer vaccines during the

height of the pandemic, i saw firsthand the difference these vaccines made in helping our communities overcome covid-19. at the end of the day, we were able to save so many lives, prevents so much illness, and produce a mountain of medical costs on our system because these vaccines were shown repeatedly to be safe and effective because of extensive medical data. since then, our nations robust surveillance systems and countless other studies have only reaffirmed the safety of these vaccines by monitoring for and evaluating serious adverse events, which remain rare. this system has worked well. in fact, we saw it successfully identified safety singles in vaccines during the pandemic, when it detected cases of thrombosis or tts, resulting in

the cdc and fda releasing updating recommendations for vaccine products. so, i do want to be clear that, while adverse events are rare, they are not impossible. that is why we must continue to invest in a strong and capable vaccine safety and surveillance system that is efficient in ensuring the best quality of vaccines reach the american people. that is why we must ensure that, when an adverse event does come up, people can receive the protection and compensation that they need. there is good, bipartisan work we can do on this front to strengthen the national vaccine injury compensation program and countermeasures, injury compensation program to make them more efficient. i hope that we discussed those reforms

today. today's hearing does have the potential to generate forward- looking policy solutions that improve people's lives. however, it only does so if we approach this topic with care. if we don't, i worry that we are opening a pandora's box that i fear we will not be able to close again. right now, we are already witnessing an alarming rise in overall vaccine hesitancy which has been fueled by misinformation and disinformation spread online during the last four years. as this misinformation has festered, immunization rates among americans have fallen for covid-19 , polio, measles, mumps , and rubella. this should be alarming to us all. we have already seen outbreaks of measles pop-up in under vaccinated communities in the last year, including philadelphia, and columbus.

we have already seen an additional 300,000 covid-19 deaths in the u.s. that could have been prevented if not for a growing distrust in vaccines. i worry that the politicization of minutes late -- medicine, science, vaccines will hurt us all in the end and that manufacturing of this mistrust in public health norms and institutions that we have held true for max so long will make us less prepared to combat a future pandemic. for example, republicans are already 2.4 times more likely than democrats or independents to believe that covid-19 vaccines are not safe . childhood vaccination rates are already at a historic low. we are already in the process of undoing decades of progress in overcoming infectious diseases and, unless we handle each opportunity to discuss this

with him and scare, we are hurtling towards an even more grim future. i urge for a constructive and civil conversation among us all today that focuses on strengthening our current safety and compensation programs. enhancing confidence in our public health institutions, and building a brighter, healthier future for us all. i yield back. thank you. our witnesses are dr. jernigan, director of the national center for emerging not infectious diseases at the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention. dr. peter marks, director of the center for biologics evaluation and research at the u.s. food and drug administration. commander grimes, the director of the injury compensation programs at the u.s. health

resources and services administration. pursuant to committee on oversight and accountability, the witnesses will please stand and raise their right hands. do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony that you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god? thank you. you may be seated and let the record show the witnesses all answered in the affirmative. the select subcommittee appreciates you all for being here today. we truly look forward to your testimony. let's remind the witnesses that we have read your written statements and they will appear in full in the hearing record. please limit your oral statements to five minutes as a reminder, please press the button on the microphone in front of you so that it is on and the members can hear you. when you begin to speak, the

light in front of you will turn green and after four minutes, the light will turn yellow. when the red light comes on, your five minutes has expired and we would ask that you please wrap up. i now recognize dr. marks to give an opening statement. >> chair and ranking member, members of the select subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify you and discuss the fda's covid-19 response and ongoing vaccine safety efforts. vaccines work. we know from clear and compelling evidence that vaccines save the lives of millions of children and adults every year by producing immune responses that prevent diseases such as measles, influenza, and covid-19. though they may not provide perfect protection , vaccines can often prevent the most serious consequences of disease, including hospitalization and death. the american public can rest

assured that the vaccines authorized or approved are safe and effective. the vaccine development process and the fda stringent regulatory and scientific evaluation process, and continue safety surveillance ensure that the health benefits of available approved and authorized vaccines far away any risks. regarding covid vaccines, fda helped make these critical medical countermeasures available as quickly as possible without compromising our scientific and regulatory standards. during a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic that was a public health emergency, fda scientists and employees work around the clock, cooperatively , intensively, and efficiently with researchers and manufacturers to minimize the time between the clinical development process, manufacturing scale up, and the regulatory review process.

hundreds of americans were dying from covid-19 daily at this time. and every day we can make vaccines available sooner counted. every day counted. and we made them count. between december of 2020 and may of 2023, over 270 million people received more than 675 million doses of covid-19 vaccine in the united states . including over 650 million doses of the mrna vaccines. the covid-19 vaccines have had a tremendous positive impact over the course of the pandemic globally ultimately saving millions of lives since their introduction. the vaccines continue to be among the most effective public health measures for preventing the serious consequences of covid-19. a large part of what has made this public health success possible is the deployment of sophisticated safety monitoring . in fact, covid vaccines are

the most closely monitored vaccines that have ever been rolled out in u.s. history. the safety of the approved and authorized covid-19 vaccines has been monitored by fda through passive and active safety surveillance systems in collaboration with cdc and other governmental and nongovernmental partners. fda participates in ongoing international efforts in addition to the safety surveillance efforts required the vaccine manufacturers. these surveillance tools work. in early 2021, days after passive safety surveillance reporting, to the vaccine adverse events, said six out of 6 million patients who received the covid-19 vaccine developed a rare blood clot disorder, cdc and fda said to pause it until the risk is evaluated.

another example is the detection of myocarditis occurring primarily in younger males following the use of covid-19 vaccines which led fda to modify labeling and cdc to provide advice on the mrna covid vaccines to healthcare providers about how to reduce this risk. vaccines are one of the most highly effective public health measures. the responsible for saving millions of lives every year. the benefits of available, print and authorized the scenes in the united states, when used appropriately, continue to far away any risks. staying up-to- date on vaccination has been and continues to be the best way to reduce the risk of death and serious illness or hospitalization from various infectious diseases including covid-19. thank you for the opportunity to testify today and i look forward to answering your

questions. >> i now recognize dr. jernigan . >> chairman, ranking members, distinguished members of the subcommittee, it is an honor to appear before you today to discuss the ongoing work in the cdc to monitor the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. i serve as the director of the national center for emerging infectious diseases including cdc's immunization safety office. cdc works to protect against public health threats through prevention, detection, and response vaccines are a cornerstone of that work. they have played a leading role in eradicating smallpox, eliminating poliovirus from the united states, and averting millions of illnesses and deaths from childhood vaccines. during that covid-19 public health emergency , over 676

million doses of covid-19 vaccines were administered in the u.s. , estimating to stop millions of hospitalizations and deaths. these successes have made possible by shared commitment to ensure vaccines are safe. as such, vaccine safety monitoring is a top priority for cdc and we collaborate closely with fda and other partners. we utilize multiple data systems and a complementary and layered approach to detect possible safety signals, investigate them rigorously, and act promptly when appropriate. the vaccine adverse event reporting system, or vaers, is a system where individuals and healthcare providers and manufacturers can report adverse events following vaccination that may need to be investigated further. vaers is not designed to determine if a vaccine caused a reported event. rather, an early warning system where we evaluate reports of serious adverse events and use

complementary systems to further analyze potential safety concerns. these other systems include the vaccine safety datalink which uses electronic health records from robust analysis and the clinical immunization safety assessment project. it offers consultation to providers on patient adverse events. during that covid-19 response, cdc established a smart phone app where individuals could report health impacts after vaccination. we also established a covid-19 vaccine pregnancy registry to monitor pregnancy following vaccination. cdc is committed to transparency and regularly sharing information on vaccine safety with our federal and state partners. in addition, there have been more than 30 public meetings of the advisory committee on immunization practices featuring research on covid-19 vaccine safety and effectiveness.

this approach to safety monitoring works. i will share two examples with you to underscore the comments by dr. marks. the first, during the first six weeks of the johnson & johnson vaccine being authorized for use, cdc identified six cases of very rare but life-threatening blood clot through vaers. it identified a causal relationship between the johnson & johnson vaccine and the blood clot, cdc and fda acted within days to quickly inform clinicians and the public, convening an emergency meeting of the advisory committee and recommending a pause in administering the johnson & johnson vaccine. further investigation led to preferential recommendations for mrna: vaccines -- covid vaccines are currently the johnson & johnson vaccine is not available in u.s. it's myocarditis is the second example, in april 2021, we reported higher myocarditis following covid vaccine,

primarily in young men through vaers. after confirming this and using the safety datalink, cdc quickly updated clinical considerations while continuing to recommend covid-19 vaccination . further research has shown that the risk of myocarditis is substantially lower following vaccination than following infection. as these examples show, vaccine safety monitoring by cdc and our partners is rigorous and transparent. the data continues to show that staying up-to-date on covid-19 vaccines is an effective and safe way to prevent a severe illness, hospitalization, and death. the development in administration of covid-19 vaccines is a remarkable and scientific achievement. after the most robust and comprehensive safety monitoring in our history, the science shows we should all have confidence that covid-19 vaccines are both safe and effective i appreciate the

