Government Pandemic Response
Having effectively discarded their own credibility since the beginning of the pandemic, the powers-that-be find that much of the population no longer places faith in what they have to say.
Dear Reader,
This web page catalogs misinformation and disinformation which has been spread (and is being spread) by government officials in the United States regarding the Covid-19 pandemic.
Protect yourself and others by looking instead to reliable sources of information.
Be Safe,
Bourgeois Norm 
If the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated anything, it is that there is no situation so severe that government can't make it worse.
Government's recent crimes are legion: standing in the way of testing; complicating efforts to acquire protective equipment; imposing authoritarian and uniform lockdown rules across very different populations; and enforcing those rules in dangerous and ill-considered ways.
-J.D. Tuccille
"Why aren't tens of millions of eligible Americans fully vaccinated against COVID-19?" The Economist and YouGov asked in a recent poll. "Most who haven't started the vaccination process say it's a matter of trust."
"Americans who are sure they will not get the vaccine are especially likely to say their lack of trust in the government is their major reason for rejecting the vaccine," the polling firm adds, with 22 percent of respondents giving that as their reason for refusing vaccination, second to concerns about side effects.
-J.D. Tuccille
Government, Incompetence, Drugs
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requested Monday for the courts to give them until 2076 to review and fully release the documents pertaining to the approval of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
The FDA denied Sept. 9 a request for an expedited release of the vaccine’s approval records from a group of doctors and scientists, the Public Health Medical Professionals for Transparency (PHMPT). The PHMPT has since filed a lawsuit against the FDA for failure to complete their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Government, Incompetence, Oops, Healthcare, Ignorance
At a meeting of the Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, a voting member admitted he wasn’t sure about the COVID shot’s long-term risk to children despite the committee voting to recommend the Pfizer vaccine for kids ages 5-11.
The committee considered a voting question that read, “Based on the totality of scientific evidence available, do the benefits of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine when administered as a 2-dose series … outweigh its risks for use in children 5-11 years of age?”
While considering the question, one member openly admitted they couldn’t be certain the vaccine is safe while advocating for children to be injected with it, saying, “We’re never going to learn about how safe the vaccine is until we start giving it.”
Government, Incompetence, Science, Experts, Lie, Healthcare
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday the reason the public was advised not to wear masks at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic was that there were too few to go around.
In an interview with the financial-news site TheStreet, Fauci, the US government's foremost infectious-diseases expert, was asked about the changing government advice on wearing masks.
In January through March, as the spread of the disease became more and more serious, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention actively discouraged the use of masks among the general public...
Fauci's comments echo those of Surgeon General Jerome Adams on March 2, when he said that the increased demand for masks was putting medical professionals at risk.
A few days earlier, he tweeted that masks were "not effective in preventing" COVID-19 in the general public, saying, "Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS!" He later reversed his advice.
Government, Incompetence, Science, Lie, Healthcare
Dr. Anthony Fauci has long cited 60% to 70% as the level of COVID infection/vaccination the country would need to achieve herd immunity — for the disease to fade and life to return to normal, writes the New York Times' Donald G. McNeil Jr.
But, but, but: "About a month ago, he began saying '70, 75 percent' in television interviews. And last week, in an interview with CNBC News, he said '75, 80, 85 percent' and '75 to 80-plus percent,'" McNeil writes.
What's new: "In a telephone interview," McNeil continues, "Fauci acknowledged that he had slowly but deliberately been moving the goalposts."
"He is doing so, he said, partly based on new science, and partly on his gut feeling that the country is finally ready to hear what he really thinks."
Mass Gatherings Suddenly OK for BLM Protests...
"This was a pivotal moment in the pandemic’s history: For four months, the message was clear and unrelenting: everyone must stay home. Those who leave — even to go to a deserted beach — are reckless sociopaths. It flipped overnight to endorse a mass protest movement liberals liked."
U.S. Surgeon General:
STOP BUYING MASKS!
Masks are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus.
Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell
Spouts Dangerous Covid Misinformation
Twitter Allows Dangerous Misinformation To Stand
Government Official Spreads Covid Misinformation: Tweet observed as still being active on Twitter December, 2021.
If the government really wants to fight misinformation, an important first step would be for its own health officials to stop saying things that are false.
Biden False Claim on Virus Spread
Oct 2021
Biden: "We're making sure healthcare workers are vaccinated because if you seek care at a healthcare facility, you should have the certainty that the people providing that care are protected from COVID and cannot spread it to you."
Figure 1: Liberal Democrat (Party of Science™) Pushes Deadly Misinformation
But vaccinated people CAN spread the virus:
"Our vaccines are working exceptionally well. They continue to work well for Delta with regard to severe illness and death - they prevent it, but what they can't do anymore is prevent transmission."
-CDC director Rochelle Walensky
Joe Biden Vs. The CDC...
