In February 1976, 19-year-old U.S. Army Pvt. David Lewis died at Fort Dix, New Jersey, from a respiratory illness. Testing revealed infection with a novel influenza strain similar to the 1918 Spanish flu, which had killed millions. Thirteen other recruits were infected, but none of them died.
The strain, designated as “swine flu” due to its similarity to a virus found in pigs, raised fears of a 1918-like pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned of a potentially catastrophic global outbreak. Consequently, on March 24, 1976, President Gerald Ford announced a $135 million plan to vaccinate “every man, woman, and child” in America by the end of the year.
Four drug manufacturers quickly produced a “swine flu” vaccine, which, after trials on 5,000 volunteers, was deemed safe and ready for use.
The National Influenza Immunization Program began on October 1, 1976. And, by mid-December, 40 million doses had been administered to approximately 25 percent of the U.S. population. It was the largest mass vaccination in U.S. history up to that time.
But, from the very beginning, there were reports of vaccine recipients developing Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), a rare neurological disorder causing muscle weakness, paralysis, and death. Analysis by the CDC and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare linked roughly 500 GBS cases and 32 deaths to the vaccine.
These findings led to intense media scrutiny and public distrust, which compelled the Ford administration to halt the vaccination program. (RELATED: The Wages of COVID — Part One)
This was not the first nor would it be the last time distribution of a new vaccine or drug was halted after post-marketing surveillance and analysis indicated possible adverse side effects.
In 1961, Thalidomide, a treatment for morning sickness in pregnant women, was withdrawn from the market after it was statistically linked to an increased risk of severe birth defects.
In 2000, Rezulin, a treatment for type 2 diabetes, was withdrawn after 90+ cases of liver failure were reported.
Vioxx, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) for arthritis pain relief, was withdrawn in 2004 after post-marketing analysis showed it increased the risk of heart attacks and stroke. And, the following year, Bextra, an NSAID for arthritis and menstrual pain, was taken off the market due to increased cardiovascular risk.
And so on for Darvon, Seldane, and Propulsid (heart rhythm abnormalities); Zantac and Belviq (increased risk of cancer), Redux/Fen-Phen (risk of heart valve damage and hypertension), Acomplia (risk of depression and suicidal ideation) and over 130 other drugs which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had tested and approved yet withdrew prior to the 2021 roll out of the mRNA COVID vaccines.
So it was that, based on this bitter history, by the January 2021 launch of the COVID vaccination program, many Americans were reluctant to be injected with innovative mRNA vaccines that had been hurriedly developed by the government’s Operation Warp Speed. (READ MORE: The Wages of COVID — Part Two)
COVID Vaccine Reticence
According to a May 2021 study by the International Monetary Fund, approximately 45 percent of Americans were “vaccine hesitant,” with many outright refusing vaccination. The study concluded that the reasons for this reluctance typically involved “concerns about efficacy and unforeseeable side effects, often fueled by misinformation and/or lack of trust in government and medical systems.”
But, as it turned out, that skepticism and distrust of the government and its affiliated medical establishment were fully justified.
Recently, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) released its Majority Staff Report titled “Failure to Warn: How Federal Health Agencies Downplayed the Risk of Myocarditis and Other Adverse Events Following COVID-19 Vaccination,” which sets forth the following timeline of events.
In January 2021, within days of the first mRNA COVID vaccinations, 28 cases of myocarditis, pericarditis, and myopericarditis (inflammation of the heart and the membrane surrounding the heart) were reported to the CDC’s Vaccine Event Reporting System (VAERS). And, in February 2021, 64 similar cases (including two deaths) were reported to VAERS.
In late February 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Health notified CDC officials of “large reports of myocarditis, particularly in young people, following administration of the Pfizer vaccine.” This coincided with the Defense Department’s advisories to the CDC regarding myocarditis and myopericarditis following COVID vaccination of military personnel.
In May 2021, the CDC received even more VAERS reports of myopericarditis in vaccine recipients between 16 and 24 years of age.
Faced with these alarming data, from January through June 2021, officials of the CDC, the FDA, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other federal agencies conducted protracted and “confidential” closed-door discussions about possibly issuing a nationwide warning through the CDC’s Health Alert Network (HAN). According to the CDC’s website, HAN is its “primary method of sharing cleared information about urgent public health incidents with public information officers; federal, state, territorial, tribal, and local public health practitioners; clinicians; and public health laboratories.” (Emphasis added)
But even though the reports of adverse events continued to pour in, the CDC never issued a HAN warning. Instead, in a telling move, CDC, FDA, and NIH officials provided regular reports on the content and status of their secret HAN discussions to Pfizer and Moderna, manufacturers of the two leading mRNA COVID vaccines. In other words, these officials kept the vaccine manufacturers informed about their products’ injurious effects even as they kept the American people, who were at increased risk of harm, in the dark.
