A government advisory panel dealt a blow to the Biden administration on Friday by voting against a plan to recommend Pfizer coronavirus booster shots to everyone across the board — a move Ohio U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance said could bring about political fire from the White House and the public health bureaucracy.
“We’ve seen time and time again that the scientists have changed their mind under political pressure. I hope they don’t this time,” Vance told Breitbart News Saturday.
Nearly a month ago, the White House announced a plan to endorse booster shots for all Americans as the delta variant began to surge across the country. The government advisory panel last week instead only approved the idea of giving an extra vaccine dose to those who are 65 and older or who run a high risk of severe disease.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about combatting the coronavirus pandemic in the State Dining Room of the White House on September 9, 2021, in Washington, DC. As the Delta variant continues to spread around the United States, Biden outlined his administration’s six-point plan, including a requirement that all federal workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Biden is also instructing the Department of Labor to draft a rule mandating that all businesses with 100 or more employees require their workers to get vaccinated or face weekly testing. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Many scientists, including departing Food and Drug Administration (FDA) senior regulators, have criticized the administration’s push for booster shots and have said they are unnecessary for the general population.
“If COVID has taught us anything, it’s that public health in this country is unfortunately not so much about science as it is about power,” Vance noted. “And we’ve got to give these people much, much less power than they have right now.”
Vance also condemned President Joe Biden’s push for a federal vaccine mandate. In early September, Biden announced that the Department of Labor will require all employers with 100 or more workers to mandate their employees get vaccinated against the Chinese coronavirus or else undergo coronavirus tests at least once a week. The official order and the timeline have not been publicly established, however.
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“I think that the vaccine mandate is a real red line. It’s the difference fundamentally between living in a free country and medical tyranny,” he said. “This is a real all hands on deck moment for the ‘America First’ movement because if we allow this to happen, we allow people like Fauci to effectively control our lives.”
Vance noted that he is not against vaccines — just government overreach. He encouraged business owners to reject Biden’s mandate if and when it is ever enforced.
“If you’re a business owner, don’t comply. Force them to come after you. There are ways to fight the rule once it’s actually issued,” he said.
Vance ultimately called attention to Biden’s broken promise to “vanquish COVID,” which he said “was always ridiculous.”
Protesters opposed to Covid-19 vaccine mandates and vaccine passports by the government rally at City Hall in New York City on August 25, 2021. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
“The idea that you are going to vanquish a respiratory virus — like he’s not God. It’s ridiculous that he would pretend he could do something like that,” he said. “And now we’re seeing obviously the failure of his policies on multiple fronts.”
As for the future of booster shots, the FDA will most likely consider the panel’s advice within the next week and make an official decision. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also expected to weigh in.