Experts Testified in the US Senate in January 2022 - 3 Years Later: Were they Right or Not?

RIPLEYS BELIEVE IT OR NOT (WIKIPEDIA) in FEBRUARY 2025 SAYS, "Ronald Harold Johnson (born April 8, 1955) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Wisconsin, a seat he has held since 2011. A Republican, Johnson was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010, defeating Democratic incumbent Russ Feingold. He was reelected in 2016, defeating Feingold in a rematch, and in 2022, narrowly defeating Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes.

Born in Mankato, Minnesota, Johnson attended high school in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities, and received a degree from the University of Minnesota. Before entering politics, he was chief executive officer of a polyester and plastics manufacturer in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, founded by his brother-in-law.[1]

A staunch ally of President Donald Trump, Johnson voted for Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, supported Trump's decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), launched investigations into his political opponents and promoted false claims of fraud in relation to Trump's defeat in the 2020 presidential election. He has rejected the scientific consensus on climate change. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson voted for the CARES Act, resisted stay at home orders, used his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee to invite witnesses who promoted fringe theories about COVID-19 and spread misinformation about COVID-19 vaccinations. He has also suggested Social Security and Medicare spending be subject to an annual congressional vote." " During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson voted against the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which passed the Senate on March 18, 2020, by a vote of 90–8.[77] In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Johnson said he was aware "what a nasty disease COVID-19 can be, and how it's obviously devastating to somewhere between 1 and 3.4 percent of the population... [b]ut we don't shut down our economy because tens of thousands of people die on the highways. It's a risk we accept so we can move about. We don't shut down our economies because tens of thousands of people die from the common flu". His comments were met with criticism that he was "playing down" the threat of COVID-19. Johnson responded that he was "just trying to look at this very realistically".[78]

Johnson used his position as chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee to invite witnesses to hearings to promote fringe theories about COVID-19.[79] The witnesses promoted unproven drugs, made dubious claims about COVID-19 spread and pushed skepticism about vaccines.[80] Johnson called pulmonologist Pierre Kory[81] to testify about his experiences with Ivermectin, as well as a medical doctor who "has cast doubts on coronavirus vaccines and has pushed for the use of hydroxychloroquine", and a cardiologist (Ramin Oskoui) who disagrees with "settled science".[82] After the FDA revoked the emergency use authorization from hydroxychloroquine in June 2020, Johnson and two other senators wrote the agency in August for an explanation of why the FDA was unresponsive to Trump administration officials' calls to reauthorize the drug as a COVID-19 treatment.[83]

In early 2021, Johnson was skeptical about COVID-19 vaccines.[84] Asked about COVID-19 vaccines in March 2021, he refused to say whether they were safe (as medical experts had determined) or to encourage people to get vaccinated.[7] In April 2021, he downplayed the need for widespread COVID-19 vaccinations.[85][86] Johnson has falsely suggested that people who have contracted COVID do not need to be vaccinated,[86] and that there is no need for young people to be vaccinated.[85] These claims contradict known science and the recommendations of health officials, who note that herd immunity is the most effective to halt COVID-19's spread and severity.[85] In December 2021 he recommended mouthwash as a treatment for the coronavirus during a town hall meeting, immediately drawing criticism. A dental-professional-focused website run by Listerine, one of the world’s most widely used mouthwash products, specifically says the evidence is not strong enough to conclude that it is helpful against COVID-19.[87]

In May 2021, Johnson falsely claimed that thousands of deaths were connected to COVID vaccinations. He also falsely stated that there was a risk of death for people previously infected with COVID who received the vaccine.[88] YouTube suspended Johnson from posting videos on the platform for seven days over his remarks touting unproven treatments for COVID-19.[89]

After Twitter suspended Alex Berenson for making false claims about the pandemic and vaccines, Johnson praised him as "a courageous voice of reason" and encouraged people to continue reading Berenson's writing on another site.[90]

In an October 2021 interview on Tucker Carlson Tonight, Johnson falsely claimed that ivermectin was being suppressed as a COVID-19 treatment in favor of expensive COVID-19 drugs developed by the pharmaceutical industry, and that "the Pfizer vaccine available in the U.S. is not FDA-approved" because it was not the "Comirnaty version".[91] "Comirnaty" is the United States Adopted Name that was assigned to the Pfizer vaccine after it the FDA approved it. Doses produced before the approval contain no formulaic differences from those produced afterward, and are interchangeable.[92][93]

In September 2024, Johnson wrote a letter to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration calling on them to review the 1-year and 2-year mortality rates for those who got a second dose of the Spikevax and Comirnaty vaccines in 2021. He also urged them to review the 1-year mortality rate ratio for mRNA vaccines between those who died in high COVID months and in low COVID months. He wrote that Spikevax increased all-cause mortality, citing studies by Steve Kirsch and Clare Craig on COVID vaccination and mortality rates in Czech Republic.[94]"