A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee launched a probe earlier this month into the COVID-19 shot mandates and related policies enacted by the Biden administration in 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic. The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is demanding answers about the federal government’s decision to order COVID shot mandates for federal workers and businesses with more than 100 employees, three years after President Joe Biden said in 2020 that he would not make COVID shots mandatory.1 2
In their written requests, the House subcommittee demanded documentation that supported the widely controversial and publicly scrutinized decision to mandate that millions of American workers take the experimental mRNA product or lose their jobs. Requested documentation includes internal communications, drafts of the requirements, mandate implementation data, such as requested exemptions and any resulting terminations, and more. The House Select Subcommittee requests, which included a deadline of Aug. 15, 2023, were sent to the Office of Personnel Management and the Departments of Defense, Labor, and Health and Human Services.3
House Investigation Seeks to Prevent Government Overreach “Should There Be Future Pandemics”
In an Aug. 1, 2023 press release, subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup of Ohio stated the probe would look into “the development and implementation of overreaching, federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates” at the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“The Select Subcommittee is asking DoD, OPM, DOL and HHS to provide any relevant data on requested exemptions and terminated employment resulting from the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine mandates,” Congressman Wenstrup said. “We are investigating how the mandates came to be to inform Congressional action should there be a future pandemic.”1
The probe into the Biden administration’s controversial vaccine mandate policy comes after tens of millions of workers were forced to comply and take the first-ever messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID shots or risk losing their jobs. Pfizer/BioNTech’s Comirnaty mRNA COVID biologic was the first mRNA shot to gain approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The federal public health emergency order ended on May 11, 2023—more than three years after it began in January 2020.4 5
“The mandate was breathtaking in its scope, applying to approximately 84 million American employees and preempting any contrary states laws,” Congressman Wenstrup said. “The Biden administration disregarded medical freedom, patient-physician relationships, and clear scientific standards to force a novel vaccine on millions of Americans without sufficient evidence to support their policies.”3 6
Shortly after the implementation of President Biden’s COVID vaccine mandates, refusal ranked in the top 10 reasons for job cuts in 2021, according to a Job Cuts Report released by outplacement, business, and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. in 2021. “Roughly 5,000 people that lost their jobs in the last month due to COVID vaccine refusal made up actually 22% of the total number of people that we tracked being let go across the country,” the Chicago-based firm’s senior vice president Andy Challenger said.7
Supreme Court Rules Vaccine-or-Test Mandate “Exceeds Presidential Authority”
Back in 2022, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) removed the “vaccine-or-test” mandate for businesses after the U.S. Supreme Court determined the mandate exceeded presidential authority. As included in the Path Out of the Pandemic COVID-19 Action Plan released by the Biden administration in 2021, OSHA was tasked with requiring employers with more than 100 employees to make sure the employees received COVID vaccinations, with any unvaccinated workers mandated to undergo weekly COVID testing.8
“OSHA has never before imposed such a mandate; nor has Congress. Indeed, although Congress has enacted significant legislation addressing the COVID–19 pandemic, it has declined to enact any measure similar to what OSHA has promulgated here,” the Supreme Court’s conservative majority wrote in an opinion piece.
Federal Appeals Court Upholds Supreme Court’s Nationwide Ban on Vaccine Mandates
Earlier this year, a ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the 2022 Supreme Court decision to ban the vaccine mandate for federal employees. Judge Andrew Oldham—who said of the federal workers who sued the Biden administration over the vaccine mandate that their case had merit and would likely succeed—deemed the COVID vaccine an “irreversible medical procedure.”
