Repeated failures in communicating medical information on COVID-19 vaccines to the public by the Department of Health and Human Services eroded trust in public health institutions, according to a detailed timeline report from House Republicans published Wednesday.
The new report from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over HHS, indicates that the Biden administration contradicted its own scientific conclusions on the efficacy of public health protocols during the “We Can Do This” campaign, which cost the taxpayers over $900 million.
“While the Biden-Harris administration’s public health guidance led to prolonged closures of schools and businesses, the [National Institutes of Health] was spending nearly a billion dollars of taxpayer money trying to manipulate Americans with advertisements—sometimes containing erroneous or unproven information,” Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) said in a press statement.
The 113-page report outlines a multitude of policy and public relations failures by HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ranging from mask mandates and school closures to vaccine requirements.
Much of the timeline of the activities of the Biden administration comes from the multiyear investigations from both the Energy and Commerce and Oversight committees, including public testimony from key players in pandemic-era policy such as former CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and former National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease Director Anthony Fauci.
One of the report’s main themes is the disconnect between the data on vaccine efficacy over time, including with the introduction of new variants, and public confidence in vaccines.
Just when the “We Can Do This” campaign was at the peak of telling the public that getting vaccinated meant being able to resume normal activities without masking and social distancing, the delta variant, which largely evaded vaccine-generated immune protections, became the dominant strain.
According to the report, the CDC’s failure to communicate this to the public “is inexcusable” considering the agency’s history with flu vaccines, which are only between 40% and 60% effective each season due to genetic changes in the virus each year.
“CDC personnel should—and must—have known that, historically, vaccines inoculating against respiratory viruses are seldom 100 percent effective at stopping transmission, largely due to viral mutation,” the report reads.
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) said in a press statement that the messaging on the efficacy of vaccines for all communicable diseases has decreased because people lost faith in public health recommendations following the Biden administration’s ineffective communication.
“Despite lacking scientific basis, the administration bought into this CDC claim and misled the American public,” Griffith said. “As a result, vaccination coverage with other vaccines appears to have declined, I believe because of a growing distrust of information coming from our public health institutions.”
The report also accuses the Biden administration of pressuring people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by using “emotionally manipulative ads,” particularly targeted toward parents once vaccines became available for teenagers, children, and infants.
“Many ads were emotionally manipulative and sought to incite fear by exaggerating the risk of severe illness and death among low-risk populations, such as children,” the report reads.
Financial documents shared with the committee as part of the investigation indicate that HHS outsourced the “We Can Do This” campaign to the Fors Mars Group, to the tune of approximately $20 million per month from August 2020 to June 2023.
Despite this large price tag, archives of the campaign were difficult for committee researchers to obtain, according to the report, as most campaign videos that were originally available on YouTube were made private this summer.
The report indicates that the CDC’s poor record keeping and archival system “made it nearly impossible to track down former agency actions” except for the most favorable items preserved in the agency’s COVID-19 Museum Timeline.
“American trust in the CDC is at an all time low because the Biden-Harris administration’s flawed pandemic messaging, and this report is the first step in holding CDC and other agencies to account for the harms caused throughout the pandemic and ensure these institutions are operating openly and transparently with the American public during future pandemics,” Subcommittee on Health Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) said.
The report proposes a wide swath of reforms, particularly for the CDC, which does not have a singular enabling statute that defines the agency’s purpose and organizational structure.
Republicans in the report say that “rampant mission creep” within the CDC “has led many to question whether the CDC is able to execute on its intended and primary mission of detecting and combatting public health threats, as evidenced by the CDC’s botched handling of the COVID-19 response.”
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In July, the Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing with CDC department directors with the intention of discussing ways to improve trust in public health agencies.
Wednesday’s report is the most comprehensive policy proposal on CDC reform to date from the committee.