opportunity to discuss the cdc vaccine effort and yield. >> commander grimes? >> good morning. thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today about the work of the health resources and services administration's injury compensation programs. i am commander rhymes, director of the division that oversees both the countermeasures injury compensation program, cicp, and the national vaccine injury compensation program. the public readiness in emergency permit is act of 2005 created the cicp to provide compensation for serious physical injury or death directly caused by the administration or use of a covered countermeasure. it has received approximately 13,000 claims alleging that covid-19 countermeasure injury filed with the cicp since the

declaration in 2020. of these, roughly 9600 alleged covid-19 vaccines as the covered countermeasure. for context, the program received about 500 claims over its 10 year history before covid-19. injuries are rare come in the claims we ever see for covid-19 vaccines represent a small fraction , less than 0.01% of all covid-19 vaccine administration's in this country, the caseload for the cicp is higher than in 2020. when i became director in december of 2021, i immediately focused on the need to increase the capacity of the cicp to process claims . it sets a high evidence standard for an individual to be compensated by the cicp. by law, they are required to establish the covered countermeasure directly caused a covered injury which must be determined taste on compelling,

reliable, valid, medical and scientific evidence. as a result, the cicp conducts medical reviews of each cicp claim to determine if it meets the statutory standard . this detailed review includes an iterative process of obtaining and reviewing comprehensive medical documentation from cicp requesters and closely reviewing and monitoring the medical literature. for compensable claims, the cicp must also collect detailed financial information given that the program, by statute, can provide compensation only after other third-party payers. at the time of the prep act declaration, the cicp had no direct appropriation and only four staff, we requested a congress provided a direct appropriation for the first time in the history of the program in fiscal year 2022. with these monies, we have increased hiring and now have over 35 full-time staff working to process claims.

we have also implemented other key process improvements to resolve claims at a faster rate. in 2023, we average more than 90 claims resolved each month, up from zero per month the year before i started in this role. additionally, we are improving information technology and other communication channels with requesters. while the program is made significant improvements, there is more to be done. the president's fiscal year 2024 budget requested $15 million to operate the cicp. with these funds, we will continue to increase our capacity to analyze and resolve claims, including through increased staffing and infrastructure improvements. we are committed to working with congress to meet the resource needs of the program and increase the rate of cicp claim resolutions . the cicp is also in the process of establishing an injury table for covid-19 vaccine injuries that are

presumed to be directly caused by the uncovered countermeasure. to establish this table, hhs must meet the high evidence standard set by congress. the injury table is another tool that will allow us to streamline the claims review process and more expeditiously addressed requests. finally, i wanted to address the national vaccine injury compensation program, or vicp. the vicp was established under a different statute, the national childhood vaccine injury act of 1986. for a vaccine to be covered under the vicp, conditions must be met, a recommendation from the cicp -- from the cdc for routine administration to children or pregnant individuals and the vaccine must be subject to an excise tax. covid-19 vaccines currently do not qualify for vicp coverage which would require congressional action. we are diligently carrying out these programs at hrsa as

directed by congress . thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss our work and we look forward to continuing to work with congress on these critically important programs. >> thank you all very much for your testimony. i recognize myself for questions. i want to say a couple things before we start i want everyone to understand, especially those serving on the government side. public perception becomes reality. because of that, words matter. words matter and, for those of us, members of congress, physicians at home, we are face- to-face with people. we are sitting face to face with somebody. not looking at data on a sheet and making decisions. it needs to be done, what you are doing, but there is a difference. that is why i say, words matter. i will give you an example.

when you say safe and effective , that is relative in your mind. it is relative in your mind it is not to the person at home. they hear 100% safe, 100% effective. that is what they hear. this is why words matter. dr. fauci even said no treatment is 100% safe. yet, that is what people hurt and are still hearing today. we have to change that the doctor on the ground or the member of congress on the ground, is one-on-one with somebody and explained that to them, hopefully. yes, this vaccine saved hundreds of thousands of lives, i will advocate for that anytime and that is why i was for emergency use, people were dying and we knew from the trials it could save lives and keep people out of the hospital.

we also know you could still get covid. we never really heard that from the federal level. we just heard, it is safe and effective. now, we have a society that thinks that the polio vaccine and the other vaccines are not necessarily safe and effective. the way they have been. we never explained mrna technology being different from the technology of the other vaccines that have been around forever. you lump them together. when people come to my office to tell me, i had an adverse event of some type, i am one-on- one with them, not just something on a piece of paper. so, words matter. that is one of the things i want to stress, across the board , from the subcommittee at the end of the day. early on, i will tell you, i

said to the secretary, america needs to be hearing from the doctors treating covid patients . not the politician. who says if donald trump makes this vaccine, i am not taking it. is that helpful? we need to be hearing from the doctors treating covid patients, the doctors administering the vaccines, the doctors tried to save lives. that is who the public needed to hear from. we have to be careful with our words. dr. jernigan , you gave the caveat, you said, it kept you from being hospitalized or dying , in most cases, especially if you were the most vulnerable. i appreciated that that is the messaging we have to have going forward. i am grateful we live in a country that has the systems in place because they are there to protect the american people and

to provide for better health in america. but there is ways we can do better. that is what i want to talk about. i will start by asking this question about vaccine safety from surveillances, each of you, dr. marks, dr. jernigan, is any pharmaceutical 100% safe? >> thank you very much for that question. no pharmaceutical is 100% safe. even the water is not 100% safe, if you drink too much on a hot day you can die from complications of water poisoning. well said. >> as clinicians, we understand no medical device is 100% free. >> there is a reason we have a compensation program.

>> yes, sir. a reason for the compensation program and we are dedicated to diligently carrying it out and i cannot say anything better than my colleagues. >> thank you. it is important we properly surveil for these inevitable injuries. unfortunately inevitable injuries, no matter how many or how few. would you agree, dr. marks? >> chair, i agree fully, if we want to maintain confidence in the vaccines and the other medical products that we authorize or approve, we must have robust safety surveillance systems in place. >> dr. jernigan? >> we need those complementary, layered , and comprehensive and multiple vaccine safety monitoring systems. >> dr. grimes? >> i could not agree more. >> i agree with that. do you feel that what we currently have is sufficient? i don't

mean that in an adversarial way , i mean, what are the things we could do better? as i said, sometimes it takes something like a pandemic to recognize where we can do better. in the vein of surveillance system being sufficient, any ideas you can add to that? >> chair, thank you for that question. i believe we had very good safety surveillance mechanisms in place that included overlapping systems, passive and active systems. i do believe we could do better. i think there were challenges in getting data in real time. that limited us in our ability to understand what was happening on the ground. hopefully, we can work better together with the individual states to have a more unified safety surveillance system

should this ever happen again or , for that matter, on an ongoing basis for our medical products. >> thank you. dr. jernigan ? >> about the pandemic, the most intensive vaccine safety monitoring in u.s. history. we really see the benefits of having a robust vaccine safety monitoring system and sustaining that will be a critical feature for us moving forward. >> dr. grimes? >> i would defer to my colleagues to my right, they are the experts in that field. >> one of the things, as i met with you will individually, it occurred to me in hearing the concerns, especially since the pandemic came on quickly, you had workforce challenges, if you will, understandably considering that. and every component of what you do. one of the ideas i have, i am

an army reservist. one of the ideas i have, we have a reserve component to these categories of interest where we can call up experts in the field that can handle the increased load during a pandemic to me, that would aid our national security and our national health security. it is just a thought but i would love to get your opinions. you have faced many challenges but the overload of what took place. dr. marks? >> sorry, chair wenstrup, thank you. when the pandemic happened, the fda were dealing with our usual files, many vaccines that are important for everyday life, measles vaccine, et cetera, so we did not have a cadre of

people to just move over and we had to pull people to work on the covid-19 vaccines and many of them had to learn how to deal with emergency use authorization. i could not agree with you more, if we had a group of people ready to move over, very familiar with emergency use authorization, and able to quickly move to reviewing vaccines in a pandemic setting, that would greatly help us in the future. >> thank you dr. jernigan? >> as was pointed out, the workforce come in public health, at the local and tribal level, at the cdc, we have an aging workforce and we need more public health people working in the field. at cdc, we are acting as a response agency and we are not structured that way. so having additional ways to quickly mobilize people to stand up

systems quickly and implement innovation very rapidly, that requires a robust workforce that we need going forward. >> thank you for the question. in the cicp , at the beginning of the pandemic, we had four staff, as i mentioned in opening comments, we needed to scale up to do the volume of work that is something we look for in the future, opportunities and strategies to optimize scalability and flexibility to perform the essential functions of our critical programs. >> i appreciate that. as somebody who has endured mass casualty events, you know, you have to be prepared for that , at least have the call up ability to do that. that is something i hope we can look into as a congress. to consider that type of reserve workforce. that is ready to go on day one. as of february of 2024, vaers

reports for covid-19 vaccine, total significant higher than all other vaccines combined since 1990. as reported. this is a surprising figure, dr. marks, was the government prepared for such an avalanche of reports regarding vaers? >> chair wenstrup, thank you, i apologize about your name, when you are nervous, things can happen. the point is well taken, we try to be prepared for that, but the avalanche of reports was tremendous. again, it will quite re-tasking people on the fly to -- i will let mike cdc colleague speak to this, we had to staff up and had many meetings, working to increase our ability to go through these reports, because, as you mentioned, what the public sees on the public -- on the public

vaers page , is a small fraction of the information we collect and go through, that is very important to determining whether an adverse event is truly related to the vaccine. one of the criticisms we often receive, we do not make the additional information available and, i would say, it is a challenge, what we have learned, it is challenging to make available essentially protected health information because, if you have a zip code that someone was pregnant, someone in akron, ohio, they were pregnant and they had covid , you could potentially re-identify them. this is one of the challenges we face in making available information. i think we would like to work to make the most information available as possible. >> do you have any concept, dr. marks, as far as this number, you know, childhood vaccines,

they are spaced out? this was a vaccine that was being administered -- to a larger swath of the population? was the number higher? but maybe the same per capita? does that make sense? >> our seasonal influenza campaigns often administer about 150 million doses over the course of a number of months. here, we had millions of doses ruled out -- rolled out on top of each other at a tremendously rapid rate. in addition, we encourage people, being part of the emergency use authorization process, we were encouraging safety reporting because we felt we needed to know any potential adverse event so we can try to investigate and find out if there was something we were missing. >> did you have anything to say? i recognize dr. ruiz .

