by Sharon Rondeau
(Jul. 15, 2025) — At 3:16 p.m. EDT, Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, opened a hearing scheduled for 3:00 p.m. by acknowledging injuries which followed vaccinations and providing a brief history of the 1986 law which gave vaccine manufacturers “blanket immunity” from liability.
At 3:20 p.m., ranking member Sen. Richard Blumenthal recognized the enormous loss of loved ones but advocated for the invention of the smallpox and polio vaccines, which he said saved many lives.
Two witnesses will be testifying about the loss of their children from the flu, Johnson said, a disease vaccines were expected to prevent. Blumenthal thanked them specifically for being willing to speak and at 3:26, played a video of a mother whose baby, Brady, died from whooping cough at the age of two months as they traveled from one hospital to Boston Children’s Hospital for more specialized care.
“My baby boy, at two months, two weeks old, passed away in my arms…,” she said.
“Someone else’s decision not to get vaccinated” likely caused the child’s death, Blumenthal added when the video completed.
“Rates of vaccination against debilitating diseases have fallen sharply” in recent years, Blumenthal decried, citing two children who died recently purportedly from the measles.
He refuted claims that vaccines are associated with autism, citing several studies. “These include studies done over decades…” he said.
The claim connecting vaccines to autism, he said, is “completely debunked.”
He credited the HPV vaccine with preventing cervical cancer in women.
“We cannot afford to turn back the clock,” he said, asserting “proper testing” should be conducted to “prove” they are “safe and effective.”
At 3:33, Johnson resumed speaking, then played a video from a “bus tour” featuring parents whose children died or suffered injury directly after being vaccinated for influenza, chicken pox, hepatitis B, pneumococcal pneumonia, DTAP, and HPV, among others.
At 3:41, Johnson swore in the witnesses simultaneously.
Emily Tarsell’s daughter Chris was “found dead in her bed at college” in 2009 following three Gardasil vaccines. The cause of death, Ms. Tarsell said, was stated as “undetermined.”
“The public has been misled and misinformed” about the need for Gardasil and its risks, she said.
Eric Stein testified about his older sister Jessica’s death at the age of four from the flu two decades ago. His younger sister and brother never knew her, Mr. Stein said.
At the time, the flu vaccine was not recommended for children Jessica’s age, he said.
“No more unnecessary lives lost…due to vaccine-preventable diseases,” he said is the motto of the foundation for which he works today.
“Vaccines save lives and keep people healthy,” he said at the conclusion of his remarks.
See the remaining session here.