Rep. Nancy Mace said Wednesday she had “great regrets” about taking the COVID-19 vaccine after experiencing unexplained medical difficulties following her second dose.
The South Carolina Republican made the revelations during a House Oversight and Accountability hearing focused on Twitter’s censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story ahead of the 2020 election and Twitter’s collusion with federal agents to suppress free speech.
Twitter’s former chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, former deputy general counsel James Baker and former head of trust and safety Yoel Roth faced lawmakers for the first time since Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, began releasing a trove of internal “Twitter Files” that showed the platform’s left-wing bent that fueled the censorship of conservative viewpoints.
Ms. Mace questioned the three witnesses on their decision to flag posts by Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford doctor who was critical of the government’s response to the pandemic.
“I, along with many Americans, have long-term effects from COVID,” she said. “Not only was I a long hauler, but I have effects from the vaccine. It wasn’t the first shot, but it was the second shot that I now developed asthma that has never gone away since the second shot. I have tremors in my left hand and I have the occasional heart pain that no doctor can explain.
“I have great regrets about getting the shot because of the health issues that I now have that I think are never going to go away.”
She added: “I find it extremely alarming [that] Twitter’s unfettered censorship spread into medical fields and affected many Americans by suppressing expert opinions from doctors and censoring those who disagree with the CDC.”
The hearing is the first in a series focused on “protecting speech from government interference and social media bias,” according to the committee. It also is the opening salvo in the committee’s probe into President Biden and his family’s long trail of suspicious business dealings.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee, accused Republicans of pursuing “already debunked and hyperpartisan conspiracy theories about President Biden, his family and the so-called deep state.”
“Conspiracy theories and disinformation are already at a fever pitch in the new Congress,” he said. “Committee Democrats stand ready to work with our Republican colleagues when they get serious about tackling the problems that affect the American people.”
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.