On March 11, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act into law, a gargantuan $1.9 trillion COVID-19 pandemic relief package. Contained within the law is a program for the federal government to pay news organizations to advertise for the approved COVID-19 vaccines, even though these news outlets were offering ubiquitous coverage of vaccine development and distribution.
Hundreds of news organizations were paid by the federal government to advertise for the vaccines as part of a "comprehensive media campaign," according to documents TheBlaze obtained from the Department of Health and Human Services. The Biden administration purchased ads on TV, radio, in print, and on social media to build vaccine confidence, timing this effort with the increasing availability of the vaccines. The government also relied on earned media featuring "influencers" from "communities hit hard by COVID-19" and "experts" like White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci and other academics to be interviewed and promote vaccination in the news.
In response to a FOIA request filed by TheBlaze, HHS revealed that it purchased advertising from major news networks including ABC, CBS, and NBC, as well as cable TV news stations Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, legacy media publications including the New York Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post, digital media companies like BuzzFeed News and Newsmax, and hundreds of local newspapers and TV stations. These outlets were collectively responsible for publishing countless articles and video segments regarding the vaccine that were nearly uniformly positive about the vaccine in terms of both its efficacy and safety.
Though virtually all of these newsrooms produced stories covering the COVID-19 vaccines, the taxpayer dollars flowing to their companies were not disclosed to audiences in news reports, since common practice dictates that editorial teams operate independently of media advertising departments and news teams felt no need to make the disclosure, as some publications reached for comment explained.
Congress appropriated $1 billion in fiscal year 2021 for the secretary of health to spend on activities to "strengthen vaccine confidence in the United States." Federal law authorizes HHS to act through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies to award contracts to public and private entities to "carry out a national, evidence-based campaign to increase awareness and knowledge of the safety and effectiveness of vaccines for the prevention and control of diseases, combat misinformation about vaccines, and disseminate scientific and evidence-based vaccine-related information, with the goal of increasing rates of vaccination across all ages ... to reduce and eliminate vaccine-preventable diseases."
Anyone who has spent time reading the news, watching TV news coverage, or browsing social media in the past year has more than likely been exposed to the government's advertising. HHS ads posted to YouTube have been viewed millions of times, and commercials featuring celebrities like singer Sir Elton John and actor Sir Michael Caine have been the subject of news coverage, such as this feature from NBC News:
Elton John, Michael Caine Appear In Comic Covid Vaccine Ad | NBC News NOW youtu.be
"Fear-based vaccine ads" from HHS featuring "survivor" stories from coronavirus patients who were hospitalized in intensive care units were covered by CNN and discussed on ABC's "The View" when they were unveiled last October.
Though the federal government was paying each of these companies and others for pro-vaccine advertising while news reports covered the same vaccines, many editorial boards say they have firewall policies that prevent advertisers from influencing news coverage.
"Advertisers pay for space to share their messages, as was the case here, and those ads are clearly labeled as such," explained Shani George, vice president of communications for the Washington Post, in a statement. "The newsroom is completely independent from the advertising department," she said.
A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Times gave a similar statement, emphasizing that the "newsroom operates independently from advertising."
TheBlaze reached out to several other publications that either declined to comment or did not respond before publication.
The COVID-19 Public Education Campaign by HHS also used earned media outreach — word of mouth marketing — with the goal of having "trusted messengers and influencers" speak to news organizations to "provide factual, timely information and steps people can take to protect themselves, their families, and their communities."
As a result of that effort, various government officials have frequently been quoted by reporters covering the COVID-19 pandemic, offering factual information on vaccine efficacy and safety. An October article from BuzzFeed News featuring the "essential facts" about who is eligible for a COVID-19 booster shot, for example, reported pro-vaccine statements from CDC director Rochelle Walensky, FDA official Peter Marks, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, and University of California, San Francisco, epidemiologist George Rutherford.
The article stressed how studies show "boosters work" and cited FDA data that suggests getting a booster shot "can reestablish strong protection against the virus." BuzzFeed News advised everyone age 65 or older, people with health conditions that put them at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19, those like health care workers who are at risk from coming into contact with COVID-19-positive people for work, and anyone in areas with high virus transmission to get vaccine boosters, in accordance with guidance from the CDC.
Other publications, such as the Los Angeles Times, featured advice from experts on how readers could convince vaccine-hesitant people in their lives to change their minds. The Washington Post covered "the pro-vaccine messages people want to hear." Newsmax has reported how the vaccines have "been demonstrated to be safe and effective" and "encouraged citizens, especially those at risk, to get immunized."
HHS did not immediately respond when asked if the agency used taxpayer dollars to pay for people to be interviewed, or for a PR firm to place them in interviews with news outlets.
