The real culprit from this past weeks Cmte hearing in Congress

After the 2nd hearing of the House Oversight Select Committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic this past week, the real culprit for this mess was largely ignored.

What did happen was very predictable. Three witnesses this past week, Dr. Peter Marks from FDA, Dr. Daniel Jernigan from CDC, and Dr. Reed Grimes, Director, Division of Injury Compensation Programs - HRSA.

All three witnesses were very good at avoiding tough questions, yet Dr. Marks did take some hits and was starting to leak oil. He is a rat, a liar and needs to be held accountable for his actions. He even had the audacity to acknowledge those who had been injured from the COVID virus but would not acknowledge those who were injured from the C19 jab or other countermeasure. Hell has a permanent parking space reserved for him.

Dr. Jernigan was probably the least engage witness with the committee panel.

Dr. Reed Grimes, dressed in his Commander uniform used by several in the HHS arena, does not deserve to even wear the standard issued pair of socks.

I do give him some leniency regarding his appointment to Director of the Division of Injury Compensation Programs (DICP). This is the office that determines injury compensation for both the NVICP and the CounterMeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP).

But his previous actions of hiding behind the Program and unwillingness to provide transparency of petition decisions of the CICP need to be examined in greater detail. As the previous chair of the Sec’y of HHS’s Advisory Council of Childhood Vaccines (ACCV) that council can not even provide a complete council membership as mandated. How many years will go by before filling a spot for a parent of a vaccine injured child?

The CICP is the focus of many regarding the lack of compensation and communication with those who have been injured, mainly from the C19 jab. DICP was ill equipped to handle the tremendous onslaught of injury petitions regarding Coronavirus countermeasures. I place more blame on his predecessor and Secretary of HHS for not securing appropriations earlier.

The Select Committee could explore this in greater detail down the road.

The public that tuned in to watch this hearing quickly realized that instead of asking more questions of the witnesses, it turned into a side show between committee members, trying to embarrass the other side or promoting falsehoods about the science of the virus and vaccine. The end result is that very little was accomplished.

Now for what I mentioned earlier. And talk about burying the lead.

The real culprit for this mess is……………………….. CONGRESS!!!

Congress allowed Industry to write the bill to create The PREP Act back in 2005. Part of Bio-Shield II to provide an iron dome of immunity for manufacturers.

Congress allowed Industry to write the bill to create the CICP back in 2010 to deal with the fast tracking of the H1N1 flu vaccine and known injuries.

And it was Congress that has failed to provide oversight and debate on the very thin and vague statutes of the CICP. They had 10 years before COVID to address shortcomings. However, there was no appetite for them to make changes. Pharma lobby money kept flowing into re-election campaigns. And look at campaign contributions to members of Congress when the 21st Century Cures Act was passed in 2016. Just pathetic.

And when COVID struck our nation, there were some bills introduced, most to just tinker around the edges of the very problematic CICP. Introduced in 2021, legislation did not even get out of subcommittees. Pharma did not want any action.

And Congress is currently sitting on legislation that will not fix the major problems such as a lack for true compensation for those who have been injured. Many countries are compensating their citizens while we play word salad games with Marks and Grimes.

To the Committee with all due respect, if you are going to continue holding hearings that only provide more air time for your political campaigns, please stop. You are embarrassing our country, you are failing to address the wrongs of our nation, and you are ignoring the pain and suffering for the tens of thousands of people in the US who listened to you at the beginning of the pandemic and wanted to do what they thought was the right thing.

Now it is your turn Congress.

Keep Learning, Keep Challenging Yourself and always, always question authority.

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Wayne Rohde, author of 2 books on Vaccine Injury Compensation Programs