Senator says officials concealed vaccine risks over 'hesitancy' fears

US Senator Ron Johnson on Sunday accused federal health officials of deliberately concealing COVID-19 vaccine safety concerns from the American public, alleging that top medical experts prioritized avoiding "vaccine hesitancy" over transparent disclosure of potential risks.

Internal communications cited

Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, released documents he said showed senior officials were aware of potential adverse effects as early as January 2021. The senator cited an alleged text message sent to Anthony Fauci, then director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, by John Mascola, who led the institute's Vaccine Research Center. The message allegedly noted that early studies suggested avoiding vaccination during the first trimester due to "higher rates of miscarriage," according to Johnson's account of the communications.

The lawmaker also pointed to a May 2021 email from Janet Woodcock to Fauci regarding reports of patients experiencing "hard to classify adverse events." Woodcock wrote that she had personally received reports of such incidents, Johnson said. "They let people die and become permanently disabled because they didn't want to cause 'vaccine hesitancy,'" Johnson wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Congressional scrutiny intensifies

Johnson released the communications alongside Sen. Rand Paul, with whom he has collaborated to investigate federal pandemic response policies. The disclosure came as the Senate Homeland Security Committee voted to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify fully at a recent hearing. The former NIAID director repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment during questioning about "gain-of-function" research and potential coordination with intelligence agencies.

Fauci's legal team has characterized the congressional probe as a "pathological course of retribution" driven by Paul. Johnson said he hoped officials would eventually cooperate to clarify the meaning of their private correspondence. The senator questioned the ethics of subsequent vaccine mandates given the alleged internal concerns, asking why the public was not alerted to the potential risks identified in early 2021.