Public Trust Fallout of the HHS’s COVID-19 PR Campaign and the Systemic Oversight on Waning Vaccine Immunity

Congressional Report Exposes the Failures of the HHS’s COVID-19 PR Campaign—But Overlooks the Bigger Crisis of Waning Vaccine Effectiveness

“Probably the most important recommendation: HHS should never again adopt a policy of silencing dissenting scientists in an attempt to create an illusion of consensus in favor of CDC groupthink.” - Dr. Jay Bhattacharya

The “We Can Do This” campaign was a nationwide public health messaging initiative launched by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to promote COVID-19 vaccination, masking, and other pandemic-related measures. From August 2020 to June 2023, the campaign was developed in partnership with the Fors Marsh Group, a behavioral research and advertising firm, and was backed by over $900 million in taxpayer funds.

A House Report confirms that HHS, CDC, and the “We Can Do This Campaign” repeatedly overstated vaccine effectiveness, falsely claimed vaccines prevented transmission and dismissed natural immunity. The narrative changed only when real-world data forced them to retract their earlier statements.

The campaign aimed to increase public confidence in vaccines and combat "misinformation" by using:

1. Celebrities, influencers, and trusted community leaders to push vaccine messaging.

2. Targeted outreach to specific demographic groups, particularly racial and ethnic minorities, rural communities, and younger populations.

3. Multimedia advertising across television, radio, digital platforms, and social media.

4. Psychological and behavioral science strategies to encourage compliance with public health measures.

As documented in the U.S. House of Representatives We Can Do This report, the campaign failed to achieve its intended goal and, instead, contributed to a collapse in public trust in the CDC and other public health institutions.

The report, compiled by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, provides a thorough analysis of how shifting and misleading messaging by the CDC and HHS weakened public confidence. It highlights specific instances where public health officials exaggerated vaccine effectiveness, promoted policies that later had to be reversed, and created a false illusion of consensus by silencing dissenting scientific voices. The report makes several recommendations to restore credibility, including clearly defining the CDC’s mission, ensuring HHS follows FDA labeling rules, and improving vaccine safety evaluation processes.

However, while the report is comprehensive in its analysis of messaging failures, it fails to address a much broader issue—the long-standing dual problem of waning vaccine immunity and waning vaccine effectiveness, which predates the COVID-19 pandemic. The CDC and HHS have struggled with vaccine failures beyond COVID-19, such as the TDaP vaccine’s inability to stop pertussis transmission, the declining efficacy of the mumps component in the MMR vaccine, and the seasonal flu vaccine’s highly variable effectiveness due to antigenic drift. The We Can Do This report critiques the failures of COVID-19 public health messaging. Still, it does not acknowledge these prior vaccine failures, a significant omission given that the scientific community had ample warning that COVID-19 vaccines could face similar challenges, and the report’s call for regaining trust.

A Misguided Campaign Built on Overconfidence

The We Can Do This campaign was pushed through HHS's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA). It was structured around a narrative of certainty—a confident declaration that vaccines would stop transmission and allow a full return to normal life. As documented in the report, early messaging from CDC Director Rochelle Walensky misleadingly claimed, “Vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don’t get sick, and that it’s not just in the clinical trials but it’s also in real-world data.” The report highlights how these overstatements damaged the credibility of health agencies when real-world evidence quickly contradicted them.

The report claims the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for COVID-19 vaccines never claimed that they would prevent transmission, only that they were shown to reduce severe disease. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued guidance stating that a COVID-19 vaccine should demonstrate at least 50% efficacy in preventing disease or reducing its severity. Specifically, the FDA expected that a vaccine would "prevent disease or decrease its severity in at least 50% of people who are vaccinated”.

From the report, CDC went too far:

The CDC’s decision to go beyond FDA guidance in its messaging created false expectations that later had to be walked back. When breakthrough cases surged with the emergence of the Delta variant, the CDC reversed its stance and reinstated mask mandates for the vaccinated, contradicting months of prior assurances. The report thoroughly documents how this kind of rapid backtracking shattered public confidence and led to widespread frustration.

One of the report’s most significant critiques is that HHS and CDC officials continued to push a narrative of vaccine-driven eradication despite clear scientific indications that COVID-19 was behaving more like an endemic respiratory virus.

The flu vaccine's effectiveness is wildly variable due to rapid viral evolution and should have served as a cautionary precedent. Yet, as the report highlights, CDC messaging did not prepare the public for this reality, leading to a crisis of trust when the vaccines failed to stop transmission.

The Consequences of Public Health Misinformation… and DISinformation

A central theme of the report is how HHS’s reliance on behavioral science tactics to modify public attitudes ultimately backfired. By treating persuasion as the goal rather than scientific transparency, the campaign eroded the credibility of public health agencies, not just for COVID-19 but across the board.

While the report does not explicitly address non-COVID vaccines, it acknowledges that the trust collapse has broader implications. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, commenting on the report on X, observed, “With the collapse in public trust in the CDC, parents have begun to question all CDC advice.” The report itself identifies a pattern where misleading public health campaigns create unintended consequences, leading to skepticism that extends beyond the original issue.

One of the report’s most overlooked elements is how public health authorities ignored historical warning signs from previous vaccine failures. TDaP vaccines for pertussis, for example, have been known to prevent symptoms but not transmission for over a decade, contributing to persistent outbreaks despite high vaccination rates. Similarly, the mumps component of the MMR vaccine has shown declining effectiveness, leading to outbreaks on a naval ship, high schools and college campuses among fully vaccinated individuals. These failures mirror the COVID-19 vaccine’s rapid waning immunity, yet the report does not mention them.

