Congress is out of session, but Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) nevertheless started his week in Washington, hosting a whos who of coronavirus treatment truthers and vaccine skeptics for a panel his office called COVID-19: A Second Opinion.

One day earlier, anti-vaccine activists had marched in the streets of Washington and decried whatever COVID-19 vaccine mandates the country has left . Johnsons panelists questioned the safety of vaccines and pushed unproven treatments like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.

I would have liked to see a larger dose of modesty coming out of our federal health officials, legacy media and big tech, Johnson said Monday. The statement has become his raison-detre in Washington, where he has established himself as the Senates resident COVID-19 response skeptic.

At the panel, the senator shared outdated statistics hes still talking about Swedens more lax early response to COVID-19, even though the Scandinavian country now has much stronger vaccine and COVID-19 prevention policies and elevated potentially dangerous advice to self-medicate with unproven treatments. By Thursday, he was on conservative activist Charlie Kirks show , baselessly and wrongfully claiming that professional athletes were dropping dead on the field because of the COVID-19 vaccines.