Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said advocating for those who have suffered an injury from the COVID-19 vaccine played a major role in whether he would seek another term in the Senate during the 2022 midterm elections.
Johnson told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo on Thursday that injuries from vaccinations are "not all that rare," but he said not many people are advocating for victims.
SENATE VOTES TO END COVID-19 PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY AFTER BIDEN SIGNALS HE WON'T VETO
“One of the main reasons I ran again is nobody else is advocating for the vaccine injury,” Johnson said.
“These vaccine injuries are real. They’re serious. They’re not all that rare. That’s what I’m going to be focusing on because I think I can get a fair amount of information, uncover and expose the truth, at least with the results to vaccine injuries," he added.
Johnson narrowly defeated Mandela Barnes in November, keeping his seat by just over 25,000 votes. In the run-up to the election, Johnson emphasized the dangers of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Johnson claimed in 2021 that more than 3,000 people died within 30 days of taking the vaccine, according to the Hill, but federal health officials have not linked the deaths to the vaccines.
Johnson repeatedly parroted now-debunked claims about the dangers of the COVID-19 vaccine while on the campaign trail, according to the Hill.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Although Johnson won his reelection campaign, Republicans were unsuccessful in flipping the upper chamber in their favor. Therefore, Republicans are not in control of any committees, making an investigation into vaccine injuries more difficult for Johnson — he lacks subpoena power.
Republicans did, however, flip the House in their favor, which allows them to conduct investigations, including into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal officials are torn on how the pandemic started, but a popular theory is that it originated from a lab leak in Wuhan, China.