First report on COVID vaccine inquiry released
More than a year after the Florida Supreme Court granted Gov. Ron DeSantis’ request to empanel a statewide grand jury to investigate “criminal or wrongful activity” related to COVID-19 vaccines, the body released its first report and said its probe is “nowhere near complete.”
Even so, the panel’s preliminary report released late Friday had some conclusions concerning the pandemic. It said “lockdowns were not a good trade” and that “we have never had sound evidence of (masks’) effectiveness” in detering the virus.
The report’s comments on masks contradict recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC’s guidance says research shows masks are effective in stopping the spread of COVID-19 and recommends that people with symptoms, people who have tested positive, and people who have been exposed to the virus should wear masks when indoors in public.
The report discussed whether lockdowns, mask mandates and social-distancing guidelines “had a significant impact on the overall risk” of COVID-19.
Among the body’s early findings were:
• “There have always been legitimate questions around the impracticality of individual adherence to mask recommendations, but once it became clear that the primary transmission vector of SARS-CoV-2 was via aerosol, their potential efficacy was further diminished.”
• Social distancing is not “nearly as important … as it is whether they are in an interior or exterior environment and whether that environment is subject to adequate airflow,” information that they said is still “missing from the CDC’s Social Distancing Guidelines.”
• “Many public health recommendations and their attendant mandates departed significantly from scientific research” that was available to everyone at the time.
• Jurisdictions that enforced lockdowns “tended to end up with higher overall excess mortality.”
The report said the grand jury talked with doctors, scientists and professors “with a broad range of viewpoints.”
Kenneth Goodman, founder and director of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy, said the report raises questions about which professionals the grand jury spoke with and how those professionals were vetted.
“Using the language of science to promote mysticism is particularly egregious,” Goodman said.
Since Jan. 1, 2020, more than 82,000 Floridians have died from COVID-19, according to the most current CDC data. Just under 900 people have died from the virus in the past three months.
There are 17.8 million people in Florida who have received at least one dose of the vaccine, CDC data shows, about 83% of the state’s population. About 70% completed the first series of vaccines. Only about 12% of the state’s population has received an updated booster dose.
DeSantis and Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo routinely have criticized COVID-19 vaccines. Ladapo in September advised people under the age of 65 against getting the new booster when it was approved.
Last month, Ladapo called for a halt in using the vaccines, discussing in a statement a refuted theory that they may be “delivering contaminant DNA into human cells.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in a letter to Ladapo last December refuted his concerns about the safety and efficacy of vaccines.
“The challenge we continue to face is the ongoing proliferation of misinformation and disinformation about these vaccines which results in vaccine hesitancy that lowers vaccine uptake,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research for the FDA, wrote to Ladapo. “Given the dramatic reduction in the risk of death, hospitalization and serious illness afforded by the vaccines, lower vaccine uptake is contributing to the continued death and serious illness toll of
COVID-19.”
In an update on the CDC’s website on Thursday, the agency said their new data shows updated COVID-19 vaccines were effective and advises that everyone ages 6 months and older should get the updated shots.
DeSantis has fought against the federal mandates that he and his base viewed as governmental overreach while portraying Florida’s policies as “pro-freedom.”
But the report issued Friday said the grand jury is apolitical, diverse in ethnicity, gender and politics and has “no specific agenda with respect to these issues.”
Despite that assertion, Goodman said, “it would still be nice to have a little transparency about who selected their experts” and the names of those experts.
“It’s Florida, and what we’ve become used to in Florida is people with an agenda finding a way to put their thumb on the scientific scale,” he said.
The report did not include any recommendations, but the grand jury could make some in future reports.
“The Statewide Grand Jury only has the power to recommend solutions; we cannot enact them. It will be up to state legislators, federal lawmakers or even the people themselves to ensure that our efforts are not wasted,” the report said. “Moreover, we concur that if violations of Florida criminal law occurred with respect to COVID19 vaccines, they must be addressed by the appropriate authorities.”