Judge Oldham went on to say both sides will need to grapple with the reality that, regardless of where they stand on controversial vaccine mandates, the COVID emergency will finally end on May 11, 2023.”9
U.S. Military Readiness Concerns Persist After 17,000 Service Members Refused COVID Vaccine
Congressman Wenstrup, in his statement, points to the detrimental and lasting consequences of rash, unfounded, and ultimately unconstitutional public health policy decisions, specifically their effects on U.S. military readiness: “As of March 2023, approximately 17,000 service members had refused to take the vaccine. Around half of those members have been discharged and a few of those discharged have secured temporary or permanent exemptions. As of Jan. 10, 2023, the U.S. Armed Forces had tens of thousands of pending exemption requests. This raises serious concerns regarding the vaccine mandate’s effect on military readiness.”
“Although all federal mandates have since been rescinded, overturned, or otherwise ended, the detrimental consequences of these policy decisions continue to affect thousands of Americans, and the federal government’s egregious interference in the sacred doctor-patient relationship will undoubtedly have long-lasting ramifications,” Congressman Wenstrup wrote. “The Select Subcommittee is committed to conducting a thorough investigation of any wrongdoing by government officials and seeks to deliver answers about COVID-19 vaccine mandates to the American people.”10
If you would like to receive an e-mail notice of the most recent articles published in The Vaccine Reaction each week, click here.
Click here to view References:1 Press Release. Wenstrup Opens Investigation into Federal COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates. U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Aug. 1, 2023.
2 Porter T. Video shows President-elect Biden saying 10 months ago he wouldn’t make vaccines mandatory. Business Insider Sept. 10, 2021.
3 King R. House Republicans target Biden administration on COVID vaccine mandates. The New York Post Aug. 1, 2023.
4 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. End of Public Health Emergency. May 5, 2023.
5 Simmons-Duffin S. The COVID public health emergency ends this week. Here’s what’s changing. NPR May 8, 2023.
6 Etzel G. House COVID-19 subcommittee investigating vaccine mandates. Washington Examiner Aug. 1, 2023.
7 del Castillo A. COVID vaccine refusal 10th highest reason for job cuts in 2021, report says. ABC7 Nov. 5, 2021.
8 Patteson C. Supreme Court blocks Biden’s vaccine-or-test mandate for businesses. The New York Post Jan. 13, 2022.
9 Serbu J. Federal appeals court upholds ban on vaccine mandate for federal employees. Federal News Network Mar. 24, 2023.
10 Fortinsky S. House COVID-19 panel launches probe into federal vaccine mandates. The Hill Aug. 1, 2023.
21 Responses
Who are they kidding? They’re all in bed together with big pharma. Why hasn’t anyone paid for their crimes against humanity? Nothing will happen to stop this madness again.
That’s correct. The House can demand anything they want. End up with sheets of blacked out paper.
Witness testimonies of laws broken, crimes committed and no one is ever charged.
We know there will be future pandemics. They are already trying to remind us that another one is coming and this time it’s a three-prong one with flu, RSV and C19. I hope they launch a much tougher investigation than they did against Hunter B. In the old days, the DEA would have broken into the home and pulled him out by his collar and reported that it was done.
We know there will be future pandemics. They are already trying to remind us that another one is coming and this time it’s a three-prong one with flu, RSV and C19 including leprosy. I hope they launch a much tougher investigation than they did against Hunter B. In the old days, the DEA would have broken into the home and pulled him out by his collar and reported that it was done.
Another useless investigation that will change nothing. More mandates are on the horizon despite anything congress does.
Why even include the sentence
“Pfizer/BioNTech’s Comirnaty mRNA COVID biologic was the first mRNA shot to gain approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).”
when this type of Pfizer mRNA shot wasn’t even readily available in the US during the mandate and they were actually shooting people up with a different, only emergency use authorized, Pfizer mRNA shot?
That’s right. Bait and switch
Americans felt like we were living in 1984. They tried to lock us down, cover us up, and make many of us take an untested, unreliable shot. The crime is this; military personnel who refused this untested, non-patented, experimental shot were released of their duty to their country. They had taken a vow to protect our country from foreign and domestic terrorists. They were let down by our government and the Nuremberg Code was broken. Anyone involved in this travesty must be charged with high-treason to our country. All military and government employees who were let go for refusing a fake vaccine, should be re-instated with full back pay and restitution for suffering heartache at having to break their vows to their country. All military personnel who were harassed while refusing the shot should be given restitution for mental stress. We have all witnessed a failed take-over of our country using a so-called pandemic that was not really a pandemic. We will not be fooled twice.