Since the COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson were given emergency approval for use in the United States last year, more than 215 million Americans have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. An estimated 94.6 million people have also received at least one booster dose. About 65% of the U.S. population has now been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, including 75% of U.S. adults and 88.8% of seniors.
HHS has not yet revealed how much advertising money was spent on each media platform.
California lawmakers are considering a bill that would impose a statewide COVID-19 vaccine mandate at all workplaces, Politico reported Friday.
Democratic Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks introduced the bill, claiming that the only way for the pandemic to end is by mandating vaccination.
“The pathway to endemic, for us to get back to some sense of normalcy, is through vaccines,” she told Politico.
Wicks' bill would impose severe financial penalties on businesses that do not comply and is all but certain to face opposition as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) begins to lift other pandemic restrictions. The governor is set to ease masking requirements and indoor social distancing restrictions as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have fallen since the Omicron variant surge this winter.
Although fewer cases and hospitalizations are encouraging, Wicks said her bill is necessary because the pandemic remains unpredictable.
“It has seemed like things are moving in the right direction many times before with this virus, and yet there we were with another wave,” Wicks said.
The vaccine mandate legislation is the latest proposal to come from the state legislature's Vaccine Work Group, a caucus of lawmakers formed to advance bills intended to mitigate COVID-19 spread and combat vaccine misinformation.
Other bills introduced by members of the vaccine caucus include a bill that would allow any child 12 or older to consent to receive an FDA-approved vaccine without parental say-so and a statewide school vaccine mandate with no exemptions.
According to Politico, Wicks considered introducing the vaccine mandate bill last year but never followed through with her idea. Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has blocked President Joe Biden's federal vaccine mandate on businesses with more than 100 employees from taking effect, she says state lawmakers have an opportunity to act.
Workplaces of all sizes, as well as contractors, would fall under the mandate. Exemptions would only be permitted for religious or medical reasons. New hires would have to show proof of having at least one vaccine dose by their start date and show documentation of a second dose within 45 days, according to Politico.
Wicks' bill would not include a testing option for workers who do not want to get vaccinated, addressing concerns about who would pay for the tests. If the bill passes, California workers at every business would be given an ultimatum: et jabbed or get fired.
The Democrat also said lawmakers are considering vaccine legislation that would affect customers entering businesses.
U.S. Army researchers at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research say they have developed a COVID-19 vaccine that is effective against all variants of the virus and even other deadly SARS-like viruses.
After two years of work on the virus, Walter Reed's Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle COVID-19 vaccine completed animal trials earlier this year with positive results. Phase 1 of human trials finished this month, also with positive results, and scientists are looking forward to phase 2 and 3 trials, Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad told Defense One in an interview.
“It's very exciting to get to this point for our entire team and I think for the entire Army as well,” Modjarrad, the director of Walter Reed's infectious disease branch, said.
Walter Reed's pan-coronavirus vaccine is different from other COVID-19 vaccines in that it uses a soccer ball-shaped protein with 24 faces, which allows scientists to attach the spikes of multiple coronavirus strains on different faces of the protein.
This will potentially allow the vaccine to offer a broader range of protection against COVID-19 variants, as well as other SARS-like coronaviruses.
A Dec. 16 press release from U.S. Army officials said the SpFN vaccine "protects non-human primates from disease caused by the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 and induces highly-potent and broadly-neutralizing antibody responses against major SARS-CoV-2 variants."
Dr. Modjarrad explained that human trials have taken longer than expected because the Army lab needed to test the vaccine on subjects who had neither been vaccinated nor previously infected with COVID. The highly contagious Delta and Omicron variants of COVID, as well as increasing vaccination rates, have made it difficult to find such people.
“With Omicron, there's no way really to escape this virus. You're not going to be able to avoid it. So I think pretty soon either the whole world will be vaccinated or have been infected,” Modjarrad said.
The next step for scientists is to study how the Army's pan-coronavirus vaccine affects people who were previously vaccinated or who have recovered from a COVID-19 infection. Defense One reports that Walter Reed is "working with a yet-to-be-named industry partner for that wider rollout."
“We need to evaluate it in the real-world setting and try to understand how does the vaccine perform in much larger numbers of individuals who have already been vaccinated with something else initially … or already been sick,” Modjarrad said.
He credited nearly all of Walter Reed's 2,500 staff with having a role in the vaccine's development.
“We decided to take a look at the long game rather than just only focusing on the original emergence of SARS, and instead understand that viruses mutate, there will be variants that emerge, future viruses that may emerge in terms of new species. Our platform and approach will equip people to be prepared for that.”
These promising vaccine developments came as President Joe Biden declared Tuesday that the Omicron variant has become the dominant coronavirus variant in the United States.
