A recent U.S. House of Representatives report has brought to light an extensive COVID-19 public relations campaign led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Biden administration, which allegedly used nearly $1 billion to promote exaggerated claims about COVID-19 vaccine efficacy, booster shots, mask usage, and social distancing.
The campaign, managed by the PR firm Fors Marsh Group (FMG), aimed to increase vaccine uptake across the nation, often distorting scientific findings and sidelining conflicting evidence.
According to the report, the campaign exaggerated COVID-19 mortality risks and pushed the notion that vaccines prevented virus transmission, despite limited evidence to support these claims. Further, the ads minimized potential vaccine side effects, especially for younger age groups, and downplayed mask and vaccine limitations.
Much of the campaign’s information was drawn from guidance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which allegedly ignored conflicting findings from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other international sources.
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The report criticizes CDC’s inconsistent mask guidance over the years, including its emphasis on masking children, even toddlers, with cloth masks well into 2022. President Biden’s former COVID-19 advisor Ashish Jha later admitted that there was little evidence showing masks to be highly effective, but this admission came only after his tenure ended in December 2022.
The report also reveals that CDC Director Rochelle Walensky adjusted social distancing guidelines in response to lobbying from teachers’ unions, effectively prolonging school closures. FMG’s campaign supported this move by running ads warning parents that schools would close unless children adhered to strict masking, social distancing, and vaccination.
During the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate push, the campaign further promoted the message that COVID-19 vaccines prevented transmission. However, as breakthrough cases emerged, public trust in health recommendations declined sharply.
Later, when the FDA approved the vaccine for adolescents, FMG ads implied that schools would only reopen if children were vaccinated, omitting side effect risks like myocarditis. Many of these ads, now removed from HHS web pages, urged children to treat unvaccinated peers as potential health risks.
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The report also highlighted significant decisions that went beyond health recommendations. In September 2021, Walensky overruled CDC’s independent advisors to recommend COVID-19 boosters for all adults, rather than solely for those over 65, a departure from FDA’s more conservative guidance.
The military mandate led to 8,300 servicemembers’ discharge, with the Department of Defense now attempting to reinstate these members amid national security concerns.
Celebrities and social media influencers were also enlisted to target children and promote vaccines, while ads assured parents that vaccines would prevent children from contracting Long COVID, despite scant supporting evidence.
The consequences of this campaign, according to the report, have been severe. Public trust in CDC and HHS recommendations has eroded, leading parents to question all vaccine guidance, including routine childhood vaccinations.
The report outlines a series of corrective measures, including refocusing the CDC’s mission on core disease prevention, ensuring HHS aligns public health messaging with FDA guidelines, and re-evaluating vaccine safety measures.
Most critically, it advises that HHS should never again suppress dissenting scientific opinions to present an illusion of scientific consensus.