Hearings to examine how the corruption of science has impacted public perception and policies regarding vaccines.

Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

2025-09-09

Source: Congress.gov

Summary

This hearing of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations focused on how the perceived corruption of science has influenced public understanding and policy concerning vaccines [ 00:10:17-00:10:20 ] . Witnesses debated the reliability of scientific research, the safety and efficacy of vaccines, and the prevalence of chronic illnesses in children [ 00:10:34-00:12:15 ] . The discussion highlighted deep divisions regarding scientific integrity and public health policy .

Themes

Corruption of Science and Public Trust

Senator Ron Johnson opened by questioning the reliability of much scientific research, citing examples like Dr. Marsha Angel's critique of clinical research and widespread issues with fraudulent papers in academic publishing [ 00:10:34-00:11:20 ] . He argued that the public has been repeatedly lied to, necessitating a return to scientific integrity . Senator Richard Blumenthal concurred with the idea of science being corrupted, but attributed it to actions taken by the Trump administration, such as firing CDC officials and suppressing data on climate change and infectious diseases, while also demonizing vaccines . Attorney Aaron Siri criticized the World Health Organization's claim of 154 million lives saved by vaccines as an unreliable model lacking confidence intervals, labeling it propaganda rather than science . Dr. Toby Rogers introduced the concept of "epistemic capture," where the pharmaceutical industry influences every stage of knowledge production in science and medicine, leading to biased research and suppressed findings .

Vaccine Safety and Efficacy Debate

A central point of contention was an unpublished 2020 study from the Henry Ford Health System, presented by Aaron Siri, which reportedly found vaccinated children had 2.5 times the rate of chronic illness, including asthma, autoimmune, and neurodevelopmental disorders, compared to unvaccinated children [ 00:11:47-00:11:47 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
. Siri asserted that the study's authors withheld its publication due to fear of career repercussions, illustrating how dissenting scientific findings are suppressed . Dr. Jake Scott, however, dismissed this study as "fundamentally flawed by design," citing detection bias due to vaccinated children having more healthcare visits, and questioning the implausibility of zero ADHD cases in the unvaccinated group . Siri countered that the study's authors had conducted sensitivity analyses to address such biases, maintaining the validity of their findings . The discussion also delved into the methodology of vaccine trials, with Siri and Rogers arguing that routine childhood vaccines lack true inert-placebo controlled trials, challenging Dr. Scott's claims about his team's database of 661 such trials . Johnson also raised concerns about DNA contamination in COVID-19 vaccines and studies suggesting a correlation between excess mortality and vaccine uptake .

Autism and Chronic Illness Epidemics

Dr. Toby Rogers highlighted the dramatic increase in autism prevalence, from less than 1 in 10,000 children in 1970 to 1 in 31 by 2022, arguing this rapid rise cannot be solely genetic . He criticized studies that deny a vaccine-autism link for lacking truly unvaccinated control groups and referenced six studies suggesting increased autism risk from vaccination . Senator Johnson pointed to the alarming rate of chronic illness among American children (over 40%) and suggested powerful interests might be suppressing discoveries of root causes . Dr. Scott, conversely, stated that extensive meta-analyses consistently show no link between vaccines and autism, and that autism is largely heritable and develops in utero .

Tone of the Meeting

The meeting's tone was predominantly contentious and adversarial, characterized by sharp disagreements over evidence and motivations [ 00:21:57 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
. Senator Johnson and Mr. Siri frequently challenged Dr. Scott's scientific claims and sources, accusing them of bias and propaganda . Senator Blumenthal and Dr. Scott expressed frustration with what they considered misinformation and unscientific assertions, particularly regarding vaccine safety and political interference . The discussion grew particularly heated during exchanges concerning Dr. Robert Malone's past social media posts, with accusations of incitement to violence [ 01:59:42-02:01:58 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
. Despite the overall adversarial atmosphere, moments of appeal for open-mindedness and civility were interspersed, mainly from Dr. Scott and Senator Johnson .