Teresa,
Absolutely, and all military men & women who have died or become injured by this shot should be compensated as well. For that matter since the federal government LIED to us about safety & efficacy; everyone injured should be compensated. There have been 12,000 applications to the “special” fund set up for the “rare” cases and only four have gotten any money ;plus it is ridiculously small amount[way less than the lawyers cost.]
While the US House Reps are at it. I wish someone would stop the WHO’s over-reach into how nations handles health pandemics or plandemics. It’s past time too to close all of the bio-weapons labs around the world. These places only exist in my opinion to create products that maim, injure or kill people. As well as contributing to autoimmune diseases where some people will add more fuel to the fire through their use of toxic chemicals labeled as “medicines.” Which has become nothing less than a scam and a con game.
Exactly! Leave us alone, nature itself takes care of us. Barbara
i think it is a lot of smoke that in the end will go nowhere as usual.
Ironically the one group of citizens the Supreme Court ruled as having no bodily autonomy were the healthcare workers willing to risk their lives treating those with Covid before there was a vaccine but denied the ability to continue to do so unless they received the jab once approved under EUA criteria. As a result I was terminated from 2 healthcare systems in Atlanta after having served my community for over 30 years.
Any “investigation” or hearings will be dog and pony. Nothing will change. No one will be held to account. Reps can say they are on the side of freedom. They aren’t. Left and right wings of the same pharma bird. All are bought and paid for.
Trump even fell to this. When he campaigned, he promised he’d set up a distinct, stand-alone, vaccine safety committee. Promised RFK he’d be included. Once elected, he never spoke of it again. Once pandemic panic set in, he totally bailed on the topic and deferred to the criminal, Fauci, full command and control of the economy, schools and the practice of medicine.
None of these people are able to withstand the might and money wielded by pharm.
Absolutely! Instead he took money from big pHARMa and everyone jumped on board for his operation warp speed jab! What Remdesivir didn’t kill the jab did and continues to with myocarditis. We allowed pHARMa to get out of control and now they own everyone on Capital Hill, even the loudmouths who like to talk about freedom! When the line was drawn in the sand with the Opioid Crisis and Congress could have put the hammer down on pHARMa they ALL, led by Marsha Blackburn voted to protect the drug dealers and the white coats who caused and created the whole opioid crisis that still goes on today and the Sackler family walked away scott free with all of their money.
Please inform us of useful ways to support this sub-committee action since I live on the West Coast with deaf representatives to anything that is not in lock-step with Biden’s administration.
I appreciate your citation of sources, keep up the good work.
Like @Joann I live on the West Coast where the Governor’s of California, Oregon and Washington formed a Western States Pact during COVID-19. How was this legal? And how was each Governor truly serving their INDIVIDUAL State and its laws? BY LAW, Washington and Oregon as suppose to allow medical, religious and philosophical exemptions. BY LAW, California is suppose to allow medical exemptions. They should have PUSHED BACK against the Federal Government’s mandates to protect the public they swore to serve NOT embraced them. In my personal opinion, all 3 of these Governor’s and their staff should have to answer for their crimes as well.
I agree with you. The majority of Washington should be in jail too. The country is so corrupt that we are consuming ourselves. I wish we had some men and women with backbone and conscious that would do something other than TALK.
Take away all Executive Orders from both Federal and State and we may be able to get back to our Freedoms that our Forefathers Fought For.
Agree, if it were a common folk they’d be locked up in solitary confinement for years. But since they are politicians and federal bureaucrats they are elite and “deserve” special privilege (in their own minds). Sickening, frustrating, and we are helpless to do anything except get censured or worse. Where has our democracy gone?
While we were distracted playing Farmville and Crush, our democracy became a Plutocracy.