Despite guidance from health officials, Ron Johnson says vaccinating people during a pandemic 'could be dangerous'

This story was republished on Jan. 14, 2022 to make it free for all readers  

MADISON - U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson suggested this week that vaccinated Americans could be perpetuating the coronavirus pandemic and that distributing vaccines during a pandemic "could be dangerous." 

But Johnson also said that he hopes the vaccines play a "key role" in ending the pandemic and that he supports them.  

The contradictory comments from Wisconsin's highest-profile Republican come as state health officials prepare to distribute booster vaccine shots to help combat the worst effects of a surge of new COVID-19 cases. The new infections are being fueled by a more transmissible variant of the virus that took hold as vaccine rates stagnated. 

In a Tuesday appearance on the John Solomon Reports podcast, Johnson suggested vaccinated Americans could be worsening the pandemic though recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services show the unvaccinated are more likely to become infected. 

It is the latest example of comments from Johnson on COVID-19 that are contrary to advice from health professionals and scientists. His comments have been criticized by some medical professionals and Democrats as undermining efforts to get the pandemic under control.

"If you walk around asymptomatic with 250 times the viral load, are you the super spreader? Is that what's happening here?" Johnson said, referring to a study on vaccinated Americans that has been misrepresented and used to spread misleading information.

The study found vaccinated health care workers with breakthrough infections caused by the coronavirus delta variant had higher viral loads, or the amount of virus detected in a person, compared to patients infected with earlier strains of the virus, according to an Associated Press analysis. 

Johnson said recent data from Israel and the United Kingdom means "this does not look like a pandemic of the unvaxxed, this looks like vaccine failure."

Patrick Remington, a former epidemiologist for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's preventive medicine residency program, said the opposite is true. 

"This has become a pandemic of the unvaccinated, worsened by people taking risks, such as gathering together indoors, without masks," Remington said. "The vaccine has been very effective in preventing serious illness, and death. The fact that the delta variant is so much more contagious, means that we cannot rely on the vaccine alone, but need to reduce the risks of getting infected and infecting others."

In the podcast interview, Johnson also said pushing vaccinations during a pandemic could be "dangerous."

"Nobody wants to admit they were wrong — they've all been recommending the vaccine," Johnson said, referring to doctors and state and federal health officials. "They sure don't want to admit that well, gee, maybe, maybe we should have kept it to just the vulnerable ... Vaccinating into a pandemic could be dangerous. I mean, you could have variants produced that evade the vaccine, I think maybe that's what's happening with delta."

At the same time, a spokeswoman for Johnson said the senator wants the pandemic to end and "hopes the vaccine will play a key role in ending it."

"The senator is pro-vaccine," spokeswoman Vanessa Abrosini said by email. "The senator believes government’s role (and therefore his role) is to help ensure transparency so that people and their physicians have as much information as possible to make an informed decision."

Remington said Johnson's comments could keep people away from vaccines by being interpreted as the vaccines being the problem and not the fact people are more frequently gathering in crowds and not wearing masks.

"Rather than saying vaccines are responsible for a surge, we should be emphasizing vaccines alone unfortunately are not enough and that we need vaccines and masks," Remington said.

Ambrosini said "there is much we still don’t know about the Coronavirus, Covid, and the vaccines."

"The senator acknowledges this fact and continues to ask questions and seek answers. He also believes a little more modesty on the part of 'the experts' making all their 'science based' pronouncements might be in order."

'No question' unvaccinated perpetuate outbreak

Remington said Johnson in his comments on COVID-19 at times presents a misunderstanding of nuances in research and in this case implies "that it’s a direct effect of the vaccine and not potentially an indirect effect."

"There’s no question that people who are unvaccinated are the main contributor to the continued transmission of COVID-19 and every transmission presents an opportunity for the virus to mutate to a more contagious and more lethal variant," Remington said. 

State data show unvaccinated Wisconsinites are four times more likely to become infected and nine times as likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than vaccinated residents. 

A key challenge for health officials carrying out Wisconsin's vaccination effort is reaching those who are opposed to getting shots, which state polling shows are often Republicans. About 47% of the state's population is not vaccinated against COVID-19, including children too young to be eligible. 

In a recent Marquette Law School poll of registered Wisconsin voters, 26% of those surveyed said they have not been vaccinated. The poll showed Republicans are less likely to be vaccinated and among those not yet vaccinated, reluctance is highest among Republicans (though more than half of unvaccinated independents and Democrats say they are unlikely to get vaccinated).

Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.