"This is a simple, basic proposition: If you’re vaccinated, you’re not going to be hospitalized, you’re not going to be in an ICU unit, and you’re not going to die."
"There will be a small percentage of fully vaccinated people who still get sick, are hospitalized, or die from COVID-19."
I was a small government conservative, sure, but I somehow still believed in our health agencies. The people were panicking, and buying toilet paper en-masse, but I was certain our health officials had spent decades preparing for a pandemic such as this. They would lead the way on sharing information between countries, carefully discarding information from totalitarian regimes like China, and would prioritize returning us to normal as soon as possible.
In retrospect, it’s crazy that I had such faith. I didn’t think I was naive but it turns out I was. I had generally counted on the government, certainly the federal government, to handle things poorly. I was raised on the Ronald Reagan quote "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.'"
And still, I believed. This was important. This was their moment to shine. They couldn’t let us down now.
They did not shine. They did let us down.
-Karol Markowicz
Government, Character, Financial, Science, Lie, Healthcare
Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced his resignation on Tuesday, just weeks after documents exposed that he made “untruthful” comments about U.S. federal funding of gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology...
Just weeks before this announcement, Richard Ebright of Rutgers University accused Collins of making false public statements about National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) grants to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), which have since been proven to fund the study of “chimeric SARS-related coronaviruses” which “could infect human cells.”
Ebright said bluntly that Collins had not told the truth when asked about this research: “assertions by the NIH Director, Francis Collins, and the NIAID Director, Anthony Fauci, that the NIH did not support gain-of-function research or potential pandemic pathogen enhancement at WIV are untruthful.”
U.S. Funded Coronavirus Research in China...
The bat coronavirus grant provided EcoHealth Alliance with a total of $3.1 million, including $599,000 that the Wuhan Institute of Virology used in part to identify and alter bat coronaviruses likely to infect humans.
Even before the pandemic, many scientists were concerned about the potential dangers associated with such experiments.
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Science, Oops, Healthcare, Biden
Two senior officials have resigned from their positions within the US Food and Drug Administration over frustrations with the Biden administration’s plans to move forward with recommending COVID-19 booster shots without their prior approval, according to a report.
Marion Gruber, director of the FDA’s Office of Vaccines Research & Review, and deputy director Phil Krause are set to leave the agency this fall, with sources telling Politico that the two officials were at odds with the FDA’s top vaccine official, Peter Marks, and were discontented over the roles of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in decisions that they believed should be handled by the FDA.
According to trade publication Endpoints, the officials felt they were sidelined on major decisions, that the administration’s plan for boosters was jumping the gun, and that Marks should have pushed for the FDA to have more autonomy on the matter.
Government, Incompetence, Healthcare
New York leaders sought to calm jittery nerves Monday after the city recorded its first confirmed case of the new coronavirus, saying the disease — while dangerous — is a manageable threat...
“We want New Yorkers to go about their everyday lives — use the subway, take the bus, etc.,” city Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot said, explaining that COVID-19 “is not an illness that can be easily spread through casual contact.”
"Get Out On The Town Despite Coronavirus"
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio
March 2020
"Since I’m encouraging New Yorkers to go on with your lives + get out on the town despite Coronavirus, I thought I would offer some suggestions. Here’s the first: thru Thurs 3/5 go see “The Traitor” @FilmLinc . If “The Wire” was a true story + set in Italy, it would be this film."
A Government Official Spreading Covid Misinformation...
In January, Fauci again confessed to a purportedly noble lie: He purposely set the herd immunity threshold at a lower level because he didn't think the public could handle the actual number. In any fair accounting, this meets the classic definition of spreading misinformation...
Democrat, Government, Incompetence, Oops, Healthcare
A video clip from late February shows Nancy Pelosi encouraging large groups of people to congregate in San Francisco’s Chinatown before she would later go on to blame President Trump’s early “denial” for the spread of coronavirus.
The footage, which was taken on February 24th, is introduced by a reporter noting how Pelosi wanted residents to understand how it’s “perfectly safe to be here” in Chinatown.
“We do want to say to people, come to Chinatown, here we are…come join us,” said Pelosi...
The reporter then explains how the stunt was a response to San Francisco’s Chinatown experiencing a drop in business since the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China.
San Francisco has since recorded 340 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 5 people have died.
The video is particularly eye opening since yesterday on CNN, Pelosi blamed President Trump’s “denial at the beginning” for the spread of coronavirus throughout the United States.
Figure 1: US Government Gives Conflicting Messages on Antigen Tests
Trust in CDC and FDA Collapses Among Health Care Professionals...
"Trust in the CDC and FDA has decreased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic among health care professionals.
