Gov. Josh Green on Wednesday defended COVID-19 vaccines before a U.S. Senate subcommittee in Washington, D.C., saying they saved countless lives during the pandemic.
He was the only one out of six witnesses testifying in defense of COVID-19 vaccines, saying he saw firsthand how they helped save lives in Hawaii.
Over three hours, however, most of the testimony before the U.S. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations alleged that federal agencies failed to adequately warn the public about the risk of myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, from the COVID-19 shots — in particular, the mRNA vaccines.
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, chair of the subcommittee, said much of the government’s “miserably failed COVID response” made no sense, whether it was masking, devastating shutdowns, or a “maniacal reliance on the COVID-19 injections as the only way to end the pandemic.”
He alleged that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lied about the safety of these “COVID injections,” as he calls them, and covered up details about their adverse effects.
Furthermore, he said, any medical professionals that brought up vaccine injuries were vilified, censored and retaliated against.
The title of the hearing, which lasted over three hours, was, “The Corruption of Science and Federal Health Agencies: How Health Officials Downplayed and Hid Myocarditis and Other adverse Events Associated with the COVID-19 Vaccines.”
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, ranking member of the subcommittee, refuted these allegations, saying health officials did make efforts to make these risks known, submitting two emails about them as part of the record.
He said there are scientists working for the greater good and others simply seeking to sow distrust while they profit off of
misinformation.
It’s important to recall, he said, that more than 1.2 million Americans have died from COVID-19 – and that during the worst of the pandemic, more than 25,000 died each week, with hospitals overwhelmed, and morgues overflowing.
“As we talk about the side effects of COVID vaccines, I think we need to be clear about the most important fact for all Americans — COVID-19 vaccines have saved millions and millions of lives,” he said. “There is no scientific question about that fact.”
Vaccines also helped Americans to get back on their feet, he said, enabling the economy to recover. He credited President Donald Trump for fast-tracking the vaccines through his Operation Warp Speed.
Green, who was invited to testify by Blumenthal, shared that COVID-19 vaccines saved more than 10,000 lives in Hawaii.
As an emergency room physician, Green said he saw people dying when they caught COVID-19’s delta variant, and saw people recover better with vaccinations. He said vaccines did, indeed, decrease the severity of disease.
“I will tell you that we saw one heck of more terrible cardiac issues, myocarditis, far more clots, for people that ended up in the ICU that we had to treat,” he said. “We saw cataclysmic numbers when people got bad COVID and ended up at the hospital, but they didn’t get bad COVID when they got vaccinated. That is the point.”
With a 90% vaccination rate against COVID-19, he said, Hawaii recorded the lowest mortality rates in the U.S.
“We saw death rates constantly lower than all the other states, with the single exception of Vermont, on occasion,” he said. “I tell you this because we have to follow science, and I truly believe that we can’t politicize science or vaccinations or any of these public health matters.”
Green spoke after five others before him — including Dr. Peter McCullough, a cardiologist and president of the McCullough Foundation;
Dr. Jordan Vaughn, founder and president of the
Microvascular Research Foundation; Dr. James Thorp, an OB-GYN and maternal fetal medicine specialist, Dr. Joel Wallskog, co-chair of React 19, a nonprofit that represents COVID-19 vaccine injured Americans; and attorney Aaron Siri, managing partner of Siri &Glimstad LLP.
All testified against the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines from various perspectives, including various medical and legal views, before Green was able to testify.
McCullough said there have been numerous cases of vaccine myocarditis, including one in a 42-year-old man in St. Louis, Mo., in 2021, as well as others detailed in peer-reviewed
studies on the vaccines
and myocarditis.
“These cases, which were widely known at the time, should have gotten everyone’s attention,” he said. “Everyone should have been laser-focused on this. We should never have someone die after taking a vaccine.”
Wallskog relayed that as an orthopedic surgeon, he proudly chose to get vaccinated. But after one dose of a Moderna vaccine, he began developing leg weakness and balance loss, and was diagnosed with transverse myelitis.
Now medically retired, he said he and others who suffered vaccine injuries have not been acknowledged or supported, which led him to start React 19.
Green said during
testimony his heart goes out to anyone who has suffered adverse effects or those who lost loved ones to COVID-19. But we cannot turn away from science, he said.
He said vaccinations have saved millions of lives over the past 50 years and decreased infant mortality by 40% globally.
Vaccinations are also particularly important, he said, in the face of the next
pandemic.
“So what I would say is this, let’s work together, let’s find a way to actually find the common ground to protect our children,” he said. “Let’s find a way to make sure our public health system remains intact, not taken apart by the current approach where HHS is jettisoning many of its
people, many of the billions of dollars, perhaps many of the vaccinations. This is our opportunity to come together. … I’ll say one last time: vaccines save lives. I’ve given vaccines, I’ve taken vaccines, I’ve treated people that didn’t get vaccines, and it’s broken my heart when they’ve passed away.”
Although the hearing was about COVID-19 vaccines and myocarditis, Blumenthal noted the misinformation has other consequences, including the deadly outbreak of a preventable disease such as measles.
While measles was declared eliminated 25 years ago, it has resurfaced due to plummeting vaccinations rates, he said, with more than 1,000 cases in more than 30 states and three deaths.
Furthermore, the Trump administration has fired at least 10,000 employees
from public health agencies, he said, cut more than
$3.8 million in funds for safety monitoring, and more than
$2 million for state immunization programs, which is already hampering the measles response, he said.
Green, who also testified against the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary due to his vaccine skepticism, said in a statement after the hearing he was grateful to have been chosen as the minority witness.
“The Democratic Senators gave me quite an honor to be that person,” he said. “I hope people saw me as a voice of reason in a somewhat hostile and biased environment. And I was very interested to learn from people what their experiences have been with the COVID vaccines.”
He added that he accepted the invitation because “the country needs to come together on issues like public health and I am trying to help make that happen.”
Green said he was also in D.C. fighting against cuts to Medicaid and Hawaii’s food safety net.
The subcommittee is the chief investigative arm of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Green is scheduled to return to
Hawaii on Friday.
