At Select Subcommittee Hearing, Democrats and Public Health Officials Underscore Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines and Importance of Vaccines in Overcoming the Pandemic

Washington, D.C. (February 16, 2024)—Yesterday, Rep. Raul Ruiz, M.D., Ranking Member of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, led Select Subcommittee Democrats in prioritizing the health and safety of the American people by underscoring the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, highlighting the importance of vaccines to the COVID-19 pandemic response, and pushing back against misinformation that endangers Americans’ health.

“Our nation’s vaccine safety systems play a critical role in protecting public health. Every day, scientists, physicians, and public health officials work together as part of this system to monitor the safety and efficacy of vaccines to ensure the best possible products reach everyday Americans. Their efforts have helped protect us from the threat of deadly diseases for decades. And their efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic helped contribute to one of the most successful vaccine rollouts in history—which, under President Biden’s leadership—led the country out of the depths of the pandemic,” said Ranking Member Ruiz in his opening statement.

Yesterday’s hearing included testimony from Dr. Daniel Jernigan, Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Dr. Peter Marks, Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); and CDR George Reed Grimes, Director of the Division of Injury Compensation Programs at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

Prior to the hearing, more than 50 leading public health and medical organizations—including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials—sent a letter to the Select Subcommittee expressing strong support for the vaccine safety systems in the United States, writing that “Congress is uniquely positioned to assure the public that your oversight of our vaccination safety systems is fair and unbiased, keeping our vaccines as safe and effective as possible.”  In addition, leading medical groups representing more than 560,000 physicians issued a joint statement calling on the Select Subcommittee to “acknowledge the overwhelming evidence-based science and recognize how COVID-19 vaccines protect and save millions of lives.”

Select Subcommittee Democrats refuted Republicans’ claims about COVID-19 vaccines by underscoring the data collected from rigorous clinical trials and surveillance that have repeatedly demonstrated and affirmed their safety and efficacy.

• In response to questions from Ranking Member Ruiz about the high standards COVID-19 vaccines had to meet for the FDA to authorize and approve them, Dr. Marks said: “Before we even started to receive data, we put forth guidance first in April and then subsequently in October of 2020, which described our expectations for the safety and the efficacy of these vaccines. That’s the standard that we would use before we could issue an emergency use authorization. We then for the emerging initial emergency use authorization, required manufacturing data that was equal to what we would have—or nearly equal to what we would have—required for biologics license application, and we required effectiveness data that was near or equal to what we would have required for a biologics license application….So, we went through a tremendous amount of data, looked at the adverse events and looked at the effectiveness data, so that, plus looking carefully at the manufacturing.”
• Congresswoman Deborah Ross said: “In listening to today’s hearing, one might be led to believe that reports submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, are the most meaningful measure of adverse health events and should be the sole basis for evaluating whether the COVID-19 vaccines are safe. However, my understanding is that VAERS is just one surveillance program within a multi-layer vaccine safety system that CDC operates—and that submissions to VAERS—which are unverified and can be submitted by anyone regardless of how likely a vaccine is to have caused an adverse event—can act as early warnings to prompt deeper investigation through these other surveillance programs.”
• In response to questions from Congresswoman Debbie Dingell about how federal agencies such as the CDC work to provide accurate and transparent information about vaccines, Dr. Jernigan said: “At CDC, we are committed to transparency, and we regularly share that information on vaccine safety with our federal partners [and] state partners through our different communication mechanisms that we have through the web, through other media, etcetera.”

Select Subcommittee Democrats highlighted the success of the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, which helped save lives and lift the country out of the depths of the pandemic.

• In response to questions from Committee on Oversight and Accountability Ranking Member Jamie Raskin about the number of lives saved from COVID-19 vaccines, Dr. Peter Marks said: “It’s estimated that in the United States, about 3.2 million lives, and it’s estimated that globally COVID-19 vaccines have saved over 14 million lives conservatively.”
• Ranking Member Ruiz highlighted perspective he obtained through his direct experience as a health care provider who served during the COVID-19 vaccine rollout: “As a physician who went out into underserved communities to administer vaccines during the height of the pandemic, I saw firsthand the difference these vaccines made in helping our communities recover from COVID-19.”

Select Subcommittee Democrats demonstrated that rather than working on constructive policies to promote vaccine confidence and save lives, Republicans have stoked vaccine hesitancy with extreme rhetoric that undermines public health.

• Congressman Kweisi Mfume said: “In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, fearmongers amplified vaccine hesitancy, and it was done as we all know, without necessarily substance or facts, but through fear by way of news and networks, late night talk shows and syndicated radio shows. Those talking heads unfortunately, took advantage of certain communities’ negative experiences with the American public health system by playing on fear and mistrust, and by amplifying over and over again, vaccine hesitancy across the nation. Now, when you do that, you really play with fire...”
• Congressman Robert Garcia said: “The fact that we are now having parents that are choosing to vaccinate their kids less than before, because of all of the attacks on vaccinations, is shameful. And it’s shameful that Members of Congress continue to put down vaccinations as an opportunity to get our communities healthier. And Dr Marx, I want to thank you for the work that you did. My mom passed away due to COVID-19. My stepfather passed away due to COVID-19. Both would have taken that vaccination in an instant if it was available to them.”
• Congresswoman Jill Tokuda said: “While my colleagues on the other side of the aisle may claim that today’s hearing is only about the COVID-19 vaccine, they cannot and must not ignore the fact that the repeated and intentional spread of misinformation about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines has resulted in an across the board decreases in immunization levels over the last few years. In fact, the world is experiencing the largest global decline in decades in the number of children receiving basic immunizations. A recent survey conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania found that the number of Americans who viewed vaccines as less than effective has increased since April 2021.”