Out of nearly 2,000 U.S. nurses surveyed on Medscape (WebMD's sister site for health care professionals) between May 25 and June 3, 77% said their trust in the CDC has decreased since the start of the pandemic, and 51% said their trust in the FDA has decreased.
Similarly, out of nearly 450 U.S. doctors surveyed in the same time period, 77% said their trust in the CDC has decreased and 48% said their trust in the FDA has decreased."
Misinformation From The CDC...
But millions of Americans spent the pandemic wildly scrubbing surfaces and cleaning their groceries due to bad guidance—what might reasonably be called misinformation— from the CDC. Many public spaces still follow such guidance.
The American people need to know the level of incompetence, the lack of rigor, the lack of critical thinking. I was stunned at what I saw. We had bureaucrats in charge of the policy and that policy was the restrictions and lockdowns. And it failed.
It was incredible to watch grown-up, highly educated people who supported lockdowns and other pandemic measures struggle to articulate why, when it came to George Floyd protests, their positions changed.
Democrats Flout Covid Rules
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited a San Francisco hair salon on Monday afternoon for a wash and blow-out, despite local ordinances keeping salons closed amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Government Scientists and Deadly Pathogens
The scientific establishment in the US has been rocked in recent weeks by revelations that live smallpox was unknowingly put into cold storage at the NIH, that live anthrax was mishandled at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and that a dangerous strain of bird flu was accidentally shipped.
As lefty journalist Glenn Greenwald recently observed, “This was a pivotal moment in the pandemic’s history: For four months, the message was clear and unrelenting: everyone must stay home. Those who leave — even to go to a deserted beach — are reckless sociopaths. It flipped overnight to endorse a mass protest movement liberals liked.”
This is what I mean by lies and political manipulation. People noticed, and the public-health establishment’s credibility — already damaged by the mask reversal — collapsed.
But it gets worse. Despite a blanket denial from Anthony Fauci, it turns out that “gain-of-function” research at the Wuhan lab that seems to have produced the fatal coronavirus was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, headed by one Anthony Fauci.
-Glenn H. Reynolds
Democrat, Liberal, Government, Incompetence, Murder
At an April 23 press conference, Gov. Andrew Cuomo sounded indignant when a reporter asked if anyone had objected to New York’s policy of forcing nursing homes to admit recently discharged COVID-19 patients.
“They don’t have the right to object,” Cuomo answered before the reporter finished his question. “That is the rule, and that is the regulation, and they have to comply with it.”...
In Pennsylvania, nursing homes account for 65 percent of COVID-19 deaths. Both states, like New York, had orders in place that required nursing homes to admit recently released COVID-19 patients.
These results are not surprising to some. Health experts and trade associations had warned early on that forcing nursing homes to take on newly discharged COVID-19 patients was a recipe for disaster, noting that such facilities didn’t have the ability to properly quarantine the infected.
Covid: The Experts Failed...
It’s bad enough to deal with a nasty virus. It’s far worse to deal with the sudden end of the stream of life as we know it and then have nothing to show for it.
Trust is gone and will stay that way for a very long time. The longer the experts who did this to the world refuse to acknowledge and admit their failure, the longer the healing will take.
The Technocratic Elite
A closer look at the so-called "knowledge class" shows that what it knows best is how to preserve and extend its own privileges.
-Roger Kimball
Covid-19: Biden Now Says There Is No Federal Solution...
"There is no federal solution. This gets solved at a state level."
Blue State Covid-19 Incompetence
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aide privately apologized to Democratic lawmakers for withholding the state’s nursing home death toll from COVID-19.
15,000 Nursing Home Residents Are Now Unavailable For Comment...
"Look, Cuomo and de Blasio, do they have egos? Yes. But at least they had good intentions."
The tally of New Yorkers killed by the coronavirus pandemic stands at more than 55,000 people, the state Health Department confirmed late Tuesday — far more than the 43,000 long reported by now-departed Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
DOH officials released the revised tallies just hours after Gov. Kathy Hochul was sworn into office, finally bringing the state’s death count into line with figures long published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Johns Hopkins University.
“We’re now releasing more data than had been released before, publicly, so people know the nursing home deaths and the hospital deaths are consistent with what’s being displayed by the CDC,” Hochul told MSNBC on Wednesday morning.
-Nolan Hicks and Carl Campanile
It’s time for a rigorous investigation — perhaps a Truth and Reconciliation Commission with subpoena power — to get to the bottom of how our public-health authorities have mismanaged this pandemic.
There’s certainly no chance that the existing establishment will do so.
-Glenn Harlan Reynolds
Misinformation Vs. Disinformation, Explained:
Misinformation refers to false or out-of-context information that is presented as fact regardless of an intent to deceive.
Disinformation is a type of misinformation that is intentionally false and intended to deceive or mislead.
Both misinformation and disinformation involve the sharing of bad or debunked information, with varying intents and purposes.
-Meira Gebel