'She is so trashy': Marjorie Taylor Greene slammed for saying she has 'PhD in recognizing bulls**t' at House hearing on Covid vaccines

WASHINGTON, DC: In a fiery exchange during a House hearing on Covid vaccines, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) launched into a tirade against Dr Peter Marks, the director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Marjorie Taylor Greene's fiery tirade

Greene, known for her outspoken views, declared, “I’m not a doctor but I have a PhD in recognizing bulls**t when I hear it," directing her remarks at Dr Marks without posing any questions to him.

The focal point of Greene's criticism was Dr Marks' support for vaccines, particularly for young children. Accusing the FDA of turning a blind eye to adverse events reported through the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), Greene highlighted the discrepancy between the growing number of reports and the low rate of active review.

She asserted that individuals claiming to be "vaccine injured" were being ignored by regulatory bodies.

Despite Dr Marks' attempts to interject, Greene continued her monologue. “And now you’ve authorized that children should receive these vaccines and even babies as young as six months old. That is shameful. That is shameful. I’m not asking you a question. I’m going to continue speaking, thank you. This is my time,” she told the doctor.

She underscored her point by referencing Brianne Dressen, a participant in an early AstraZeneca Covid vaccine trial, who has reported neurological health struggles since receiving the vaccine in 2020. Greene accused Dr Marks and the FDA of disregarding cases like Dressen's, urging him to revisit the matter after the hearing, Mediaite reported.

While rare adverse effects from Covid vaccines have been documented, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that the majority of effects are minor and temporary.

Furthermore, a 2022 study conducted by the Commonwealth Fund and Yale School of Public Health revealed that Covid vaccines have saved over three million lives and prevented more than 18 million hospitalizations.

Robert Garcia and Dr Peter Marks respond

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) expressed regret over Greene's prolonged diatribe and unfounded vaccine criticisms.

“I’m sorry you all had to go through that. That was a lot of conspiracy theories and wild accusations, which we know have been debunked by medical science and we should be clear that vaccines work and save lives and they have saved millions of lives in this country,” he said. 

Garcia then displayed Greene's controversial tweet likening vaccination logos to symbols imposed on Jewish people during the Holocaust. “Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazis forced Jewish people to wear a gold star," she wrote.

He also referenced Greene's inquiry about "turbo cancer" during a previous hearing, a term Dr Marks clarified as unfounded in the context of Covid vaccine effects. “Have the Covid vaccines resulted in an increase in cancers, and are ‘turbo cancers’ real?” Greene asked at a January hearing.

Dr Marks was afforded the opportunity to answer that question. “I’m a hematologist oncologist that’s board certified, I don’t know what a turbo cancer is. It was a term that was used first in a paper in mouse experiments describing an inflammatory response. There are — we have not detected any increase in cancers with the Covid-19 vaccines,” he told Garcia.

Dr Marks also seized the opportunity to highlight the importance of vaccinating young children to prevent Covid-related deaths.

“I do need to apologize to the thousand or so parents of children who are under four years of age who have died of COVID-19 who were unvaccinated because there were deaths and are continuing to be deaths in children and that is the reason why they need to get vaccinated,” he said.

Responding to Greene's remarks, Garcia, who lost family members to Covid, condemned attacks on vaccines as personally insulting to those who have suffered losses.

“Anytime that folks, especially folks on this subcommittee on the pandemic, attack vaccines, it’s personally insulting to all of the families that have actually lost loved ones,” he said and added, “We’ve saved millions of lives because of the vaccine. It’s unfortunate we keep causing this harm.”

Social media reactions

Social media erupted with criticism of Greene's comments, with users denouncing her behavior as "trashy and gross" and questioning her purported "PhD in recognizing bullshit." 

"She is so trashy and gross," one posted on X.

"She does not, in fact, have a PhD in anything," another wrote.

"Should have stopped at, 'I’m not a doctor,'" someone else joked.

"I feel better knowing she is there to guide us, Said no one ever," another quipped.

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