A controversial physician will be the lead witness Tuesday in a Senate committee hearing on coming Covid-19 coronavirus vaccines.
Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of a medical group that opposes government involvement in medicine and mandated vaccinations, was invited to testify by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Johnson apparently did not consult with Democrats on his committee before issuing the invitation. He insists that he supports development of a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine, reports Yahoo News.
Orient’s selection as a witness as federal health officials are trying to promote a vaccine as a way to end a pandemic that has killed more than 283,000 Americans drew sharp criticism on Sunday from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
“At such a crucial time, giving a platform to conspiracy theorists to spread myths and falsehoods about Covid vaccines is downright dangerous and one of the last things Senate Republicans should be doing right now,” Schumer said in a statement.
Orient, 74, has been characterized as a “conspiracy theorist” an “anti-vaxxer” and worse. She denies across-the-board opposition to vaccinations, but she and her organization, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) strongly oppose the federal government requiring Covid vaccinations, reports the New York Times.
AAPS, “founded in 1943 to ‘protect private medicine,’ represents just thousands of the nearly one million physicians practicing across the U.S.,” says Newsweek.
In a statement to the Senate last year, Orient wrote: “A public health threat is the rationale for the policy on mandatory vaccines. But how much of a threat is required to justify forcing people to accept government-imposed risks?”
Adding that vaccine mandates are “a serious intrusion into individual liberty, autonomy and parental decisions,” Orient wrote, adding that “AAPS believes that liberty rights are unalienable. Patients and parents have the right to refuse vaccination.”
“It is unfortunate that during this worsening public health and economic crisis, the witnesses … will amplify theories that are at odds with the broader scientific community and, according to experts, could cause harm,” Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), the committee’s ranking Democrat, said in a statement.
“These fringe views run counter to what the Senate should be doing — working on a bipartisan basis to protect the American people and tackle this deadly pandemic.”
According to the Times, Orient will appear remotely during Tuesday’s hearing and will call on the government to inform doctors about using the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 patients.
“The use of hydroxychloroquine was touted by President Donald Trump but the drug was revoked by the FDA in June after trials showed no evidence that it had a significant impact in treating the virus,” the Times says.
