Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has written 36 letters, starting in August 2020, to many agencies — FDA, CDC, NIH, NIAID, HHS, and DoD — about the mishandling of COVID-19, lack of transparency, adverse events, lack of early treatment, vaccine mandates, and health care freedom.

The DoD has not provided a single response.  Some of the other agencies have responded, although the majority of the responses received were considered incomplete.  The grossly inadequate reaction to Senator Johnson's legitimate oversight demonstrates a level of arrogance toward the American public that is unacceptable. In particular, the lack of transparency from federal health agencies has eroded public confidence in the agencies, which will take years (and probably a complete restructuring) to repair.

Perhaps most concerning is the treatment of those in our military, who have been given an unconstitutional mandate to receive the experimental vaccine or face being ejected. The fact that there is irrefutable evidence of vaccine adverse events for the military members getting the vaccine and expulsion for those who don't, poses a real threat to our nation's defense capabilities.

On 24 August 2021, the secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, issued a memorandum directing the secretaries of the military departments to "immediately begin full vaccination of all members of the Armed Forces under Department of Defense (DoD) authority on active duty or in the Ready Reserve, including the National Guard, who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19."  The memorandum stated that "[m]andatory vaccination against COVID-19 will only use COVID-19 vaccines that receive full licensure from the FDA in accordance with the FDA-approved labeling and guidance. In light of the FDA's statement that "there is not sufficient approved [supply]" of Comirnaty, the only fully licensed vaccine, Senator Johnson, in a 12 October 2021 letter, asked Secretary Austin how the DoD will comply with the vaccine mandate.

Despite this lack of clarity, DoD has begun discharging service members "for not obeying orders to get vaccinated."  Reports indicate that on 13 December 2021, the Air Force discharged 27 service members for noncompliance.  The discharge classification of these 27 veterans is uncertain, as is their eligibility for veteran benefits.

On 24 January 2022, Senator Johnson held a roundtable featuring world-renowned doctors and medical experts who shared their perspectives on COVID-19 vaccine efficacy and safety and the overall response to the pandemic.  At the roundtable, Thomas Renz, an attorney who is representing three DoD whistleblowers, revealed disturbing information regarding dramatic increases in medical diagnoses among military personnel.  The concern is that these increases may be related to the COVID-19 vaccines being mandated to our military members.

Based on the data from the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED), Renz reported that these whistleblowers found a significant increase in registered diagnoses on DMED for miscarriages, cancer, and many other medical conditions in 2021 compared to a five-year average from 2016 to 2020.

At the roundtable, Renz stated that the registered diagnoses for neurological issues increased 10 times from a five-year average of 82,000 to 863,000 in 2021.  There were also increases in registered diagnoses in 2021 for the following medical conditions:

• Hypertension – 2,181% increase
• Disease of the Nervous System – 1,048% increase
• Multiple Sclerosis – 680% increase
• Breast Cancer – 487% increase
• Female Infertility – 472% increase
• Testicular Cancer – 369% increase

Renz went on to inform Senator Johnson that some DMED data showing registered diagnoses of myocarditis had been removed from the database.

Upon hearing this news, Senator Johnson, on 24 January 2022, sent Secretary Austin a letter requesting he preserve all records referring, relating, or reported to the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED).

Instead of responding to Senator Johnson, the DoD responded to PolitiFact about allegations relating to the same database.  On 31 January 2022, a week after Senator Johnson sent a letter to Secretary Austin, the DoD responded to reports about the increased diagnosis of medical conditions in the DMED in 2021, compared to the previous five years.

Specifically, a DoD spokesperson reportedly told PolitiFact that the data in DMED were "incorrect for the year 2016–2020."

Secretary Austin and the DoD responded to PolitiFact before Senator Johnson, who was conducting critical oversight for the health and well-being of our men and women in uniform.  This act is highly problematic and inappropriate.  It reeks of deceit and nefarious conduct.

In early February 2022, Renz released a 35-page unclassified DoD document titled "Senior Leaders Brief COVID-19."  This brief, dated 12 January 2022, appeared to contain the data that Senator Johnson had been requesting from Secretary Austin.

Specifically, the document showed that for all service members, approximately 76% are fully vaccinated, 16% are partially vaccinated, and 8% are not vaccinated or unknown.  If this brief is authentic, which it appears to be, why didn't Secretary Austin provide this information to Senator Johnson when he originally asked for it over four months ago?

In February 2022, Andreas Schofbeck, a board member of BKK ProVita (BKK), a health insurance company that insures almost 11 million in Germany, estimated that as many as 3 million Germans received medical treatment due to adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination.

In January 2022, Scott Davison, the chief executive officer of OneAmerica, an insurance company headquartered in Indiana, reported a 40% increase in the death rates of working-age people ages 18–64 in the third quarter of 2021.  Prior to the pandemic, Mr. Davison stated that a 10% increase was a "one-in-200-year catastrophe," so the 40% increase is "unheard of."

The reported DMED data and the OneAmerica and BKK ProVita insurance data combined with the government's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) data, reporting over 2.0 million adverse effects and 26,000 deaths (estimated to be just 1% of the total adverse reports) from the experimental vaccine, should be alarming and addressed.  They should not be ignored and suppressed and, for those who bring it up, canceled or fired.

The actions of the DoD still pushing vaccine mandates that are causing harm and discharging service members who "refuse to be vaccinated for COVID-19" are directly threatening our nation's defense capabilities.

America deserves better.  Secretary Austin needs to be fully transparent and cooperate with Senator Johnson providing critical congressional oversight on a consequential matter that will have dire effects on the future of America and her citizens.

Image: qimono via Pixabay, Pixabay License.