>> today, this hearing is at a pivotal time in the ongoing efforts to fortify declining vaccine confidence. one of the greatest public health challenges of our time. i agree with the chairman, words matter. what we say today will have significant ramifications on whether millions of americans will continue to place their trust in safe and effective vaccines including the covid-19 vaccine. before i get to my question, i want to enter into the record, a letter the select subcommittee received from more than 50 medical and public health organizations and experts before the hearing today. here you go. >> without objection. >> this letter, led by fax to your family and signed by a broad coalition that includes the american academy of

pediatrics, the association of state and territorial health officials, the national association of county and city health officials, the american public health association, the american heart association, doctors for america, and many more, they warn us of the potential damage that could be done if today's hearing fails to handle the subject of vaccine safety carefully and without bias. this morning, a group of six leading medical societies representing more than 560,000 physicians issued a joint statement with a similar warning , calling on the select subcommittee to "acknowledge the overwhelming evidence based science and recognize how covid- 19 vaccines protect and save millions of lives." i would like to enter the statement into the record. >> without objection. >> as a physician and ranking

member of this select subcommittee, i want to ensure that the conversation today is rooted in the facts. while delivering effective covid-19 vaccines to the american people at a historic pace, our federal public health officials went to painstaking links to evaluate their safety. they are continuing to do so. dr. marks, your division of the fda is responsible for evaluating clinical trial data to authorize and approve products, including the covid- 19 vaccine could you please explain the rigorous standards the fda has followed in its authorization and approval process to the covid-19 vaccines? >> thank you so much for that question , ranking member ruiz. the covid-19 vaccines , before we started to receive data, we put forth guidance, first in april and subsequently in october of 2020 which described

our expectations for the safety and efficacy of these vaccines. that is the standard we would use before we issue an emergency use authorization. for the initial emergency use authorization, it required manufacturing data that was equal to what we would have or nearly equal to what we would have required for a biologics license application and we required effectiveness data that was near or equal to what we would have required for a biologics license application. we could not speed up time. in order to get the vaccines to people in need, when thousands of people were dying, we actually allowed the safety to be authorized with just two months of immediate follow-up rather than the normal six to 12 , but were confident that would capture adverse events. we had good safety data.

when we did the biologics license application, we go through very large data sets. the pfizer vaccine had 43,000 people involved in clinical trials, about 22,000 people had received the vaccine initially and thousands more received it after six months. we went through tremendous data and look at the adverse events, looking at the effectiveness data. that plus looking carefully at the manufacturing. >> what has the clinical trial data shown regarding the safety of the covid-19 vaccines? >> the safety of the covid-19 vaccines includes that there were some initial discomfort, potentially in the arm, fatigue that could happen rarely more serious side effects, we identified myocarditis and rare allergic reactions. thankfully, by putting mitigation strategies in place, both of those have been decreased in occurrence.

>> dr. jernigan, you operate surveillance systems that detect adverse health effects, mild or serious. could you please explain the multi tiered system that cdc has in place to monitor for safety concerns regarding vaccines that have been brought to market? >> thank you for the question. like i said, putting through the most intensive vaccine safety monitoring in the u.s. history, that includes five different systems at cbc the first is the vaccine reporting system we talked about, an open door to get those reports. the second is the vaccine safety data link, a very large electronic health records, about 13.5 million records where we look for trends. we have a legacy monitoring system. the smartphone enabled app. and

a clinician immunization safety assessment program where we have medical experts that can provide input into the safety monitoring. that system has been tremendous in us being able to follow what is going on with vaccine issues so far, with the vaccine safety data link, there are lower rates of death in those vaccinated compared to the nonvaccinated. there are lower rates of cardiac complications compared to those that have been unvaccinated. what we are looking for in that vaers system and other systems is for signals of things that may be a problem we need to follow up on. this process works. we were able to find six cases of a blood clot problem, a very rare problem but we identified it very early and communicated that to clinicians and communicate that and follow the science-based process that we

have in cdc. the science is evaluated and the data analyzed and provided to the advisory committee for immunization practices and the committee advises and provides it to the director to decide that science-based process is what we have been following, utilizing the data. >> let's talk about vaers. a system where individuals can report their symptoms that they believe may be associated with the vaccine. how do you determine if it is a problem associated with the vaccine or not associate with the vaccine? >> vaers is a front door -- >> a screening mechanism? >> correct. >> anything that may be associated with the vaccine, we have a lot of reports that may not exactly be associated with the vaccine but a process for reviewing those every serious adverse event in vaers is

followed up on medical records are collected and autopsy records are collected to identify that. we do not use vaers to determine if an adverse event is caused by the vaccine. we do not use it to look at trends about whether the vaccine is more common and -- we use different data sets to do that. >> one cannot subscribe the data from vaers to being the actual rate of death or serious illness because that is a initial screening, and then, the investigation that occurs afterwards will determine whether it was in fact related to the vaccine or not? there are cases, for example, where death was reported, you found that it was not because of the vaccine, correct?

>> correct. a hospice patient, more vulnerable people we do want to get vaccinated they may have had a standing order of do not resuscitate. that patient may die two days after the vaccine. it may not be associated with the vaccine. there are reports of vehicle injury in people who have been vaccinated. there are reports of family members who died caring for a vaccinated patient but the death was not in the vaccinated patient, so, there are a number of those reports. we want to say, what is the impact of those vaccines? we look at other data sets to get that information. >> as i mentioned in my opening statement, this rigorous surveillance system has demonstrated its effectiveness for the covid-19 vaccines, detecting exceedingly rare cases of thrombosis in patients

who received the johnson & johnson vaccine. dr. jernigan, explained how the detection of these cases reflects the effectiveness of cdc approaches vaccine safety surveillance system. >> these indicates that the process works. we mentioned the j&j vaccine and the tts, they picked up myocarditis and show the risk of getting it is much lower among those vaccinated that among those who were not vaccinated. it is even a system we have picked up signals that turned out not to be signals. ischemic stroke, it can occur and we picked up a

thank you for that question. we evaluated the j&j vaccine. this was being outside of the united states. we had a similar issue. we look at the totality of that data. this is from the patient's action, not making the first line of the vaccine to be used. this is part of that particular vaccine. it was desirable. >> in this instance, we are detecting rare but serious adverse events. this is to best protect these patients to. is that correct?

>> we are trying to do that action taken to address it. this is the safety of the broad university. >> i think what we see in back safety, is confusing for the public sometimes. i was trying to listen to very weak signals. sometimes, you need to turn up the game. we are looking at the vaccine safety surveillance system. sometimes, we hear things. we have the game turned up high. we are evaluating signals that have been detected. this is different whether they turn out to be just a

statistical anomaly. >> i am not a doctor. i'm looking at the specificity. we are trying to detect this as much as we can. >> this is the doctors language. sorry. this is the idea. indeed, it is a very sensitive system. we are trying to make sure that it is truly related to the vaccine. thank you. >> all of my colleagues are going to heed the warnings ahead of today's hearings. they have saved millions of lives. they are looking at the most significant public health interventions of our time. this is not something that should be undermined. i yield back.

>> i recognize the chairman of the full committee. >> thank you. mr. chairman. we have some safety signals that were available. pfizer submitted the full approval application. may 18th, 2021. correct? >> that is correct. >> january 22, required action. >> you work with dr. phil krause. you work with them on this. thank you. >> pfizer submitted the application. they oversaw the approval process. according to the testimonies, they believed that they should improve the vaccine faster than eight months. this is the end of october 2021. this is september 15th, 2021.

they hesitated and obliged. you wanted it approved even faster than september 15th. according to them, the new fda commissioner, this part of the substantial pressure. approving the vaccine faster than what was defensible. >> this is what is going on for that summer. >> this is within the week ending august 14th. 9406 deaths. increasing number of deaths

from covid-19. the improved vaccine would help americans feel more comfortable getting vaccinated. we are looking at the approval process. >> did anyone instruct you? is this a decision that you made on your own? >> this is a decision that i have made on my own. >> we are pressuring the doctors and removing them from the approval process. the approval process was needed to move as rapidly as possible. >> i'm improving this, for the order of this to be embedded. >> there was the acknowledgment that the approval could allow the vaccine mandates to occur.

they were not looking at it since that. the doctor wrote that you and the other dr. expressed her opinion. >> once you have a license, they can put this in place. >> we are expressing concern. >> they were concerned about the workload. this is what the doctor wrote. >> this is especially in young men. >> we had safety signals.

