In 2004, Earle-Sears was criticized for her lack of understanding of healthcare policy. Since then, her focus on healthcare has continued to center on misinformation, fear-mongering, and supernatural beliefs over medical professionals.
2004: The Daily Press Editorial Board Criticized Earle-Sears For Lacking Fundamental Understanding On Health Care Policy, Including The Medicare Prescription Program And “Solutions” That Would Raise Health Care Costs: “One Is Struck By Her Failure To Grasp The Complexities And Nuances Behind Issues.” According to the Daily Press Editorial Board, “Talking with Sears, one is struck by her failure to grasp the complexities and nuances behind issues. And make no mistake, the issues -- health care, national defense, foreign policy and the economy -- are complex indeed. Yet her understanding seems to go no deeper than partisan rhetoric. […] Same with health care. In the face of all the fuzzy accolades about the Medicare prescription plan being a boon to senior citizens, he criticized it, justifiably, for its enormous cost, inflated by unconscionable giveaways to pharmaceutical makers, HMOs and insurance companies; for its tortuous design; and for its refusal to do one thing that would help seniors: use Medicare's buying power to negotiate price breaks on drugs. He understands that simple solutions like small-business health-insurance pools and medical savings accounts sound good but don't get at the fundamental problems driving stratospheric increases in health costs. Sears lacks such understanding.” [Editorial Board – Daily Press, 10/27/04]
2021: Earle-Sears Refused To Say Whether She Was Vaccinated Against COVID-19, And Shared “A Series Of Falsehoods And Misconceptions About The Vaccines And Infections.” According to CNN, “Republican Virginia Lt. Gov.-elect Winsome Sears on Sunday refused to say whether she’d received the Covid-19 vaccine while repeating a series of falsehoods and misconceptions about the vaccines and infections. Sears, who did not reveal her vaccination status during her successful campaign for the second-highest seat in Virginia, told CNN’s Dana Bash on ‘State of the Union’ that revealing it would create a ‘slippery slope’ to being asked to reveal other personal information about her ‘DNA’ and medical history. ‘The minute that I start telling you about my vaccine status, we’re going to be down the bottom of the mountain trying to figure out how we got there because now you want to know what’s in my DNA. You’re going to want to know this, that and the other,’ Sears said.” [CNN, 11/21/21]
2021: Earle-Sears Repeatedly Espoused Falsehoods About The COVID-19 Virus And Vaccinations That Went Against Public Health Consensus. According to CNN, “Sears repeatedly referenced commonly held falsehoods about the Covid vaccine and the virus itself. She suggested people who’ve been infected with Covid-19 did not need to get the vaccine, and questioned the benefits that masks provide for protecting against transmission of the virus. ‘Let’s ask ourselves, if the purpose of the Covid vaccine is to prevent us from getting Covid, then why is it that those who have had Covid must get the vaccine? One doesn’t follow the other,’ Sears said, ignoring scientific data showing the Covid vaccine prevents hospitalizations and deaths. ‘Let me ask you this question: If you have the mask on, then why does somebody else have to wear the mask?’ Sears continued. Health experts have said people who have tested positive for Covid will have some antibody protection, but those antibodies will fade away over time. People who’ve tested positive for Covid should still get the vaccine for that reason, according to experts, and evidence shows that people may receive better protection by being fully vaccinated compared with having recovered from Covid-19. Scientists also have said universal masking for people in close proximity can reduce Covid transmission significantly, more so than when some people or nobody is wearing masks. Studies show that masks can help prevent people from spreading the coronavirus to others and may help protect the wearer from becoming infected themselves.’” [CNN, 11/21/21]
In Her 2023 Memoir, Earle-Sears Suggested That Skepticism Toward The COVID Vaccine Was Valid Because People Who Publicly Embraced The Vaccine Still Came Down With COVID After Receiving It. In her 2023 memoir “How Sweet It Is: Defending the American Dream,” Winsome Earle-Sears wrote, “Look at our current president, Joe Biden. Two vaccines and four boosters, and he still got Covid twice. The president of Pfizer, the CDC director, all came down with Covid. If they'd not politicized the epidemic and made rightfully skeptical citizens out to be the worst people on this Earth, maybe we would still believe in them.” [Earle-Sears, Winsome. “How Sweet It Is: Defending the American Dream.” Center Street, 8/1/23]
In Her 2023 Memoir, Earle-Sears Claimed In Her Memoir That A “Spiritual Prophet” With A “Divine Gift Of Healing” Cured An Illness She Had As A Baby That Multiple Doctors Were Unable To Cure. In her 2023 memoir “How Sweet It Is: Defending the American Dream,” Winsome Earle-Sears wrote, “I was very sickly as a baby. I wasn’t eating anything, and whenever I did eat, I threw it up. My mother and my grandmothers took me to every doctor they could find. Not one could figure out what was wrong. I was at death’s door. My paternal grandmother, however, was not going to give up. She heard about ‘a woman.’ We’re Christian folks, so to us that meant a spiritual prophet, a person with a divine gift of healing. Well, this woman diagnosed the problem as teething causing excessive swallowing of saliva leading to a bloated stomach. She picked herbs from her backyard—well, she picked leaves from some bush, I never learned what it was—and mixed up a tea. I drank it, and voilà, here I am today.” [Earle-Sears, Winsome. “How Sweet It Is: Defending the American Dream.” Center Street, 8/1/23]
In Her 2023 Memoir, Earle-Sears Credited An Herbal Tea Made With Leaves From Her Backyard For Curing A Chronic Illness She Experienced As An Infant. In her 2023 memoir “How Sweet It Is: Defending the American Dream,” Winsome Earle-Sears wrote, “When I almost died as a baby, the natural healer had gathered leaves from… some bush. That’s the way the island is. It seems to sprout healthy and medicinal plants in every backyard. Whatever that bush was, they boiled its leaves, and here I am. During my early, growing up years, only when someone was ill did we normally drink so many of the herbal teas we’ve come to know now. A trip to the doctor was mostly unheard of, since there was some kind of medicinal bush in the backyard or in the market to alleviate illness.” [Earle-Sears, Winsome. “How Sweet It Is: Defending the American Dream.” Center Street, 8/1/23]