Wenstrup Announces Hearing on Identifying and Reporting Vaccine Injuries

WASHINGTON — Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) will hold a hearing titled “Assessing America’s Vaccine Safety Systems, Part 2” to further examine vaccine safety reporting and injury compensation systems. During the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns arose regarding the ability of physicians to identify and report vaccine injuries to a safety surveillance system that was not structured to handle such a massive influx of injury claims. The federal government appears to not have adequately followed up on allegations of serious vaccine injuries reported in these systems by doctors and patients who relied on them for accurate data and compensation. This hearing will feature physicians who have experience identifying vaccine injuries and analyzing vaccine safety data as well as an attorney who represents vaccine injury claimants.

Part one of this two-part hearing series revealed that the COVID-19 vaccine was mandated without a sufficient system in place to compensate individuals injured by the policy. Part two of the series will seek to reaffirm the importance of the doctor-patient relationship as essential to earning public trust in vaccines during a future health crisis.

“Effectively identifying and then reporting patients with vaccine injuries during the COVID-19 pandemic proved difficult for physicians across the country. This was, in part, due to the current Administration’s unscientific vaccine mandate and the serious shortcomings in vaccine safety systems. The sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship was carelessly tossed aside and replaced with one-size-fits-all mandates that did not consider the nuances of an individual’s medical history. Patient safety was jeopardized by vaccine safety systems that did not accurately identify injuries or follow-up on serious reports made by physicians. At next week’s hearing, we will hear from experts who had first-hand experience with this inadequate vaccine safety apparatus. Our vaccine safety systems were clearly not up to par before and during this pandemic, and we need to ensure that they are effective and up to date before the next,” said Chairman Wenstrup.

WHAT: Hearing titled “Assessing America’s Vaccine Safety Systems, Part 2”

DATE: Thursday, March 21, 2024

TIME: 2:00 PM ET

LOCATION: 2247 Rayburn House Office Building

WITNESSES:

Patrick Whelan, M.D., Ph.D.

Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics

Division of Rheumatology

UCLA

David Gortler, Pharm.D.

Senior Research Fellow

Public Health Policy and Regulation

The Heritage Foundation

Renée Gentry

Director

Vaccine Injury Litigation Clinic

George Washington University

*Additional witnesses to be announced*

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