Congressman: Biden’s New Coronavirus Guidelines Based on Research Using Vaccine Not Approved in U.S.

A health worker inoculates an elderly woman with a dose of the Covishield vaccine against
DIPTENDU DUTTA/AFP via Getty Images
Hannah Knudsen

President Joe Biden’s surrender to the coronavirus, reversing course and ushering in peak pandemic-era restrictions including masking vaccinated individuals, appears to be partially based on research from India, which included a vaccine not approved in the United States.

“The CDC’s reversal on viral load among breakthrough vaccinated cases is based on an Indian study involving those w/ a non-U.S. approved vaccine,” Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) said on Wednesday, the day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CD) released its updated guidance.

“Mask mandates coming back based on research that’s inapplicable from the get-go. This is J&J-pause-level incompetence,” he said, criticizing the federal health agency for failing to “grasp complex play btwn risk balancing + human behavior.”

“Instead of communicating risks & allowing us to exercise judgment CDC issues sweeping proclamations that cast doubt + undermine trust. This category mistake is no different,” he added:

Indeed, the CDC did, in fact, feature a study that was based, partially, on a vaccine not yet approved in the U.S., rendering that particular finding inapplicable in the states.

“We used a Delta variant live virus isolate to test susceptibility to vaccine elicited neutralising antibodies in individuals vaccinated with ChAdOx-1 or BNT162b2,” the research reads. The first vaccine referenced is the Oxford-developed AstraZeneca vaccine, not used in the U.S., and the second is the Pfizer vaccine, one of the main vaccines used in the U.S. under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). Notably, none of the vaccines in the U.S. have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Despite that, the CDC presumably used the study as a partial framework for its updated guidance, which instructs fully vaccinated people to mask up.

“Data suggest lower effectiveness against confirmed infection and symptomatic disease caused by the Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants compared with the ancestral strain and Alpha variant,” the CDC’s Scientific Brief, last updated July 27, reads, calling for “ongoing monitoring of vaccine effectiveness against variants.” The CDC also cited studies from India, which used vaccines not authorized in the U.S., as the Michigan congressman asserted:

The CDC said (emphasis added):

A study from Houston, Texas observed that Delta caused a significantly higher rate of breakthrough infections in fully vaccinated people compared with infections from other variants, but noted that only 6.5% of all COVID-19 cases occurred in fully vaccinated individuals. Studies from India with vaccines not authorized for use in the United States have noted relatively high viral loads and larger cluster sizes associated with infections with Delta, regardless of vaccination status. These early data suggest that breakthrough Delta infections are transmissible. Unpublished data are consistent with this, and additional data collection and studies are underway to understand the level and duration of transmissibility from Delta vaccine breakthrough infections in the United States and other settings.

It appears the Indian study ultimately found that the Delta variant spike PV was lower for the AstraZeneca vaccine than Pfizer, the former of which is not authorized in the U.S.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) also highlighted what he described as the CDC’s “game changer” data.

“Here’s the truth America: The ‘game changer”’data the CDC used for the mask mandate is from a single study from India. The study was rejected in peer review. But CDC used it anyway,” he explained:

The revelation coincides with the Biden administration surrendering on Tuesday, welcoming dogmatic mandates yet again well over a year after the pandemic began. Biden described the mandates — which includes masking vaccinated people —  as “another step on our journey to defeating this virus.”

For months, the administration has pitched vaccines as the primary answer to returning to pre-pandemic normalcy, although the CDC’s updated guidance suggests otherwise.

“By following the science, and by doing our part by getting vaccinated, America can beat COVID,” Biden declared.

Still, his administration has failed to explain just how, exactly, the updated guidance does not undermine their pro-vaccine narrative, as they have pitched getting vaccinated as a way to return to normal life.

“If vaccines work…then why do people who have the vaccine need to now wear masks?” Peter Doocy of Fox News asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday. She was unable to answer the question satisfactorily.

“The public health leaders in our administration have made the determination, based on data, that that is a way to make sure they’re protected,” Psaki answered.

Notably, on Tuesday, CDC director Rochelle Walensky admitted that public health officials remain concerned that the coronavirus is a “few mutations away” from evading vaccines altogether.

“But the big concern is that the next variant that might emerge — just a few mutations potentially away — could potentially evade our vaccines,” she said, although she claimed the current situation shows that vaccines “operate really well in protecting us from severe disease and death.”

It remains unclear how they are justifying that stance as they continue to add more mandates on vaccinated people.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.