Participants

Transcript

Good afternoon.  This hearing of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the United States Senate is called to order.  I want to welcome everyone to today's hearing titled, quote, how the corruption of science has impacted public perception and policy regarding vaccines.  I also want to thank the witnesses for their time, effort, and willingness to testify.  The awareness that much of scientific research is unreliable is not new.   in an article published in January 2009 entitled, quote, Drug Companies and Doctors, A Story of Corruption, Dr. Marsha Angel stated, quote, it is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines.  I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reach slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as,   and here's the real jaw-dropping part of this, over my two decades as editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.  This isn't Ron Johnson making that quote.  That is an editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.  A May 2016 survey published in the journal Nature found that, quote, more than 70% of researchers have tried and failed to reproduce in other scientists' experiments, unquote.   And in May 2024, Wiley, a major academic publisher, closed 19 journals, primarily due to issues with fraudulent papers, largely attributed to paper mills producing fake or compromised studies.  In the two years leading up to May 2024, Wiley had retracted more than 11,300 papers that were deemed compromised, often due to manipulated peer review process or fabricated content.   I've invited two witnesses who will discuss different examples of how research can be doctored or withheld in order to support a predetermined narrative and support the powerful interest to benefit from that narrative.
Attorney Aaron Siri will unveil a high quality study completed in 2020 and suspiciously withheld by the authors that shows vaccinated children suffer 2.5 times the rate of chronic illness compared to unvaccinated children.   Ph.D.  researcher Dr. Toby Rogers will discuss the history and obvious flaws in studies searching for the cause of autism.  Minorities witness Dr. Jake Scott will make the case the public should rely on research proving that vaccines are safe and effective.   Concurrent with our first hearing, we released a report showing federal health agencies were aware that a safety signal did exist for myocarditis associated with the mRNA injection and hid that fact from the public.  Our second hearing allowed witnesses who had been impacted by vaccine injuries and fatal infectious diseases to tell their stories.   The news media is all too willing to highlight a new outbreak of an infectious disease, but is loath to broadcast what they generally describe as, quote, rare and mild, unquote, vaccine injuries.  As a result, the vaccine injured have been ignored and abandoned.  In September 2024, I held a public roundtable discussion titled American Health and Nutrition, A Second Opinion, that highlighted America's alarming rate of chronic illness.   Dr. Chris Palmer, a psychiatrist who studies the impact of nutrition on mental health, testified that when it comes to chronic illness, quote, they do not want root causes to be discovered, unquote.  By they, I assume Dr. Palmer was referring to the powerful entities and individuals whose multi-billion dollar businesses and organizational interests would be disrupted by the knowledge that the products they produce or promote could cause harm.   They certainly don't want the public to know the root cause, if it's one of their products, and they're willing to go to great lengths by spending billions of dollars in advertising and lobbyists to keep the public from even asking the question, much less finding the answer.
The purpose of these hearings is to force the acknowledgement of reality.  Exactly what all the realities and truths are, I cannot say.   What I can say for sure is that we have been lied to repeatedly and that in order to restore public faith in federal agencies, integrity must return to science.  We must also have open minds and be willing to face the truth.  It's been interesting to see the media's reaction to our previous hearings.  Except for a few highly biased attack pieces, the legacy media has largely ignored what I consider to be highly informative hearings.   Perhaps they are taking advice from Senator Blumenthal, who hours before our last hearing, Voices of the Vaccine Injured held a press conference and was reported to have stated, quote, I hope nothing comes of this hearing.  I hope people don't pay attention because it isn't deserving of credibility and attention.  However, during that hearing, Senator Blumenthal stated, quote, I am heartbroken to hear these stories.  It makes me want to do something, unquote.   So maybe hearing true, incredible stories of vaccine injuries actually did deserve attention.  I certainly believe today's testimony deserves attention and hope it will prompt us to do something to restore credibility and integrity to science and our federal health agencies.  Senator Blumenthal.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.  Welcome to everyone.  Whether you agree or disagree,   This hearing is not personal between Senator Johnson or myself, between any of you and the witnesses.  This hearing is about, quote, unquote, the corruption of science.  And I agree.  We are witnessing the corruption of science.  It's happening before our eyes in real time.  Maybe more accurately, it should be entitled The Denial and Degrading   of science.  When the Senate confirmed director of the CDC is fired because she refuses to fire officials or approve unscientific vaccine guidance without evidence, that is corruption of science.

Sign up for free to see the full transcript

Accounts help us prevent bots from abusing our site. Accounts are free and will allow you to access the full transcript.

Sign up