>> this is the conversation. you needed from the vaccine approval statement from the department of defense. >> did anyone else of the fda have conversations for the vaccine approval with department of defense? >> i was just not aware of it. >> did you desire and express your approval of the vaccine? >> i did. >> this was obviously to october 23rd, right? >> correct. >> this was issued on the 24th. that is interesting timing. it is it. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

this is towards the critical public health actions. vaccines have saved lives and reduce the threat of deadly diseases from polio, to meals, to covid-19. we have immunization levels across the board. we are trying to respond to public health threats in the future. this is washington, d.c., looking at exposure from the airport. we have strengthened the vaccine systems. we are approaching people with compassion. making sure that the questions are answered honestly.

this breaks through some of the noise, by the way. during the height of the pandemic, we are looking past the american rescue plan. we are trying to look at increased vaccines. they are transparent to rely on that information about vaccine safety and development. >> i would like to get your thoughts short. how does the cdc work to provide people with timely, accurate information, regarding vaccine safety? >> we are committed to transparency. we regularly shared the vaccine safety. this is through different communication methods that we have. this includes media, et cetera. >> it is important that people

know about the known side effects of the vaccine. we know the events that will occur after vaccination. we are trying to get them after a swine flu shot. i was mandated and assured that it was safe and effective. it was obviously neither. i have been scared to death to get the covid vaccine. this is accurate information from physicians at u of m. some of them may not have been qualified. they are reassuring the safety of the covid-19 vaccine. i finally did get it. fortunately, i'm still here giving everybody a hard time. ultimately, i have supported president joe biden's administration, to increase vaccine uptake . systems that we are discussing today, working to ensure that adverse events could be detected, and

meaningfully addressed. can you please speak to the ways in which the cdc is looking for information, regarding rare applications that could be regarded from covid-19's, including other vaccines? >> we are looking at all of the systems that we monitor. we are trying to communicate that to the general public to healthcare providers. providing that to the advisory committee. this is what can be changed. we are committed to transparency. we have provided information and risk analysis. this is at 30 different meetings over the last three years. people can understand. >> do you think doctors are getting it? what steps do you think congress should do to support these efforts? for example, what comprehensive funding from congress plays in the cdc's ability to operate the surveillance programs?

>> it is really that connection between healthcare provider, and the patient. we are looking at the understanding that has come from them many times. we have safety systems right now, one level before the pandemic, or very high level in terms of the activities that we are doing. we are not meeting to where we are going back before. we need to sustain those systems, and get the most information about safety. >> in the rare instances when something does go awry, people need to know. is protection and compensation available to them if they needed a quick how do these programs work to adjudicate whatever's possible? >> thank you for that question. the csc p is required statute

to make a determination based on the compelling, reliable ballot. this is including scientific evidence. a serious physical injury or death was directly called by the countermeasure. we have at least three events from the practice providers that were looking at the used claims. this is reviewed to ensure that this is going to meet within the statutes set by congress. >> i hope that we all will work together to make sure that people are going to keep the confidence in. vaccines prevent death ultimately. >> i recognize her from new york. >> thank you, mr. chairman, for holding this hearing on the vaccine safety combinations. they are taking time to share their expertise with us today. march 2020, our world experienced a profound, undeniable shift. this included both fear and uncertainty. in an extraordinary trial of

science and innovation, the vaccine was developed in record time. this helped promise a protection and return to normalcy. subsequent actions from overstating vaccine efficacy, to the implementation of mandates and suppression of open scientific debate, eroded public trust. these decisions left lingering questions about vaccine safety, sparking valid concerns and unfounded fears. we were trying to monitor the vaccine relations that were forcing injuries. we are starting to rebuild trust. they really are oftentimes lifesavers.

we are looking at the injuries that have been compensated for. this is going to be going with the zodiac sign. >> this is what we have looked at for a long time. it is time to really get back to what is in my heart. i want to be in there serving people, creating a community. creating the atmosphere. the way i see it, this is a place where we can have a marathon. >> we are vaccinating individuals, versus nonvaccinated individuals. some of that work has now been published. it leads us to understand that

the first covid-19 vaccine is giving two or three doses a couple of weeks apart. this is the younger age range of males. 1-20,000 individuals. they got myocarditis. now, with the spacing of the vaccines, that risk is almost undetectable. it was a recent study published. this is within the general pediatrics. 3 million individuals ages five to 17 years. they had received 5.9 million vaccine doses. really, it only confirmed what we had seen. this was a signal only after the primary vaccination series was included. 12 to 17 years of age. now, the signal is not being seen more recently.

it is something about how to deploy the vaccines. this is why the cdc is turning it over to dr. jernigan, to look at how it was being used. >> quickly answer that. >> from the vaccine safety, we are also looking at other systems that we continue to audit. >> safety surveillance on those early covid-19 vaccines. are there specific health markers that we are studying to make it different for requiring inquiries? >> we are starting back. it goes back to 2020. in some cases, these are different windows. this from the beginning period. he can speak for cdc in that

regard. >> it really demonstrates 1 million times less to get myocarditis. >> not just myocarditis, everything. >> as more time passes, the fda is actively conducting this. this is early covid-19 vaccines. >> these are the reports that we get. >> this is in terms of monitoring these overtime. >> one at a time. thank you very much. >> we recognize this chairman for five minutes. >> thank you so much for our witnesses to be here today. i want to address the record for some misrepresentations

that have been heard. regarding the covid-19 vaccine, the vaccine safety systems were here broadly. listening in today's hearing, one might be led to believe that reports submitted to the vaccine at first, has the fed reporting system. these are the most reportable meaningful measures of most adverse events. the should be the sole purpose for evaluating whether the covid-19 vaccines are safe. we just have one surveillance program. this is within a multilayered vaccine safety system that the cdc operates. this is unverified. this can be submitted by anyone, regardless of how likely a vaccine is to have created an adverse effect. it can add as early warnings to prompt deeper investigations

through this other surveillance program. is that correct? dr. jernigan? >> yes. this is a system for hitting information in. this is not the data set that we are using for the causality of the impact. >> can you explain in more detail how this is going to prompt a deeper investigation through the other safety surveillance programs within the cdc? >> over the last several years, they have different doses of vaccine that have been administered. this is a seemingly rare number of adverse applicants. we have a serious low number of adverse events incorporated read they are asking for medical records and autopsy records. we utilize them in different systems. this is a safety assessment program that can evaluate some of the findings.

we have other data sets that really tell us if there is an increased signal across the general population. >> thank you for that. for the reason that she just explained, it seems that the data on its own, it is not a strong basis for evaluating causality. doing so, does require this multilayered approach. is that a crack? >> correct. >> how far are you into the multilayered approach for the covid vaccines? >> these are the systems that we have used. they are ongoing. we are looking at the advisory committees. >> okay. just to be abundantly clear, using the data exclusively to make claims about covid vaccines, is causing the adverse health effects. this would be flawed? >> that is not intended to determine what the vaccine is doing to cause a -- an adverse

effect. >> thank you very much. my colleagues have attempted to distort an email that you sent july 2021, regarding the authorization of pfizer boosters. they claim this is evidence of political interference that undermined the nation safety in favor of expediting the timeline for this product. i would like to give you an opportunity to correct the record on the misrepresentations of the email that has been made. i have 1:15. it is all yours. >> thank you so much for the opportunity. congressman, at the time, these boosters were authorized just before we had an increasing number of deaths. starting to run in the 1000 per day in the united dates. there was great urgency to

think about what we can do to try to reduce the number of deaths. potentially, giving a booster, could restore community, and decrease the number of deaths. with all due haste, not because of any kind of external pressure, but because of internal pressure. we felt compelled to try to save american lives. thousands of people were dying. operation warp speed. they are finding efficiencies to move forward. it was critical to move as fast as we could. we are showing the introduction of that, which was probably responsible for saving hundreds of thousands of lives. thank you. >> thank you so much for that explanation. mr. chairman, i yield back.