Even the House report falls short in this regard. Had public health agencies acknowledged these past failures and communicated vaccine limitations honestly, they might have avoided the current crisis of trust. Instead, as the report thoroughly documents, officials doubled down on misleading claims, reinforcing public skepticism when those claims proved false.

The Biden Administration’s Role in Suppressing Scientific Debate

According to the report, one of the most troubling aspects of the We Can Do This campaign was the deliberate suppression of dissenting scientific voices. The report documents how HHS coordinated with social media companies to de-platform scientists who questioned vaccine efficacy, natural immunity, and lockdown policies.

Bhattacharya, reflecting on this aspect of the report, stated, “Probably the most important recommendation: HHS should never again adopt a policy of silencing dissenting scientists in an attempt to create an illusion of consensus in favor of CDC groupthink.” The enforced consensus created an echo chamber, preventing necessary debate and ensuring policies were driven more by politics than by science.

Further evidence of political interference emerged when the Biden administration preemptively announced COVID-19 booster shots before FDA approval, prompting the resignation of two senior FDA vaccine regulators. As the report details, this move undermined the scientific review process and further damaged public trust in health institutions.

Recommendations for Reform

The report makes several key recommendations to restore public trust in health institutions:

Also mentioned in the report:

1. Congress should formally define the CDC’s mission to prevent the agency from overstepping into public relations rather than focusing on disease prevention.

2. HHS must adhere to FDA product labeling rules, preventing exaggerated claims about vaccine effectiveness.

3. The vaccine safety evaluation process should be reformed to increase transparency and ensure public confidence.

4. HHS should end its suppression of dissenting scientific voices, allowing for open scientific discourse rather than enforced consensus.

While these recommendations provide a strong foundation for restoring trust, the report fails to acknowledge a crucial missing piece—the broader issue of vaccine effectiveness beyond COVID-19. To truly restore credibility, public health agencies must:

• Admit past vaccine failures openly and transparently rather than continuing to push a one-size-fits-all messaging strategy.

• Invest in better long-term public health solutions rather than relying on endless boosters.

• Stop politicizing public health decisions and allow for real scientific debate.

• Address waning immunity and vaccine efficacy challenges across the board, including pertussis, mumps, and influenza - and any other vaccines that do not live up to public expectations.

Examples of Officials Quoted in the Report as Misleading the Public

​Misinformation on Vaccine Effectiveness Against Transmission

1. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky (March 29, 2021)

   • "[W]e can kind of almost see the end. We’re vaccinating so very fast, our data from the CDC today suggests, you know, that vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don’t get sick, and that it’s not just in the clinical trials but it’s also in real-world data."​

2. CDC Mask Guidance and Vaccine Transmission Claims (March 8, 2021)

   • “If you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities without wearing masks or maintaining physical distance, except where required by local regulations.”​

3. CDC Justification for Vaccine Mandates (July 16, 2021)

   • “COVID vaccines provide strong protection against both infection and transmission.”​

4. CDC Messaging on Post-Vaccination Exposure Risks

   • "If you’ve been around someone who has COVID-19, you do not need to stay away from others or get tested unless you have symptoms."​

Misinformation on Natural Immunity

5. CDC Downplaying Natural Immunity Compared to Vaccination

   • “The protection offered by vaccination is stronger and longer-lasting than natural immunity.”​

6. Surgeon General’s Statement on Natural Immunity (August 11, 2021)

   • "It is uncommon for vaccinated people to get COVID-19, but some can get and spread it to others. Wearing a mask in public indoor spaces gives everyone extra protection.”​

7. Vaccine Messaging for Teens Ignoring Natural Immunity (June 24, 2021)

   • “Say yes to dates. Say yes to parties. Say yes to music. Let’s do our part to end this pandemic.”​

CDC Forced to Walk Back Transmission Claims

8. CDC Spokesperson Walks Back Walensky’s Claims (April 1, 2021)

   • “Dr. Walensky spoke broadly during this interview. It’s possible that some people who are fully vaccinated could get COVID-19. The evidence isn’t clear whether they can spread the virus to others. We are continuing to evaluate the evidence.”​

9. CDC Director’s Testimony Contradicting Previous Transmission Claims (May 19, 2021)

   • “Now data have emerged again, that have demonstrated, even if you were to get infected during post-vaccination, that you cannot give it to anyone else.”​

CDC’s Late Admission on Cloth Mask Efficacy

10. CDC Guidance Update (January 2022)

    • "Cloth masks do not offer as much protection as surgical masks or respirators."

Conclusion: The Cost of Losing Public Trust

The We Can Do This campaign was not just a failure—it was a self-inflicted disaster. As the report highlights, the CDC and HHS ignored key scientific realities, suppressed dissent, and misled the public, all in pursuit of a top-down, persuasion-driven approach to public health.

If agencies like the CDC and HHS truly care about public health, they must prioritize honesty over messaging. Until then, skepticism will only grow, and the consequences—ranging from declining childhood vaccination rates to public resistance against future health interventions—will be catastrophic. The report provides an important blueprint for reform, but unless public health leaders address the deeper failures in vaccine effectiveness and transparency, the erosion of trust will continue.