However, a study released Wednesday indicated that this new wave of COVID-19 infections may be milder than previous waves.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa found that the Omicron variant, which appears to be resistant to current COVID-19 vaccines, resulted in 80% fewer hospitalizations compared to the Delta and other variant infections.
Country music legend Travis Tritt has announced that he will not play concert venues that require their patrons to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination, mask mandates, or require pre-show testing.
Adding that "the fear-mongering narrative is breaking down," the country hitmaker encouraged his fans to stay strong in the face of what he says is adversity.
Tritt, in a Monday press release shared on his website, announced that he has canceled all concerts at venues making such demands on its customers. He added that he will no longer play concerts going forward in venues making similar demands on patrons.
“I'm putting my money where my mouth is and announcing that any venue or promoter mandating masks, requiring vaccinations, or pushing COVID testing protocols on my fans will not be tolerated," he wrote in an impassioned update.
Tritt continued, "Any show I have booked that discriminates against concert-goers by requiring proof of vaccination, a COVID test, or a mask is being canceled immediately. Many people are taking a firm stand against these mandates around the country, and I wholeheartedly support that cause. I have been extremely vocal against mandates since the beginning."
Tritt added that he is "willing" to stand up for America's freedoms and has no problem taking his tour elsewhere.
“This is a sacrifice that I'm willing to make to stand up for the freedoms that generations of Americans have enjoyed for their entire lifetimes," the 58-year-old hit musician added. “There are plenty of promoters and venues around the country that appreciate fans and the freedom of choice in this great country, and those are the promoters and venues that I will be supporting."
Tritt announced that therefore, he will not be playing previously scheduled shows in Muncie, Indiana; Philadelphia, Mississippi; Peoria, Illinois; or Louisville, Kentucky, at the time of this reporting. He has yet to announce any further dates that may be canceled as a result of venue policies.
He concluded the statement, "I'm sorry for any inconvenience this situation creates for anyone who had purchased tickets to these shows. We will try to reschedule unrestricted shows in these areas as soon as we can."
Tritt tweeted Monday about the headline-making announcement and wrote, "The fear-mongering narrative is breaking down. People who stand up against this narrative scare the hell out of those who promote fear. Hold the line and stand strong."
At the time of this reporting, Tritt's late-night tweet received more than 6,000 likes.
COVID-19 immunization status is deciding who gets care in some cases, according to a disturbing report from the Washington Post.
UCHealth, a Colorado-based hospital system, is denying organ transplants to unvaccinated patients in "almost all situations."
"In almost all situations, transplant recipients and living donors at UCHealth are now required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in addition to meeting other health requirements and receiving additional vaccinations," a spokesperson for UCHealth said in a statement to The Hill.
UCHealth explained that patients who receive an organ transplant are at "significant risk for COVID-19" and stated that the mortality rate for transplant patients who are infected with the coronavirus is between 18% and 32%.
"This is why it is essential that both the recipient and the living donor be vaccinated and take other precautions prior to undergoing transplant surgery," the health system's statement explained. "Surgeries may be postponed until patients take all required precautions in order to give them the best chance at positive outcomes."
The rules made headlines on Tuesday after Rep. Tim Geitner (R-Colo.) announced that the health system denied a kidney transplant to an area woman because she did not receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
In a statement, Geitner called the practice "disgusting."
He shared a letter that he said the unnamed patient reportedly received last week from the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora.
In its letter, the health system said:
The transplant team at University of Colorado Hospital has determined that it is necessary to place you inactive on the waiting list. You will be inactivated on the list for non-compliance by not receiving the COVID vaccine. You will have 30 days to begin the vaccination series. If your decision is to refuse COVID vaccination you will be removed from the kidney transplant list. You will continue to accrue waiting time, but you will not receive a kidney offer while listed inactive. Once you complete the COVID vaccination series you will be reactivated on the kidney transplant list pending any other changes in your health condition.
UCHealth denies life saving treatment - kidney transplant - to El Paso County resident. See my FB live post… https://t.co/PVaurOj6p2
— Tim Geitner (@tgeitner) 1633459877.0
The Post report noted that the health system "declined to discuss particular patients" due to federal guidelines.
The health system on Tuesday, however, confirmed that "nearly all of its transplant recipients and organ donors must get vaccinated against the coronavirus."
Dan Weaver, a spokesperson for UCHealth, said the health system isn't the only one making such decisions in the United States, and pointed out that certain conditions on meeting the requirements for organ transplants — including smoking cessation and more — are nothing new.
"An organ transplant is a unique surgery that leads to a lifetime of specialized management to ensure an organ is not rejected, which can lead to serious complications, the need for a subsequent transplant surgery, or even death," Weaver said. "Physicians must consider the short- and long-term health risks for patients as they consider whether to recommend an organ transplant."
Weaver did not state what might exempt a patient from getting the vaccine.
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