The aftermath of the COVID pandemic continues to impact everyone, leaving a lasting imprint on both the economy and public health. Across the country, millions are grappling with the economic fallout, and many report ongoing health challenges attributed to both the virus and the vaccines against it. The debate around the vaccines’ effectiveness and their potential side effects persists, prompting some politicians to seek further investigation.
The pandemic
During the pandemic, the emergency use authorization of COVID vaccines—bypassing the extensive approval process typically required—played a crucial role in mitigating the virus’s spread. These vaccines, along with preventive measures such as mask-wearing, significantly reduced transmission rates and the severity of the disease among the vaccinated population. However, vaccine manufacturers are shielded from liability concerning adverse effects, preventing individuals from pursuing legal action.
Bill seeks to allow lawsuits
In response to these concerns, Representative Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, has introduced a bill aimed at allowing individuals to sue COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers for health problems believed to be related to the vaccines. The proposed Let Injured Americans Be Legally Empowered (LIABLE) Act would revoke the legal immunities currently protecting vaccine producers, exposing them to civil litigation. In addition to Rep. Roy’s, Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, a prominent critic of vaccine mandates, accuses the Biden administration of concealing information regarding the vaccines.
Covering up the severity of the effects of the vaccines
Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida has leveled accusations against the Biden administration for allegedly downplaying the impact of COVID-19 vaccinations on members of the U.S. military. In a recent opinion piece published by the National Pulse website, Gaetz contends that the Pentagon is manipulating medical data within the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED), a system used to monitor the health status of military personnel. According to Gaetz, this manipulation is akin to the actions of the fictional “Ministry of Truth” depicted in George Orwell’s “1984,” suggesting a deliberate effort to alter or conceal the truth regarding vaccine effects on soldiers.
“This is yet another attempt by the federal government to control the narrative and obfuscate data that supports claims that President Joe Biden and Secretary Lloyd Austin’s vaccine mandate on the military may have harmed numerous service members—another example of the government telling you: ‘Don’t believe your eyes; trust what we tell you to see,’” the Fort Walton Beach Republican wrote.
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Pattern of censorship
Gaetz pointed out that the Department of Defense often tries to control what people say, similar to when they teamed up with left-leaning groups to stop certain information from spreading. He mentioned that they used money from taxpayers to support the Global Disinformation Index, Newsguard, and Graphika. These organizations were tasked with identifying and tracking speech they didn’t like, and they also pushed major tech companies to silence discussions criticizing the COVID-19 pandemic response and vaccine distribution, Gaetz explained. He admitted that getting truthful information from China was hard and didn’t expect anyone to be perfectly accurate in their investigations during a health crisis.
Hiding behind the numbers
However, Gaetz brought up how, at a recent meeting of the House Armed Services subcommittee, Shauna Stahlman, a top disease expert for the military, tried to explain away an increase in health problems shown in military records as not a big deal. According to Gaetz, Stahlman said the rise in certain illnesses that might be linked to vaccines wasn’t important because the data from before the pandemic was collected from fewer people.
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“But even DoD’s ‘corrected’ data shows an alarming increase in medical injuries in key categories,” he added.
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