Overview
- Republican Sens. Ron Johnson and Rand Paul published an initial batch of messages on Monday that include a Jan. 25, 2021 note from Dr. Anthony Fauci saying a strong immune reaction after a second vaccine dose “theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester.”
- The senators say Fauci’s government phone contains about 34,000 text messages and 522 voicemails provided by HHS and that staff will review the full trove before releasing more material.
- The released thread shows CDC director Rochelle Walensky and then-nominee Vivek Murthy discussing the point and flagging a WHO advisory, and Fauci publicly told reporters nine days later that monitoring showed “no red flags” for vaccinated pregnant women.
- Large CDC surveillance projects and peer-reviewed studies completed after 2021 found no evidence linking COVID-19 vaccination to increased miscarriage risk, and the CDC formally recommended vaccination for pregnant people in August 2021.
- The disclosures have intensified a partisan investigation that includes a contempt vote and questions about the phone’s sparse contacts and possible missing data, and they could affect public trust in how evolving science and uncertainty were communicated and in upcoming releases from the committee.