>> to arizona, for five minutes. >> thank you all for being here. we spoke over the phone. august 10th, 2021. i was asking about that. i had lots of constituents reaching out to me. saying that there were tons of adverse effects. they had thousands of deaths. et cetera. they were very concerned. i asked how many were confirmed. at that time, you said four. four cases that you confirmed the deaths. this was caused by the vaccine. i suggested that the cdc and fda do a better job of telling the public not just how many cases were reported, but how many had actually been confirmed. recently, we do want to give out too much information. this is because of privacy

rights. certainly, we can put out how many were confirmed. couldn't we? >> congressman, thank you so much for that question. i fully agree with you, that we have probably not done a good enough job at communicating. sometimes, the actual numbers of deaths, we just felt great at this hearing. there are only handfuls. i will ask dr. jernigan to comment on this. we can actually associate it. >> can i ask why you haven't done it? >> august 2021. it seems very logical to me that if you are saying the people in the public shouldn't count on theirs, because anyone can report on that, which they can, why wouldn't you as actively report to the public what we are confirming with this really low number of cases? this is actually caused by vaccines. it is years now. why haven't you done it? >> we presented that in various

settings. the advisory committee and communication practices, it was mentioned that the advisory committee perhaps, did not go as broad as you wanted. >> is there an easy place for the public to find a perspective? we had a link back in 2021. it was difficult to get to if i remember right. why not spend the time? if the goal is to give confidence to people, getting vaccines, why in the world would you not say that? we have investigated these deaths. we have only found a handful. it doesn't make any sense to me. i want to continue. i only have a sharp -- short period of time. one of my former constituents, from surprise, arizona, steve winger worked for a company that forced and mandated him to

receive the covid vaccine in may 2025. we got the vaccine within a month of receiving it. he was in the hospital paralyzed from his neck down. he spent over three months in the hospital, and was eventually diagnosed with a different syndrome. the doctor has said on his medical stuff, it was likely caused from the vaccine. he continues to struggle with his injuries today, because he was forced to take an experimental vaccine at the urging of the health agencies. his injury was reported. we are filing the claim about two years ago. not even a form letter.

maybe my office to give you his name, so that you can at least respond. this is a claim from two years ago. also, we had in new york men that suffered from hoh after his covid vaccine. his initial report was classified as life-threatening. the second report filed after his death, was classified as hospitalized. this is the second report, looking at a fatality. instructed to file another report. this is a condolence letter from the cdc. the fatality was may 2021. this was received in december 2022. the families and the automated message at the end of 2023, to update their report on his condition. the family has been very distressed by the lack of

proper investigations done. this included the classification that he has actually died. all i'm saying, we have increased the number from four personnel to 35. the person died. it says they are hospitalized. if with that, i yield back. >> i recognize the ranking member of the full committee. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> maybe this is the vaccine in general. >> 3.2 million lives.

globally, the covid-19 vaccines have globally saved 40 million lives. >> we have gone through covid- 19. >> i kept the daily record of the number of people dying. this got up to 3300. this is a world trade center disaster. former president donald trump's former white house correspondence coordinator, we have missteps and mistakes. made by the administration's pending response. this is costing american lives. one of the points that you have to make, the public health response of the federal government, makes a huge difference, with the outcomes for their health. >> i would agree with that.

>> whether it is measles, tuberculosis, covid-19, we are saving lives into aggregate. >> i think that by definition, -- definition, there has to be overwhelming evidence that many lives are saved. by profile, it has to be excellent. >> dr. jernigan, this is one of the things that we have looked at. we have political and social conflict. it is the inevitable fact that you can look at vaccines that are saving a huge number of lives. as they just testified, if a small number of cases are happening, we have adverse

results. the people that suffer them are understandably very accepting -- upset about that. is this going to be listed with all vaccines? >> this is risk-free. >> i can remember a family member who suffered an adverse reaction to any vaccine, measles, tb, covid-19. i hadn't gotten it in the first place. they would have been told not to get it. if we just said to everybody, there is a tiny number of people who suffered the adverse result, we know a lot more people are going to suffer because of it. is that a basic problem but you are wrestling with in your field?

>> correct. anytime we are talking about public health measures, is the way that we communicate that is very important. >> have you detected anything at the cdc? this is the appropriateness of the cdc original and continuing recommendation. people should get vaccinated against covid-19. >> i have dedicated my life to public health. i care about protecting americans. the covid vaccine is safe and effective. we have systems in place that have protected certain singles -- signals. >> would you agree that the covid-19 vaccine and the rollout from president joe biden's administration, has been one of the greater

achievements of modern science? >> in the last four years, we have had a once-in-a-lifetime event that was forcing an incredible response from all of us. the use of vaccines has been a remarkable achievement for us all. >> there is a paper that someone sent to me. excess death rates for democrats and republicans during the covid-19 pandemic from the national bureau of economic research. this makes the point that there had been substantially higher tax rates -- death rates. these have been credited to vaccine hesitancy. i would like to submit this for the record. have we ever seen a case like this in the past where there are parts and differences in people's willingness to get a vaccine? we have death rates rising from

such differences. >> we are pulling out the importance of us getting into some folks within the vaccine. >> thank you very much. i will send it back, mr. chairman. >> i recognize mr. green from georgia. this is about a judgment. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i have a phd in recognizing [ bleep ] when i hear it. we know early on, everyone knew, the people that were at risk of hospitalization, dying of covid, or those that were obese, had diabetes, were over the age of 65, and we knew that children were at no risk. practically zero risk of being hospitalized from covid-19. we knew that young, healthy people were not at risk. however, you rushed through this process of authorizing these vaccines, even though you knew the side effects, and you knew about the studies.

let's be real about the situation that you had. let's talk about the reports. some people are trying to belittle these up reports. this is from people that died. people that got injured. in the middle of december, this is the first vaccine that was approved. this was the emergency youth. 10,596 reports in less than one month. 2021, 706,767 reports were looking at vaccine injuries and deaths. 2022, 206,676. 2023, it went going down. the mandates stopped. let's talk a little bit more about the vaccines. we have reports, deaths,

18,372. permanent disability, 17,842. hospitalizations, 86,452. emergency room office visits, 315,048. serious adverse events, 130,449. this is from the congressional research service about that. all kinds of injuries. we have miscarriages, -- heart attacks, permanent disability, neurological problems. it goes on and on. these are the reports from people being forced to take vaccines. it should not have happened. mr. grimes. i have just told you the numbers of reports. however, there are only 10,640 of these covid-19 claims, that are currently pending, or in review. as of january 1st, 2024, they

only compensated 11 of the 40 -- let's make that number clear. only 11 people have been compensated. only 11 people have been compensated. out of the 40 covid-19 claims they determined were eligible, only 40 were determined eligible. that is amazing. the average award was 3000 $700. on the other hand, the average payout over the last 35 years is approximately $490,000. if you die or get injured from the covid-19 vaccine, your average payout is $3700. i would like to recognize someone in the room that is here today. she has met with you. she has met privately with you about her vaccine injuries.

she participated in a clinical trial. she was injured, then she was dropped from the trial for the covid-19 vaccines. her medical expenses are $433,000 per year. she filed with c icp. she has gotten a response. can you raise your hand? thank you. perhaps you could meet with her at this meeting. you admitted to her, vaccine injuries are real. you rushed through the authorization. now, you have authorized that children should receive these vaccines, and even babies as young as six months old. that is shameful. i am not asking you a question. i'm going to continue speaking. this is my time. the national institute of health, also saw her neural

complications that have been quite severe. they studied her, then i dropped the study and asked her to be quiet about it. these are the real stories of the vaccine injuries. they were completely wiped off of social media. there have been thousands of peer-reviewed medical studies. thousands of them. studying vaccine injuries. people are dying. people are having heart attacks and strokes. many other countries are dropping the covid-19 vaccine, and saying that we shouldn't give them to children. it is time to be honest about the vaccine. we need to stop allowing these covid-19 vaccines to be given out to children. >> the ladies time has expired. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm sorry you had to go through

that. that was a lot of conspiracy theories and wild accusations. we know they have been debunked by medical science. we should be clear that vaccines work and save lives. they have billions of lives in this country. it is unfortunate that we are having this hearing trying to poke holes, and cause more vaccine hesitancy among the public. we know that we are here because committee members have demanded that we have these hearings. we can continue to cave and give those members everything that they want. we also know that we have a member of this committee that just actually made some comments on social media, demanding that we hold this exact same hearing. this is the same person that we know, has on countless posts, spread misinformation, encouraged parents to review vaccines for children. we are preparing and comparing this to the holocaust. within the public record, i'm

not saying that anything is in it. a member of this committee actually said, the same person is attempting vaccines. vaccinated employees, looking at a vaccination logo, forced jewish people to wear a gold star. i want to read that again. vaccinated employees getting vaccination logos, forced jewish people to wear a gold star. that is the level of insanity that we are having as we actually debate lives saved around vaccinations. sc member has promoted hearings, targeting people of specific races. i quote, has caused a turbo cancer. i want to review this quote. this is at a public hearing. have the covid vaccines resulted in increasing cancers?

are turbo cancers real? mr. chairman, in my opinion, this is insanity. we know that is not the case. covid vaccines, with a cause turbo cancers? >> this is board certified. i don't know what a turbo cancer is. this was first used in a paper. mouse experiments, describing inflammatory responses. we have not increased live -- found an increase in cancer. >> thank you. >> may i add something here? i need to apologize to the thousand or so parents of children who are under four years of age, who have died from covid-19, who were unvaccinated, because there are continuing to be deaths in children. that is the reason why we need to get vaccinated.

thank you. >> i agree 100%. we are having parents that are choosing to vaccinate their kids less than before, because of all of the attacks on vaccinations, it is shameful. it is shameful that members of congress continue to put down vaccinations in order to get our community healthy. my mom passed away from covid- 19. my stepfather passed away due to covid-19. we would take that in an instant if it was available to them. especially folks on this subcommittee on the pandemic, it is personally insulting to all the families that lost loved ones. we saved millions of lives because of the vaccine. it is unfortunate that we keep causing this harm. i just want to say lastly, do you agree that additional lives would have been saved?

folks were not vaccinated. we lost over 1 million in this country. a vast majority of those lives were saved, had the vaccine been mandated. >> 85% of the deaths that occurred, were within the individuals. we were able to reach a higher vaccination rate. it is likely that we will have more deaths. they had fewer deaths per capita. >> i encourage this committee and all members of congress, to encourage vaccinations across the congress spot. with that, i yelled back. >> i recognize the chairman from maryland. >> thank you. ranking member, i want to join in with the previous comments with members of the committee, and welcome all of you again for being here with us today.

