In a Congressional hearing on Tuesday, anti-vaccine hobgoblin Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) falsely claimed that covid vaccines caused an increase in miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant people (and was, tangentially, very upset at the use of that inclusive term over the word “women”).
Greene held up a bar chart purporting to show miscarriages and stillbirths increasing after the FDA approved covid vaccines, but there is no evidence to suggest a link between covid vaccination and miscarriage. This chart is missing an important variable: covid infections. Do do you know what is associated with a higher risk of miscarriage and stillbirth? Getting covid during your pregnancy. In general, it’s riskier for pregnant women to get covid than non-pregnant people—they may need to be admitted to the ICU, could require being put on a ventilator, and they’re more likely to die. (Experts believe much of the increase in maternal deaths from 2020 to 2021 came from deaths linked to covid infection.)
Greene made her little misleading presentation during a Republican-controlled House subcommittee hearing titled “Oversight of CDC Policies and Decisions During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The only witness was Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the outgoing director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, so as you may imagine, it was a mess. Here’s a clip:
And here’s what Greene said to Walensky regarding vaccines during pregnancy, which is full of lies:
I’d also like to talk to you on behalf of all the pregnant women—not people as you call them. To quote you on August 8, 2021, ‘CDC encourages all pregnant people—it’s women, by the way—[and those] who are thinking about becoming pregnant and those breastfeeding to get vaccinated to protect themselves from covid-19. [holds up a chart] This has also been ignored, the amount of miscarriages and stillbirths that increased drastically due to your advice to get vaccinated. Pregnant women again, not people.
It’s certainly...interesting that Greene only appears concerned about the loss of fetuses and not the deaths of the adults carrying them. Now who’s doing the ignoring, hmm?
Greene had five minutes to question Walensky (she starts at 1:44 here), and she spent 4 minutes and 30 seconds of her time pontificating, giving Walensky almost no time to respond to the stream of falsehoods. After her long windup, Greene finally asked Walensky if her next job will be joining the board of either Pfizer or Moderna. Got ‘em! Congrats to the people of Georgia who elected this utterly useless ghoul to represent them.