HHS has not released any scientific information on its new vaccine-timing recommendation, leaving America confused.
December 12. 2022
(Washington, DC) – Today, the Functional Government Initiative (FGI) announced an investigation into the announcement by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra that recommends a COVID vaccine every two months, just a day after the administration stated that only one shot a year is recommended. FGI is seeking documents surrounding the communications and studies the Secretary relied on for this new recommendation so that they can be available for independent review.
On November 28, Vice President Kamala Harris tweeted, “One shot, once a year—that’s all most people will need to stay protected from COVID year-long.” The very next day, Secretary Becerra put out a similar message, except he recommended vaccine doses every two months. Judging from these tweets, especially without any scientific documentation for the public to review, Secretary Becerra apparently recommends six times more vaccine doses per year than the Vice President recommends. Becerra repeated his two-month recommendation in another tweet on November 30.
With repeated and differing messages within only a few days, these announcements are causing confusion, particularly given the blanket recommendation to all Americans provided by Secretary Becerra. The messages could also have dire public health impacts if further clarity is not provided by HHS. COVID-19 vaccines have been the subject of multiple allegations of scientific integrity violations by senior government officials, including those surrounding Secretary Becerra. Recent media stories indicate there may have been an intentional suppression by the CDC of the ability to report potential side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine. Other stories have reported that the traditional approval process for the vaccine and booster shots for various populations have at times been disregarded. With this knowledge in mind, the recent announcement has served to both heighten Americans’ anxiety about the danger of COVID-19 if they forego a booster and expose millions more Americans to potential side effects that have apparently gone unreported.
Millions of healthy Americans across the country deserve to know what the science says so they can best protect themselves. FGI has demanded expedited processing from HHS to find out.
Peter McGinnis, spokesman for FGI, issued the following statement:
“While Americans are consistently told to ‘trust the science’ when it comes to matters of public health, they are rarely being shown the science underpinning these decisions. Going from one shot a year to six shots a year in less than 24 hours without any justifying data leaves Americans confused and concerned with their government’s ability to respond to health crises. It could also unnecessarily straddle millions of healthy young Americans with a not-insignificant exposure to myocarditis and little to show for it outside of a boosted vaccine count. The public deserves to know what scientific information – if any – Secretary Becerra reviewed before his recommendation for bi-monthly booster shots was issued.”
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