mr. chair, on personal privilege, would mind -- remind members of this committee, that there should be some sense of decorum. vulgarity should be discouraged. if i ever say i have a phd in bs, with bulgarian sunshine, you will not let me talk about explicit things today. people are watching. they quite frankly expected that the congress, if no other place, will conduct itself in a way that does not insult any of them personally, because of vulgarities. this is the way that we should in fact conduct business. the american ethic, has always been one of independence and self-sufficiency. as a society, we see the health decisions as deeply personal, and deeply private.

some instances, that proclivity has led to hesitancy. surrounding health motivations, such as vaccines. in the case of the covid-19 pandemic, fear mongers just haven't seen it. this is without substance or fax. this is by news of late night talk shows. talking heads unfortunately, took advantage of certain communities. this included negative experiences with the public health system. playing on fear and mistrust. amplifying over and over again, a vaccine hesitancy across the nation. when you do that, you are really playing with fire. in this case, the fire that the gentleman from california

mentioned also. this is how people die, and how that rate of death accelerated over and over again. i really want to thank you god, that the great urologist, 1955, did not run into that nonsense, when he developed the vaccine for polio. parents were crumbling -- wanting their children to have a regular life. when it is done right, it is done right. so many children and others were vaccinated for polio successfully. were there some bad stories along the way? i'm sure there was. this was not 100% certainty. >> mr. chairman, my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, know that covid vaccines, even

under accelerated development timelines, had proven over and over again, to be safe. i would ask some unanimous consent. i'm trying to submit this into the record. this article, includes the general interest news site. this is entitled what america is going to do to continue to turn away from that. >> objection? >> thank you sir. >> if you don't mind, there are so many people watching this around the nation that have tuned in late. he explained for the community again with the multilayered process is? this is vaccine safety, monitoring was easy and limited for covid. >> we responded to multiple

infringement diseases. this is the most robust vaccine safety monitoring system. we have five different systems. we are using all of these to determine the impact and the associations with safety. >> you also cooperate that this seems to be by all standards, an incredibly thorough process. this means all the merits of scientific approach. where the system so crucial in maintaining vaccine confidences? >> we want to make the best available science is. this is the process that they needed for these recommendations. making sure that science is first. making sure we have the data. >> i want to thank all of you again for being here with us.

>> i yield back. >> i'm looking at some of these questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i wanted to thank you for testifying in front of this committee today. i'm the director of the state department within iowa. i was vaccinated, and gave vaccines in all 24 counts of my district. however, i have never been for a vaccine mandate for covid-19. when i was distributing vaccines, as well as today. covid-19 remains a somewhat of a public health challenge. especially giving the declining vaccination rates. let me say, as a public health director, and as a state senator, this is been a different issue. this is greatly enhanced.

to optimize the effectiveness of covid-19 vaccines, i understand the fda has recommended periodic updates to vaccine composition. we have seen with influenza. a clear framework. supporting the timely availability of a diverse supply of covid-19 vaccine platforms. multiple fda approved vaccine options can play a role in preserving consumer tracer products, ensuring equity and access. they can contribute to increased consumer acceptance, and uptake the vaccines, without forcing americans to receive a specific option. can you please speak to how the agency is taking steps to ensure the same manufacturers have the time to adapt their products? are they scaling up production for new virus variance? >> thank you very much for the question. i would certainly agree with you. the fda needs to have choice among vaccines. that would allow a greater

vaccination rate. they may want a more traditional vaccine. that's why we have been continuing to work with manufacturers to try to make sure that when we rollout, -- the next update, we will have a choice. we are going to move into the spring. this is already looking at actions. we are trying to hopefully have the choice of what we are talking about. >> covid-19 vaccines are going to be looking at the injury compensation program. we are looking at the program

compensation. they are authorizing and approving the covid vaccines. they are being responsible for adjudicated claims for the covid shots. i'm concerned that there is too much government involvement, and the overlap with vaccines. furthermore, this was not designed for a pandemic as large as the covid-19 pandemic was. this was the appropriate location. this is the same addition to the rsv part of vaccines. they are already available. this is there a 75% excise tax on pharmaceutical manufacturers. we are looking at the select subcommittee. >> what happens if a new vaccine is not added to the list of tax vaccines?

>> this is a great compensation program. we are looking at the injury vaccination program. this is a different type system. we were with the department of justice. this is going to be a severed duty to adjudicate the claims. we are looking at the criteria that must be met. this is all imposed by congress. they are looking at some coverage within the secretaries. for rsv, or covid vaccines to be added to the program, this is all going to be met.

>> this is the cip things. >> i'm not trying to read it. we have 2214 claims. >> we are quickly following up. why is there a backlog of claims for the covid vaccines? we had a direct appropriation. we had received the first direct appropriation. we had over 35 staff that are associating adjudicated claims. >> thank you. my time has inspired -- expired. i would like to submit additional questions for after the hearing?

>> sure. >> we are concerned about some of the dangerous rhetoric. >> we are undermining confidence. >> this is ahead of today's work. this is the association of statement. territorial health officials are right here. this is from blue states alike. informing the public truthfully about the safety urging the subcommittee to engage responsibly. they are entering this letter into the record. they failed to handle the subject with the public health officials. this is what they have asked for. i'm going to claim that today's

hearing is only about the covid- 19 vexing read the misinformation, and intentional spread of the covid-19 vaccine, across-the-board, looking over the last few years. this is the global decline in decades from the number of children that received basic immunizations. this is with the university of pennsylvania. it is likely safer to get covid- 19, then to get the vaccine. 1-6 americans believe that vaccines cause autism. they are against what they were in april 2021. i am deeply concerned about what this means for our children. we have specific controlled

diseases. not just other countries, but right from the united states. from 2000, we have seen consistent outbreaks. mostly under vaccinated communities. we have outbreaks of cases in philadelphia to 2023, most recently. this is among unvaccinated children in central ohio 2022. economic cost is right here. immunizations for people -- children born no parent at all once their children harmed but many parents are sadly getting and trusting false information like what we have heard in this hearing today. i would like to discuss how we can make sure that parents get the best and most accurate information they need so they can promote life saving vaccines

and have deadly diseases. can you please explain how that faa evaluates vaccines and they are intended to be used for? >> thanks for that question. every vaccine as we authorize or approve we required to have manufacturing information to show it is high quality and we have to have information on its effectiveness and safety in the specific age population that is been prescribed or we have to be able to understand it's going to function similarly in that age group that we are authorizing or proving it for. it is a process we take very seriously at the agency and there is a very dedicated group of people that spend their time poring over data to make sure that in the thousands of records that are submitted to us , thousands of pages over 1

million pages for one of the biologic license applications for one of the mrna vaccines, that we get that authorization or approval right. >> thank you. the parents have questions about vaccines for their children. what steps do you recommend they take to get their questions answered? i'm not talking about the internet. >> i think we talked about this the other day. the primary thing i think we need our conversations between parents and their providers. that provider doesn't have to be a physician, it can be a nurse practitioner or someone in a doctors office that is a physician assistant. having that conversation, that individual conversation where people can ask questions and have them answered -- i spent a lot of time during the pandemic doing that and it makes a huge difference. i believe in the provider patient relationship. >> i would reiterate that today

while we have seen republican lawmakers across the country attempt to sow distrust in vaccines i hope this committee can correct course and focus on work that matters keeping our people alive, safe and that means preventing outbreaks of deadly diseases, expanding access to vaccines and safeguarding the health and safety of americans thank you very much. >> thank you all for being here. we often hear from agencies they can fix everything if only they had more funding, authority, data. the covid-19 pandemic showed us we have a different problem and that is a incentive structure that governs our approach to public health. early on, the federal government provided billions of dollars to pharmaceutical companies for development. much work was aided by taxpayer funded science and we purchased the vaccines back from the

pharmaceutical companies. the fda and cdc were responsible for evaluating the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. cleared for emergency use, then not content with recommending the vaccine and providing information to make their own decisions the government nearly forced everyone to get the vaccine, latently disregarding scientific evidence and constitutional consideration. the government provided the vaccine manufacture with special liability protection ensuring they can't be sued for adverse effects. instead, the government bureaucrat gets to decide whether or not someone was injured and offer them a minuscule amount of money for compensation if they managed to make it through an arbitrary process that is very intensive. right now, we have the same agency funding the research, approving and mandating and finally adjudicating the covered vaccine concentrates. too many critical government functions in the same

unaccountable hands. one of the big issues on top of this is the fact so much of the misinformation that came out during covid was fostered by the federal government. we actually had been colluding with social media companies to discourage scientific opinion that went against what was the mandate at the time. to help clear the record i would like to ask you all a couple things. you stated vaccines work at offset, i don't think the committee is designed to question that. there is this conversation to try to throw the covid-19 very new and different scientific approach with a new data set that is still developing and all those kind of things with a very well established vaccines like polio or chickenpox or meningitis or these types of things when i think americans, after watching the government over the last couple years have concerns about covid-19 and information that has been

presented i wanted to ask you a couple questions with a simple yes or no. does the covid-19 vaccine prevent the disease? from you receiving the disease? >> you can't have yes or no to that question because it will reduce your risk of serious outcomes. >> i'm not debating whether or not it helps and mitigates. >> i care if i'm alive or dead so they do a good job of preventing deaths and hospitalizations. they may not prevent infection. >> the mantra at the time was to stop the spread. we were understood we either did not receive it or could not transmit it when it was released. could you speak to that? can you receive it or transmit it after receiving the covid-19 vaccine? >> having worked at cdc and seen the benefits we have to

