The Sconi

In response to questioning by Sen. Ron Johnson, former CDC director Robert Redfield said during a senate hearing last week that mandating mRNA COVID-19 vaccines is "one of the greatest mistakes" made in response to the pandemic due to the body’s “very strong, pro-inflammatory response.”  

A potent exchange between Johnson and Redfield occurred during the senator's questioning about the body's response to mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

Initially, Johnson asked Redfield when he first found out about the bio-distribution studies conducted by Pfizer, which Japanese regulators released in 2021 – and when did he know that those studies explained that the mRNA would be distributed throughout the body, instead of being localized at the site of the vaccine’s injection in a person’s arm. He also asked Redfield about the body's response to the vaccine that would cause it to produce a toxic spike protein. 

“It has a very strong, pro-inflammatory response, which is problematic. Again, I think, Senator, what you’re getting at, which I’m 100% agreeing with you, is I think there was not appropriate transparency from the beginning about the potential side effects of these vaccines. And I do think there was inappropriate decisions by some to try to under-report any side effects, because they argued that would make the public less likely to get vaccinated,” Redfield said.

“I do think one of the greatest mistakes that was made, of course, was mandating these vaccines. They should have never been mandated. It should have been open to personal choice. They don’t prevent infection, they do have side effects,” Redfield said.

Johnson presented data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), which reported 37,000 deaths in people who received the COVID-19 vaccine, with 24% of those deaths occurring within two days of vaccination.

“We now have studies that say the mRNA is circulating [within] the body at least two months, and we haven’t done studies beyond that, correct? I know in your own practice, you don’t administer that because you realize the spike protein is toxic to the body,” Johnson said.

“I prefer the killed protein vaccines,” Redfield replied. 

Redfield led the CDC from 2018 to 2021, including during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Redfield also took the Food and Drug Administration to task for not releasing all the COVID-19 vaccine safety information that is now available. 

“The FDA should release all of the safety data they have. I was very disappointed to hear that they were planning to hold on to that until 2026. That really creates a sense of total lack of trust in our public health agencies towards vaccination,” Redfield said.

“The public has a right to know. We pay for these agencies. We pay their salaries. We fund these studies,” Johnson stated.

Johnson later added he “truly appreciated Dr. Redfield’s honesty” in a post on X, which also featured footage of his dialogue with Redfield from the July 11 hearing.