The 118th Congress will not be known for the legislation it passed. It will be known for the record it made and the corruption it revealed. Under the Biden Administration, the Congress did not make many new laws in the deeply divided and highly charged political climate. The gridlock gave us something even more important. The House held many hearings, which built a robust and solid record of what the federal government did to the American people during the declared COVID pandemic.
One of these efforts was an investigation of the U.S. response to COVID-19. The House created a Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, which released the fruits of its labor in early December 2024. After two years of work, 25 hearings, 38 depositions or interviews, investigation of government documents, review of scientific publications and more, the committee released its 520-page report containing 114 findings of fact about actions of the federal government and other key players in national and local public health responses. The document is called “After Action Review of the COVID Pandemic: The Lessons Learned and a Path Forward.”
The report is full of damning findings. It’s worth a moment to read through the 11-page table of contents to get a summary of the conclusions of the committee on topics including lockdowns, masking, school closures, virus origins, New York nursing home policy, use of taxpayer funds, COVID shot mandates, World Health Organization failures, doctored documents, hiding evidence, blocking congressional investigations, and more.
Stand for Health Freedom has reviewed the document and summarized some of the most important findings for our children and for informed consent. This is just the tip of the iceberg. We encourage you to go to the source and read the sections of the report that are most meaningful to you. It’s extremely well written, with each topic addressed in 1-3 pages and heavily cited.
Mandates did more harm than good
Stand for Health Freedom has spoken out against mandates from Day 1. There’s no informed consent when Americans feel economic, social, or other pressure from mandates. We are heartened to see that health freedom advocates now have a congressional record to stand on when talking with our lawmakers should they ever try to impose mandates again.
The report reminds us that President-elect Biden said he would not mandate COVID shots in December 2020, but broke his promise the next year. Mandates were issued for our military, for federal employees, for health care workers through CMS, for childhood Head Start employees getting federal grants, and through OSHA to strong-arm a mandate by private employers. Adoption of federal policy by other jurisdictions resulted in “vaccine passports” that imposed a de facto lockdown. College mandates caused many young Americans to get the shot, despite being at higher risk for myocarditis. The mandates had a horrible effect on our economy as many Americans who refused to comply lost their jobs, and others were injured from the shot. The mandates for the military were acutely harmful. Many thousands of service members left, and recruiting is down 25% below target.
Adding insult to true injury, the committee also found the mandates were not supported by science. They ignored natural immunity. The shots did not prevent transmission of the virus, nor stop infections.
The committee dedicated pages to explaining how the mandates eroded public trust, caused “a surge in vaccine hesitancy,” forced thousands to lose their jobs, and deepened political divisions. The report states, “Sadly, many of the individuals who were fired or left their jobs likely acquired natural immunity from previous infection and this immunity may have been greater than immunity acquired through vaccination.” The committee lamented the impact this had on health care workers in particular, who went from heroes to unemployed villains if they did not comply.
Mandates of an experimental product destroyed informed consent
The report states, “mandatory vaccination policies represented a direct assault on the doctor-patient relationship.” The committee points to the fact that the shots were rolled out under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), which “did not ensure the same standards of informed consent that fully approved drugs are subject to.” Further, since the shots were not covered under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA or “1986 Act”), providers were not required to give Vaccine Information Statements.
The U.S. policies hurt children
Concerned Americans spoke out from the beginning of this mess that children were being harmed physically, developmentally, socially, and psychologically by the U.S. policies of lockdown, quarantines, masking, and school guidance. The committee offered three significant findings regarding harm to our children:
- Forcibly masking children “caused more harm than good.”
- Lockdowns disrupted the development of the nation’s youth.
- Unscientific school closures accelerated declines in physical health and increased mental and behavioral issues.
Masking children was harmful and draconian
Horrifyingly, the committee confirmed what many Americans understood: “Forcibly masking young children, ages two and older, caused more harm than good.”
The committee specifically condemns the CDC for going against WHO guidelines for childhood masking. The WHO did not recommend masking for kids under five, acknowledged that kids 6-11 could incur psychological and learning harms, and that masking during physical play and sports was dangerous.
It was found that the CDC had “early knowledge” that COVID was far less serious for children than adults, but still, “many students were subjected to wearing masks for much longer than necessary.” The CDC didn’t acknowledge speech or language impairments as a reason for exemption from masks. Sadly, it’s reported that the “draconian policies” resulted in a massive increase in young speech-language pathology clients.
Devastatingly, masking wasn’t the only thing that hurt childhood speech and language development; the isolation was also harmful.
Lockdowns contributed to lower IQ and speech delays
Children born during the pandemic were found to have lower IQs than those born before it. Decreased adult-child interactions led to less language acquisition. Public health pandemic policies led to children with more language disorders and delays, more emotional and behavioral difficulties, and more difficulties in their social communication.
School closures were unnecessary and harmful
The committee further found the CDC was wrongly influenced by the American Federation of Teachers regarding school closure policies that lasted much longer than they should have. The committee found that schools were not the hotbeds of infection they were painted to be, teachers were not shown to have higher risk of COVID or serious infections, kids were less susceptible to the illness, and countries with closed schools didn’t have less transmission than other places.
The committee found the CDC ignored or manipulated the available data, causing children to have “immediate negative impact[s]” on physical and mental health as well as academic performance.