make the best recommendation. >> can you transmit or receive after receiving the covid-19 vaccine? >> we make the best we have. >> it's very simple. commander grimes, can you receive? >> we make the best recommendations for the public. >> can you still get covid after getting the covid-19 vaccine? yes. okay. does it prevent you from transmitting it? >> although it may, there's data that shows earlier in the pandemic there was reduction in transmission. the data is very challenging to pin down, but it does not absolutely prevent transmission. >> thank you very much. i would ask you, why does the cdc website listed as a vaccine preventable disease and why do they call it a recommended immunization? >> vaccine preventable diseases

are referring to things that benefit from getting the vaccine but we know it does prevent you from getting severe disease and hospitalizations. >> no one is questioning that. the issue right now and why we are seeing a bunch of vaccine hesitancy is because the information coming from the federal government has been murky at best on the subject. people don't know what to address. my question is why do you list this along with other very proven and long set of scientific data as a vaccine that prevents disease? >> it all seems different levels. this is a vaccine preventable disease just like all the others are. >> okay. you've done a great job of filibustering my time. >> i recognize dr. joyce from pennsylvania for five minutes. >> thank you for meeting this hearing for a panel for

appearing today. this is an incredibly important discussion topic and as our continued work on this committee to get to the bottom of both the origins of covid-19 and also the government response. understanding how federal agencies track the rollout of the covid-19 vaccine and document instances of injury or adverse effects is critically important for any future responses. as a doctor, having accurate and up-to-date information before treating patients during a public health emergency is of utmost importance. all federal hate agencies have several for surveillance the most well-known in the pandemic was the reporting system. the government has two systems for adjudicating and compensating vaccine related injuries. the injury compensation program

and the vaccine injury compensation program, two of the key differences between the cicp which covers the covid-19 -- are who adjudicates the claims and who covers the damages. in cicp claims are adjudicated by hrsa whereas claims are adjudicated by the court of federal appeals and in terms who pays the cicp it is appropriated funds whereas in vicp the money comes from an excise tax that is levied on manufacturers on each vaccine dose. before the covid-19 pandemic cicp was a very small program due to its formative scope, however claims have exploded now that widely distributed and even mandated covid-19 countermeasures are covered under the program.

as of january 1st of this year, the total number of cicp claims ever filed was 13,406 and covid- 19 claims account for 12,854, nearly 96% of the total. because of cicp's design and resources adjudication of claims is a lengthy and burdensome process. it's also reported that 10,640 of these covid-19 claims are currently pending or other review. commander grimes, how is the cicp structured to ensure accessibility and fairness to petitioner's and how does this compare to vicp or even the traditional litigation system? >> thank you for that question. in the cicp we administer the program by statute . an individual we call a requester files a request for benefits

and then must submit medical records to the cicp to show that there is compelling evidence to support it was directly caused by the user administration of a covered countermeasure. a covered countermeasure could be a covid-19 vaccine. it could be a smallpox vaccine. >> we will stay focused on covid-19. that's what our obligation is in this subcommittee. do you feel it is more appropriate to have commissioners for covid-19 fees to be paid by the manufacturer or the taxpayer? >> petitioner's are for the injury compensation program and those are through the routine administration with an excise tax levied on it were as the requesters for the cicp are paid for compensation of claims through appropriated funds and administration of the program is also paid for those appropriated funds.

>> as a physician i'm worried in some cases health practitioners do not know where and how to report adverse effects, which is critical to ensuring all vaccine events are accounted for. i'm also concerned of how these events and potential risks are reported to health care providers. for each of you, could you take turns and describe what your respective agency insures against any adverse effects that are reported and how those are managed and how the information is conveyed to the front-line individuals who are dealing with this? >> thank you for the question. each vaccine label, whether the authorized vaccine or approved, has information on where to report adverse events into the adverse event reporting system. when we get those we could combine with cdc and sort through those events and we take them seriously and investigate them and sort them

out whether there are any signals there. >> we provide information through the vaccine information sheets provided to everybody so they understand potential risks. we also communicate to the public and put that together with the advisory committee and recommendations can be changed if needed. >> you see faults in the system? >> i'm here to testify on behalf of the director of the compensation programs and not the cdc and fda. >> i now recognize dr. mccormick from georgia for five minutes. >> i will cut straight to the point is i know we are on a timeline and i'm last. i want to point out it was president trump's operation speed that had unprecedented delivery of a vaccination in record time. i think it is ironic that this

scientific achievement will forever be tainted by the government's handling of covid- 19 and mistrust that was created from this policy and federal programs that surround it. to avoid myself of partisanship i would like to highlight the democrats that touted this program that president trump came up with and received the vaccination himself and admitted to getting the booster as well. there's ironies in this argument all the way around. the question is why has america become so distrustful of vaccinations as my colleagues pointed out? why do they no longer want to get a vaccination that may have potential benefit? i would make a couple points on this. when you insert yourself between a doctor and patient and some doctors contradict you and you censor them even when you're not a doctor treating patients people are going to stabilize the government have authority to do that? to censor my doctor?

when you start requiring people to do something instead of encouraging the natural resistance of a freedom loving people that were founded on the principles will be to resist what you are requiring. it shouldn't be any surprise to us when the people say i'm not going to do what you're telling me i have to do. my doctor may agree with me and not you. you're the government, why insert in an inappropriate way? when we talk about the evolution of science, when you have immunity and you're still required a vaccination that can cause a response which all scientists can admit to there is risk versus benefit on every decision with the government says we will make a requirement without taking sides into account. it's no wonder people are mistrustful of our recommendation. this is the problem we have right now. let's talk about vaccination liability. it came to my attention last february when i heard from constituents that claims were sent to cicp, constantly lost

or denied or caught up with little or no transparency. march 3rd of last year, several of my colleagues and i wrote a letter to hrsa about serious concerns regarding the countermeasure injury of the cicp and failure to respond to constituents . i appreciate commander grimes. unlike a lot of government agencies you responded and came by my office and i appreciate that. i think you care and you pointed out when you started out you had four people working for you. based on pre-pandemic response warts on injury that can cause and you're trying to respond to 13,000 people with four employees. since then you've gotten 35 people i believe. am i accurate in saying it was 13,000 claims approximately? >> approximately 13,000 covid- 19 countermeasure claims, 9600

of which alleged vaccine. >> of those how many have been closed? >> 2200, about. >> the number is 35 employees now handling those claims? i have to be quick. we are on a timeline. how many claims are we processing per month now? >> in the year 2023 we processed 90 claims per month over that year. that velocity increased throughout the year. >> of those 2200 claims how many have shown to have merit for injury? >> currently about 40 that have been found to have a injury directly caused by a covered countermeasure. >> pretty small percentage. just to do the math, that means each employees handling about 2.7 cases per month and so 40 out of 2200 cases that have been processed, of the 13,000

that means we probably have about 10,800 cases in backlog. you've asked for more employees , but it 2.7 per employee it would take us about 10 years to process the remaining claims. the application process to get this denial process through some sort of appeals process has an even smaller approval rate. it's a judge jury and executioner. i think we need to streamline this process. as a leader, you need to make sure you know what paperwork is, how it's processed and speed this up by about 10 fold in order to do our job for the american people. i'm out of time and i yield. >> mr. chairman, i would like to ask for the record. an article for new york times. it says covert shots for children, much of the will decided most young children don't need to receive covid booster shops.

thank you. >> i would like to recognize closing statements. >> medicine is very nuanced. the human body is so remarkably, beautifully made and our physiology and complete wonder. taking a snapshot of a time and using it to go back and define the entire experience of covid in children is misleading. now with the rates that are low, with information that we have on children, children that are at high risk, immunocompromised should get the vaccine. in certain areas where the rate is low and the risk of getting

infected in a otherwise healthy child, one would reconsider whether that child would need a booster or, in the situation, throwing these kind of facts out there without the context and understanding is wrong. it's very misleading. in fact, we have talked about how here is a screening, not the definitive tool to use the rate of side effects or serious side effects from getting the vaccine. these are individuals who get the vaccine and whatever they feel afterwards for a certain time period they reported which we want them to do that. we want them to do that. it is a way to screen for this. we want to have high sensitivity to reduce the false-negative, but with this kind of screening

test you have a high false positive. that's why we need to re- evaluate, to more in-depth investigation on an individual basis to determine whether in fact it was caused by the vaccine. we already laid out the reason scientifically why vaers is not of the five systems, the multilayered systems, vaers is not the system to use as the definitive rate of infections. but to use it, because it has the false positive, it is intentionally, falsely, misinterpreting the data that is causing vaccine hesitancy. people know, but they intentionally still speak to it as if it is definitive data. that's the part that gets me.

that's not misinformation, that is intentionally giving false information for their own personal and partisan political gain. that is a clear example of what we have been talking about of politicizing science. let's go back and let's summarize that, in total, covid- 19 vaccines saved 3.2 million lives. prevented 18.5 million hospitalizations and saved the united states an estimated 1.15 trillion in medical costs. when we say the vaccine doesn't prevent getting sick or it doesn't stop the spread of disease let's go back and talk about the nuanced aspects of the use of vaccines which is supposed to boost your immune system. if you have a high enough

immune response to the virus, then for those individuals it does prevent from getting sick. am i right? am i right? correct. by lowering the risk of getting infected, yes it does prevent getting vaccines for those individuals. it's not an absolute. when we talk about absolute, we are intentionally giving this information to the public that it don't work. if you lower the risk of getting the illness and getting sick or if you increase your immune response enough to prevent infection than what you say that reduces the risk of spreading it to other people? >> you can lower the viral load.