As the PSI report puts it, “Even though CDC and FDA officials were well aware of the risk of myocarditis following COVID-19 vaccination, the Biden administration opted to withhold issuing a formal warning to the public for months about the safety concerns, jeopardizing the health of young Americans.”
Which raises this question: if the data regarding these adverse events were significant enough to share with the vaccine manufacturers, why weren’t they disclosed to the public?
Or, put another way, why was the government more protective of the vaccine manufacturers’ interests than those of the public it purportedly served?
While this cover-up was underway, Sen. Ron Johnson (R, WI), then a minority member of the PSI, sent 70 oversight letters to health officials seeking information about vaccine-related injuries. But, as stated in the PSI report, these officials either “completely ignored or inadequately addressed” Johnson’s requests.
On June 28, 2021, a frustrated Sen. Johnson held a press conference at the Milwaukee federal courthouse to highlight his concerns about COVID vaccine safety. He stated that approximately 384,270 adverse events and 4,812 deaths following COVID vaccination had been reported to VAERS.
The media event also featured individuals who described devastating neurological, gastrointestinal, and cardiac injuries following vaccination.
(In this latter regard, it should be noted that subsequent medical and statistical studies have substantiated adverse effects similar to those claimed by these individuals, and cite data indicating that the mRNA COVID vaccines pose a substantial increased risk of sudden cardiac death, pulmonary embolism, cerebral hemorrhage, leukemia, and lymphoblastic lymphoma.)
But through it all, the federal health establishment continued to hide the facts from the public while insisting that all was well and that any challenges to the safety and efficacy of the mRNA COVID vaccines were nothing more than the irresponsible ravings of medical apostates and charlatans who refused to “follow the science.” (RELATED: Travis Kelce, COVID ‘Variants,’ and the CDC Vaccine Machine)
In short, the government’s message to the public boiled down to “Nothing to see here. Nothing to fear. All is well. Now shut up, get in line, and take the jab.”
Nevertheless, public distrust and “vaccine hesitancy” remained at all-time high levels. And that well-earned distrust remained as newly re-elected President Donald Trump appointed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Post-COVID Making America Healthy Again
Since taking office, Kennedy has been attempting a radical transformation of the American healthcare system. And, in the course of doing so, he has exposed the motivations behind the government’s shameful handling of the COVID vaccination program.
On June 9, 2025, under the headline “RFK Jr.: HHS Moves to Restore Public Trust in Vaccines,” the Wall Street Journal published a letter by Kennedy explaining his initiative to reform the federal government’s vaccine regulatory apparatus.
He begins with this:
Vaccines have become a divisive issue in American politics, but there is one thing all parties can agree on: the U.S. faces a crisis of public trust. Whether toward health agencies, pharmaceutical companies or vaccines themselves, public confidence is waning.
Some would try to explain this away by blaming misinformation or antiscience attitudes. To do so, however, ignores a history of conflicts of interest, persecution of dissidents, a lack of curiosity, and skewed science that has plagued the vaccine regulatory apparatus for decades.
That is why, under my direction, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is putting the restoration of public trust above any pro- or antivaccine agenda. The public must know that unbiased science guides the recommendations from our health agencies. This will ensure the American people receive the safest vaccines possible.
Kennedy then announced the forced “retirement” of all 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP). (RELATED: ‘A Clean Sweep’: RFK Jr. Fires 17 Members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices)
“ACIP,” Kennedy explained, “evaluates the safety, efficacy, and clinical need of the nation’s vaccines and passes its findings to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest and has become little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine. It has never recommended against a vaccine — even those later withdrawn for safety reasons. It has failed to scrutinize vaccine products given to babies and pregnant women. To make matters worse, the groups that inform ACIP meet behind closed doors, violating the legal and ethical principle of transparency crucial to maintaining public trust.”
Citing clear conflicts of interest, Kennedy averred that “[m]ost of ACIP’s members have received substantial funding from pharmaceutical companies, including those marketing vaccines …. The new [ACIP] members won’t directly work for the vaccine industry. They will exercise independent judgment, refuse to serve as a rubber stamp, and foster a culture of critical inquiry — unafraid to ask hard questions.
“A clean sweep is needed to reestablish public confidence and vaccine science. In the 1960s, the world sought guidance from America’s health regulators, who had a reputation for integrity, scientific impartiality, and zealous defense of patient welfare. Public trust has since collapsed, but we will earn it back.”
Whoa.
Like the old joke about a busload of lawyers going off a cliff, this is a good start, and I fervently hope that Kennedy achieves his goal.
But, even if he accomplishes nothing else, his swift, Patton-like restructuring of the ACIP has highlighted the pharmaceutical industry’s quiet capture and neutering of the federal government’s healthcare regulatory system.
This series has covered a lot of ground, and it’s time to call a halt for now. But, as Kennedy and his colleagues continue to follow the money and upend the medical-industrial complex, I expect that there will be more to come.
So stay tuned.
George Parry is a former federal and state prosecutor. He blogs at knowledgeisgood.net.
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