Elizabeth Weibel
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released a final report regarding its two-year investigation into social distancing, masking, and the COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
In the 520-page report, the committee released its findings regarding “the origins of the Coronavirus Pandemic,” the “Efficacy, Effectiveness, and Transparency of the Use of Taxpayer Funds and Relief Programs” that addressed the COVID-19 pandemic, “the implementation or effectiveness” of federal laws or regulations that were “applied, enacted, or under consideration” to address the pandemic, as well as “the development of vaccines and treatments” during the pandemic.
“Since February 2023, the Select Subcommittee sought to produce a full after-action report to provide a road map of how we, in Congress, the Executive, and the private sector may better prepare for and respond to future pandemics,” Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) wrote in the report. “Throughout this process, the Select Subcommittee sent more than 100 investigative letters, conducted 38 transcribed interviews or depositions, held 25 hearings or meetings, and reviewed more than one million pages of documents from dozens of custodians.”
In the committee’s findings regarding social distancing, it was revealed that “the six-foot social distancing requirement was not supported by science.”
“Social distancing was one of the most consequential policies of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the committee wrote in the report. “Social distancing is the practice of intentionally maintaining a physical space between yourself and other people. On March 22, 2020, the CDC issued guidance specifically designating six feet, or two arm’s length, as the distance that would best reduce the spread of the coronavirus.”
The report from the committee noted that during a June 2024 public hearing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, had articulated “that the six-foot rule for social distancing was not supported by quality scientific standards” and had “attempted to further distance himself from the issue by stating the decision making of this policy implementation was the responsibility of the CDC.”
The committee’s report adds:
The justification for one of the most impactful COVID-19 policies, that arguable affected the most Americans in their day-to-day lives, was “it sort of just appeared.” There were no scientific trials or studies conducted before this policy was implemented, there appeared to be no pushback or internal discussion amongst the highest level of leadership, and more importantly there appears to be no acceptance of responsibility. That is an unacceptable aanswer from public health leadership. Decisions of this magnitude must have scientific backing that can be explained to the American public.
Regarding the usage of masks and mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, the report from the committee found that it was “apparent” that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “and the Biden Administration cherry-picked observational data to fit their narrative that masks are fully effective.”
“Yet, that is not the role of the CDC,” the report added. “The CDC is an agency meant to protect the American people, and part of that responsibility includes conducting, sponsoring, or at the very least examining clinical trials to actually have the best available research before formulation its guidance.”
The report added that “one area” where masking caused harm was with the masking of “all students (age two and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools”:
Many countries, including the U.K., Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, followed the guidelines of the WHO. The WHO specifically did not recommend masking children aged five or younger because they are at low risk of illness, masks are “not in the overall interest of the child,” and also because most children that age are not capable of wearing a mask properly or effficiently. The WHO also recommended children aged six through 11 not routinely wear masks because of potential adverse impact to psychological and learning development. The WHO further explicitly advised against children wearing masks during physical activities, such as outside playground time, so as not to impede their breathing.
The report also noted that COVID-19 “vaccine mandates were not supported by science and caused more harm than good”:
Although all five of the major federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates are now rescinded, overturned, or otherwise ended, their consequences will live on for years to come. The COVID-19 vaccine mandates caused people to lose their livelihoods, hollowed out our healthcare and education workforces, reduced our military readiness and recruitment, caused vaccine hesitancy, reduced trust in public health, trampled individual freedoms, deepened political divisions, and interered in the patient-physician relationship.
Aside from these severe consequences, the scientific basis of the COVID-19 vaccine mandates was highly questionable. COVID-19 mandates ignored natural immunity, stratification of risk from the virus, risk of adverse events from the vaccine, as well as the fact that the vaccines don’t prevent the spread of COVID-19. Meanwhile, as the Select Subcommittee has established in previous hearings, federal health officials consistently overstated the power of the vaccines and deepening political divides with statements like “the pandemic of unvaccinated.” This is yet another example of the Biden Administration’s guidance and policies straying far outside boundaries of the available evidence while proudly proclaiming they were “following the science.” For them, “because I told you so” was good enough.
The report added that while “herd immunity is a real concept and occurrence supported by public health leaders” like Fauci, “there was a coordinated effort from public health officials to ignore natural immunity.”
In a press release from the committee, it was also noted that “contrary to what was promised, the COVID-19 vaccine did not stop the spread or transmission of the virus.”