>> the viral load is a medical term important to understand. vaccines increase your immune response, combat the virus, lower the viral load. if you have a small viral load you decrease the risk of spreading disease. his that correct? do i have that physiology right? that'll be correct. would it be correct to say that vaccines reduce the spread and, for some individuals, prevent the spread of the virus to other people? correct? >> i think we can say that is a general statement. i would make it an absolute statement. in the spirit of today. >> that's my point. by intentionally using absolute statements like that without the nuances -- people should know better. they are misinforming the community.

what i said is not absolute, i said it reduces the risk of spread and for some people it reduces spread. it does and can reduce the spread with that nuance. it is because of the safety and efficacy of these vaccines we are ultimately able to overcome the pandemic. it's because of the vaccines we are able to change the vaccine guidelines over time or are social distancing practice or wearing a mask. correct? yes there is work to be done to promote vaccine confidence in the united states and strengthen existing compensation programs. we can agree on that. it requires funding, capacity, human resources. we can fix the system to help you get better but there's no doubt that the multitier, multisystem vaccine safety

apparatus surveillance systems is the best in the world. we should talk about that instead of focusing on these false positives or false narratives so we can build confidence in the american people. misusing our platforms as members of congress to spread false or misinformation about vaccines does eight disservice to the american people. it manufactures distrust. conspiratorial accusations manufacture distrust. fear mongering manufactures distrust. with increased distrust you increase vaccine hesitancy with less people taking the vaccine, where people get infected, the pandemic spread and more people die. how does this help us prevent or better prepare for the next pandemic? it doesn't.

it makes it worse and puts people's lives at risks and harm, actually harm, the american people. this is the opposite of helping to prepare and litigate the harms of the next pandemic. i hope that we can find a path forward and the serious work that needs to be done to save lives in the event of a future pandemic and keep people safe in the here and now from current threats. as i said when we started, we are already in the process of undoing decades of progress in overcoming infectious diseases so we must handle each opportunity to discuss this matter with immense care before we reach a point from which we cannot return. i hope going forward everyone can drop the outrageous false rhetoric that we have heard by some today and instead identify a constructive path forward that protects the people's

health. i yield back. >> thank you. this hearing should not have been political and most of it was not. i would say, fortunately. the fact that it is simply further evidence this conversation is completely necessary to take place. i can say i have invested in all sides of the issue around the pandemic starting in 2020 being on the intelligence committee and also researching what other countries were doing , how we are going to treat people, try and save lives. i learned a lot. as representatives, we are the conduit to asking their questions. it's not easy for them to just call you and get an answer although i think you for taking my call early on during the pandemic. perception is

reality. i mentioned at the beginning. that's what we have to face. words matter. when you say reduce it's different than saying prevent. that happened too often. not necessarily from your voice , but it happened and that's what america heard. i think it became clear today about the vaers system. it is the initial recycling can if you will and then you decide what actually goes further. we didn't say that. it's the only one america saw. it's the only thing that is out there for the public. what do we expect? i think that matters. we see things in the natural items on the drugstore and it will say not approved by the fda

, but it's okay to take but it isn't going to meet all its claims necessarily. that is an honest approach to what america is out there. you know, i think it has never been a question that vaccines save lives by anyone. i'm from cincinnati. you know how much pride we take because it's the home of the polio vaccine? it's huge. it's in our dna in cincinnati. we grow up knowing that and take pride in it. we cannot leave behind those that have been injured simply because they don't necessarily fit a narrative regarding the vaccine safety. we have to take all that into consideration. we heard today patients and parents should have a conversation with their personal healthcare provider to assess the vaccine whether it

is appropriate for their particular position, condition, or whatever. dr. marks, i heard you today very caring we say you have regret about those under five years old that may have died from covid. i talk to pediatricians and some say i think they should be vaccinated if they've got a bcd or e and i think that is important. one size doesn't fit all, it never have and never will. that goes back to talking about your doctor and that goes back to revealing all the data about those that may have died. these are children that maybe would have died if they got the common cold, i don't know. those are things you have to take into consideration. i've learned a lot about covid-19. i think if we want to assess vulnerability maybe we should check their levels. i want to go into the sides of that and maybe you all

understand because that's what it takes which makes it more infectious to humans. that's another story. this committee, i think we did a good job if we look at the facts and discuss openly where our pitfalls are and i'm not just blaming the government because it is politicians too. it's politicians that drove a lot of distrust and what was coming out of public health. i'll just go back to the beginning. president trump says we need to restrict travel. dr. felty told us he recommended we restrict travel. what happened to president trump when he said that? he is a racist. people -- politicians say there's nothing to worry about here. that is a racist comment, come to chinatown. let's create a super spreader.

that's a problem. that's a problem on our side. that's why i say we need to hear from the doctors treating covid patients where than anyone else. again, lives have been saved but we cannot ignore certain things. i mentioned before, dr. marks, you're advocating on operation warp speed. we were with you all the way. you have a politician saying, in essence, if it's your vaccine she's not taking it. that doesn't help us. that creates vaccine hesitancy. when a politician stands up and says if you take this you're not going to the icu and you're not going to die yet some were going to the icu and some were dying. that is a fact and there may have been a lot of other

reasons for it. china comes out and says we've got this under control. the w.h.o. dr. lane goes to china, they've got it all under control. that's the advice given to politicians. of course there is distrust. there, that came from china, they didn't have it under control. that's what they were telling everybody. that leads to distressed. we must trust but verify especially when we take advice from an adversary. the risk has to be put out. no drug can run a commercial regardless of what you think of commercials on drugs, they can't run without whisking all the risks. doctors have to sit dashed its malpractice if they don't go over the risk. you've got to get it or you lose your job? they go to the drugstore and get it and get

their card. did they have a sitdown? i'm glad to hear you all agree today, at least i think you do, that best practice is to have a conversation with your doctor about your personal health and the better data the doctor has the better we can treat patients. that's what we are after. saving lives, treating patients better. i mentioned before a difference between saying effectiveness data is different than just saying it is effective. there's data, maybe it's not 100% effective, and we know that. this is what the public hears. they get confused because they know i know some people had an adverse reaction. why are we saying it is safe? you may have done work completely 100% right but if it

is not messaged clearly or accurately down the line that's a problem. i often ask, where is our surgeon general to be talking about this? when i grew up people trusted it. the reason i say we need to hear from doctors treating covid patients i'm reminded of the gulf war. every night america tuned into here with the general had to say about the war, not what a politician had to say about the war. i think that makes a huge difference. we recognize today that what you are telling the american people when we recognize a problem we did something about it. that's important. that builds public trust. if it's perceived or ignoring it and mandating this anyway it's a problem.

i question why we talk about as a form of treatment especially we knew when the vaccine we had did not prevent you from getting covid what are we not focusing more on treatments like that. we are very effective. in cincinnati, i saw that. why did we ignore natural immunity. i was told i needed a booster to go to germany. i had been vaccinated, both dozes. i got covid several months later and the only reason i knew was because i couldn't smell garlic salt. that's the only way i knew. when i got my antibodies checked where i'm being told i need a booster my number was 821 and i got the lab report to show it. you have a conversation with your doctor about that. why did we put this aside?

that is what america understood. why are we not talking about the benefits of natural immunity? why are we not saying you are less likely to get another round of covid? why are we not looking at that data to see? those are things we should've done. i wanted to do that through the military and secretary austin never responded. it was 22 physicians that signed that letter to the secretary defense and he never responded. he never answered a question even after several attempts. we have some things, we have people here that want to make a difference especially going forward but we can't ignore these hiccups. we can't ignore these questions the american people have. if i only sat here in washington i can't have this discussion with you the way i'm having it, but if you go home and you're the conduit to the government and if we aren't honest and can

be trusted we don't get elected. they see people in washington never leave. amongst the unelected. understand that. that's why it's important we have this conversation. that's why it's important we do better going forward. i thank you all for your time today. i appreciate the work you do. we want to be helpful to make it even better. i thank you all again for being here, for your important and insightful testimony. with that and without objection all members will have five legislative days with which to submit materials and additional questions for witnesses which will be forwarded to the witnesses for their response. if no further business, this subcommittee stands adjourned. a

attending. >> c-span now is a mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington, live and on-demand. keep up with the biggest event of live streams and hearings from the u.s. congress. the courts campaign and more

from the world of politics all at your fingertips. you can also stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and life schedule information for c-span tv networks and c-span radio plus a variety of podcasts. c-span now is available at the apple store and google play. scan the qr code to download it for free or visit our website c- span.org/c-span now. your front row seat to washington anytime anywhere. >> republican mike parson has been governor of missouri since 2018. back in january he gave his final state address before a joint session at the legislator and every sin city. the governor in the final year of his last term highlighted his policy achievements and shared his vision. he touched on several issues including workforce development education, infrastructure investment and the fentanyl crisis.