Newly released internal communications from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s COVID-era iPhone show federal health officials privately discussing theoretical miscarriage concerns tied to COVID-19 vaccination in early 2021, according to materials released by Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Rand Paul, R-Ky.
The messages, reported by Ken Silva of Headline USA, were released Sunday by Johnson and Paul. Johnson said the phone copy was transferred by the Department of Health and Human Services to his subcommittee.
Text Raised First-Trimester Concern
In a Jan. 25, 2021, text message released by the senators, Dr. John Mascola, then director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Vaccine Research Center, wrote to Fauci about pregnancy and vaccination timing.
“Initial Studies [sic] avoid vaccination in first trimester due to possible fever and higher rates of miscarriage in first trimester,” Mascola wrote, according to the released message.
Minutes later, Fauci sent a message to two other doctors warning of a theoretical concern involving first-trimester vaccination, according to Senate investigators.
“Since many people have significant cytokines storm and fever after the 2nd dose, this theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester,” Fauci wrote, according to a message investigators had previously released.
Public Reassurance Followed
Headline USA reported that about a week after those private messages, Fauci publicly said there were “no red flags … about pregnant women.”
Johnson said his subcommittee contacted Mascola to ask what he meant in the message to Fauci. According to Johnson’s Sunday press release, Mascola has retained an attorney and has not yet commented.
Other Adverse-Event Messages Released
Johnson and Paul also released additional internal communications about adverse events after COVID-19 vaccination.
One May 2021 email cited in the release came from Dr. Janet Woodcock, then acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, to Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins. Woodcock wrote that she was receiving reports of adverse reactions from individuals, including “healthcare professionals,” according to the released email.
Woodcock said officials should conduct a study on adverse reactions to the COVID vaccine, while adding, “I doubt the industry would support, for obvious reasons.”
“But my experience is, that if you let a problem fester, then it will come back to bite you later and you are not prepared,” Woodcock wrote, according to the released email.
The newly released materials add to earlier Senate disclosures about what federal health officials discussed privately during the vaccine rollout. The messages do not, by themselves, establish that COVID-19 vaccines caused miscarriages; they show officials discussing possible or theoretical concerns at the time.
