COVID-19 Vaccine Marketing Campaign Not Supported By Scientific Evidence, House Report Reveals

A 113-page House report was released last week regarding the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations evaluated the “effectiveness and scientific accuracy of the “We Can Do This” COVID-19 vaccine promotional campaign that ran from August 2020 through June 2023. The report has detailed several areas where the $900 million taxpayer-funded campaign was not scientifically accurate.

According to the report, the intention is to “understand why, with the extent of these resources, the Campaign and the Biden-Harris administration’s response to the pandemic resulted in a collapse of the public’s trust in public health messaging.” One of the stated goals of the campaign was to address the “explosion of misinformation that feeds mistrust of scientific and public health communities, and of public servants throughout the ranks of government” by “influenc[ing] behaviors around COVID-19 and the seasonal flu and prepar[ing] for a safe and prosperous reopening.”

A PR group named the Fors Marsh Group (FMG) was hired for the messaging campaign. The committee said the campaign relied heavily upon guidance from the CDC, which did not follow the terms of the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the COVID-19 vaccines. The report states that the CDC’s recommendations were “deeply flawed,” and the agency failed to update guidelines as the pandemic continued.

The report points to several statements made by the CDC and the “We Can Do This” campaign that were scientifically flawed and without evidence. The CDC claimed that the vaccines were “highly effective against transmission,” which the report said undermined the agency’s credibility when the public found no evidence to support that scientific claim. 

The next point refers to the CDC’s “inconsistent and flawed messaging about the effectiveness of masks.” Dr. Anthony Fauci’s conflicting statements fueled the public argument about masks. In March 2020, he said, “There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask. When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is. And, often, there are unintended consequences — people keep fiddling with the mask, and they keep touching their face.”

Fauci later explained that his initial statement aimed to prevent a mask shortage. However, he did not clarify this at the time, which may have unintentionally downplayed the effectiveness of masks. The Reuters fact check called Fauci’s March 2020 statement “outdated” because the CDC changed its guidance in April, less than a month later.

The committee said the CDC intentionally tried to scare parents into vaccinating teenagers age 12-15 as a prerequisite to opening schools despite the low risk of virus harm to this age group. The report suggests that the Biden and Harris administrations allowed the school reopening vaccine requirements to be dictated by school unions rather than scientific evidence. The committee also accuses the HHS campaign of using “emotional manipulation” against teenagers to pressure them to get the vaccine.

According to the report, there were several advertisements between May and August 2021 implying that getting the vaccine will allow normal life and fun activities with friends to return. An ad from June 2021 said, “Say yes. Say yes to seeing friends. Yes to hanging out. Yes to vacations. Yes to sleepovers. After a year of saying no. Imagine how good yes is going to feel. Everyone 12 and older is now eligible for COVID vaccines.”

Less than two weeks later, the campaign released an ad targeting children 6 months and older even though these children were not yet eligible. The ad stated, “What will COVID vaccination look like for children ages 6 months and older? They’ll receive smaller, child-size doses. This means they’ll get the best protection available with doses that are tailored especially for them, and you’ll get peace of mind, knowing that you’re helping to keep them safe.”

The CDC used a “faulty algorithm” that overcounted COVID-19 deaths in all age groups. After recalculating the numbers, the CDC reduced the pediatric death numbers by 26%. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reported around the same time in 2022 that pediatric deaths accounted for only 0.26% of all COVID-19 deaths.

After showing ads with people hanging out with friends without masks, the CDC asked everyone to continue wearing masks on July 3, 2021 and admitted that breakthrough cases are occurring for vaccinated people. An ad was released on July 7, 2021 targeting the Hispanic community that said,  “if you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities without wearing masks or maintaining physical distance, except where required by local regulations.”

This illustrates the inconsistent messaging about masks that was partially responsible for the “collapse of the public’s trust in public health messaging” according to the committee. The report draws attention to the current CDC guidance that still recommends COVID-19 vaccines for all Americans six months and older, making the United States a global outlier in COVID-19 policy.

In August 2023, the U.K. National Health Service (NHS) announced that healthy adults under age 65 are not eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, the U.S. has the COVID-19 vaccine as part of the childhood schedule and recommends all children to receive the vaccine if they are over 6 months of age.

According to the report, the HHS removed all evidence of the ads that were released during this time period.

The committee outlined several recommendations for HHS, FDA, and CDC to prevent “another botched government response to a future pandemic.”

– “HHS and public health officials should not attempt to silence dissenting scientific opinions.”

– “HHS and its agencies should embrace a culture of transparency and accountability.”

– “Congress should consider formally authorizing the CDC and clearly define the agency’s core mission.”

– “HHS and its agencies should abide by the FDA’s product labeling guidelines. HHS and its agencies should be barred from promoting information regarding an FDA-regulated product that does not reflect the FDA-approved label.”

– “Congress should consider clarifying responsibility for evaluating the safety of vaccines and streamline existing reporting systems for capturing vaccine injuries and adverse reactions.”

– “HHS and its agencies should overhaul their website archival process to mimic that of prior White House administrations.”

Other revelations from the document include the knowledge that Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director at the time, modified the CDC recommendations on school distancing and was influenced to do so by the President of the American Federation of Teachers. The report states, “Through this quiet backchannel to the CDC, the AFT was directly able to edit guidance and push for prolonged school closures.”

Dr. Fauci testified in front of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and said the six feet social distancing guideline just “appeared.”

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) approved a single booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine for the elderly and individuals with a high risk of COVID-19 infection. Director Walensky went against this guidance and recommended booster shots for healthy, young individuals at risk of occupational COVID-19 infection. An ACIP member said the science did not support the use of boosters in younger age groups.

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, one of the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, was censored on social media during the pandemic. Jeffrey Jaxen reported about the Twitter Files for The HighWire, which stated that Bhattacharya was tagged for removal and included on a “blacklist.” Dr. Bhattacharya reacted to the report on X by saying, “The House report on HHS COVID propaganda is devastating. The Biden admin spent almost a billion dollars to push falsehoods about COVID vaccines, boosters, and masks on the American people. If a pharma company had run the campaign, it would have been fined out of existence.”