School closures were catastrophic for already struggling schools. The impact will be felt for years, and educators are finding that students are “not rebounding.” Also concerning is the fact that “standardized test scores show that children lost decades’ worth of academic progress.” Data also shows that the less disruption kids had from school, the less their academic performance was impacted. The impacts were amplified in low-income and minority populations, and an “estimated 230,000 students have simply ‘disappeared’ from public schools.”
Isolation, loss of access to resources, increased ability to “self-medicate,” excessive screen-time, and loss of sports and other extra-curricular activities led to a monumental increase in behavioral and mental health issues in children, including suicide attempts. Instead of moving around schools and playing sports, kids were tied to screens and cooped up in houses. They were not able to access school lunches when needed. Not surprisingly, BMIs in children doubled, and Type 2 diabetes increased 182%.
The committee further found that children affected by school closures potentially lost income-earning capacity of $70,000 over their lifetime, resulting in lower state GDPs and an estimated $28 trillion loss to the U.S. over the century.
Masking policies were based on flawed science, and the Biden administration exceeded its authority with mandates.
The CDC’s mask mandate on public transportation was struck down as unlawful because the CDC didn’t have the authority to issue this requirement. It also excluded the American people by bypassing the legal process of allowing for public review and comment.
The committee found that the 15 studies upon which the CDC based its mask science were flawed and conducted after COVID-19 began. The studies had no control group and fell far short of considering all factors that could affect outcomes. The CDC made sweeping conclusions citing these studies that were not supported by the data, and the press parroted the message.
There was no science behind the 6-foot social distancing rule.
Social distancing was the cornerstone of U.S. pandemic public health policy. It was forcibly implemented by governments and private businesses and was the reason businesses failed, and schools remained closed. The CDC was very specific about the distance required between people to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. But that guidance was not based on science and negatively impacted all Americans.
Dr. Anthony Fauci testified under oath that the 6-foot rule “sort of just appeared” without discussion, and he didn’t recall any scientific papers about it.
Fauci repeatedly stated in different appearances that there was no discussion of the standard, it just appeared, and it wasn’t based on any trials or other scientific evidence. The committee rightfully declared this unacceptable for the American people.
The federal government intentionally spread misinformation while silencing Americans
The committee found the federal government “perpetrated COVID-19 misinformation.” Here’s a list of findings:
While the executive branch pumped out propaganda to convince Americans to follow their COVID policies, it was also working to silence Americans who questioned the official story and directives. The actions of the federal government, especially by manipulating social media where many Americans turn first for headlines and social discussion, made informed consent impossible regarding COVID pharmaceuticals and other pandemic products.
The federal programs for injury tracking and compensation are failing Americans
The committee stood up for Americans injured by experimental products, stating, “It is paradoxical to imply that the vaccine injured are “anti-vax” since a person must be vaccinated to experience a serious adverse event.”
Further, the committee found not only was the government insulting and dismissing hurt Americans but also, the systems set in place to catch problems early and to compensate those “inevitable” injuries or deaths are failing Americans.
The committee found VAERS is “insufficient and not transparent.” One cited scientific report found that a dozen people who filed VAERS reports did not have a follow-up contact even months later to verify their report. The committee found the systems may be missing safety signals, especially about neurological conditions.
It was also found that the CDC is “resistant” to sharing or transparency with the V-Safe database set up specifically to capture data related to the COVID shots. “Specifically, CDC is defending against FOIA lawsuits filed by groups seeking data and millions of free-text responses gathered through the program.”
Regarding compensation for Americans who suffered injury or death from the experimental shots, the committee found the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP) is “failing to efficiently, fairly, and transparently” decide claims. Only 25 percent of the claims have been decided, “with a denial rate of more than 98 percent.” The decision-making process is not transparent. “For example, the CICP’s rationale to award $370,376 for one myocarditis claim but $1,033 for another is unclear.”
The committee asks an important question about the CICP and its failures: “This situation calls into question whether countermeasures which were mandated by the government can be fairly adjudicated by an executive branch agency that is inexorably connected to such vaccine policy.”
The pandemic treaty isn’t helpful; it may be harmful
In a bombshell, the congressional committee found that not only would the pandemic treaty not help, but it may actually harm the United States.
In short, the committee concluded that the WHO failed miserably to respond under the International Health Regulations (IHR), and a new treaty would not solve those problems. The WHO’s refusal to hold China accountable for violating the IHR and hiding information from the world about the virus was a serious failure.
The COVID “vaccines” are actually therapeutics
This was not presented as bipartisan consensus, but instead “extensive findings.” It was in the introductory letter setting the stage for the report, but not explored in the report. Words matter. Public health officials insisted the COVID shots were “vaccines,” which carry the public expectation of being “safe and effective.” How many Americans would have complied with an EUA “therapeutic”? The letter was signed by Chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Dr. Brad Wenstrup, D.P.M.
Conclusion
There’s so much more to the report. We highly encourage you to view it yourself to read the evidence found regarding concerning COVID-era public health mandates and policies.
The report goes a long way to creating a foundation for fighting any future threats to our God-given rights. It also points out the importance of having independent state public health departments and engaged citizens. Right now, for example, a federal agency can tell a woman it is safe to have the RSV shot, the flu shot, the COVID shot, and the Dtap shot during pregnancy. But who is held accountable if that guidance is wrong? Who can protect Americans from federal overreach (or turn bad policy into binding laws)? The states and local governments are needed more than ever when the federal government oversteps the Constitution.
This report is an encouraging start to holding our government accountable for harms done to the American people with disastrous pandemic public health policy.
