New Emails Detail Early Fauci Exchange On Side Effects

Newly released government communications show that senior federal health officials were discussing reports of possible health problems following COVID-19 vaccination as early as May 2021, according to emails released by Republican Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

The senators published an email sent by Dr. Janet Woodcock, who was serving as acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration at the time, to Dr. Anthony Fauci and then-National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins.

In the message, Woodcock said she had been contacted by people, including healthcare professionals, who described health problems that occurred after receiving COVID-19 vaccines. She noted that the symptoms did not appear to form a single, clearly defined syndrome and could be difficult to measure through conventional laboratory testing.

Woodcock also questioned whether existing vaccine-safety monitoring systems would be capable of identifying the kinds of problems being reported. She referred specifically to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, commonly known as VAERS, along with other federal surveillance programs.

She suggested that a dedicated study might be needed to investigate the reports more closely. Woodcock also expressed doubt that pharmaceutical companies would be eager to support such research, warning that unresolved concerns could become more difficult to address if they were allowed to continue without further investigation.

Fauci responded to Collins the following day and wrote, “We cannot ignore her.” He suggested that the matter be discussed with Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who was then director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Johnson and Paul said the records they reviewed do not establish whether Walensky was ultimately contacted about Woodcock’s concerns.

The senators have pointed to the exchange as evidence that federal officials were privately discussing potential vaccine-related health problems while the nationwide vaccination campaign was underway. Their release also cited hundreds of thousands of adverse-event reports submitted to VAERS by that point.

Those figures, however, require context. VAERS is an early-warning reporting system that accepts reports of health events occurring after vaccination. A report to VAERS does not by itself establish that a vaccine caused the medical problem or death being reported. The database is intended to identify possible safety signals that may require further study.

Johnson and Paul also highlighted earlier communications involving FDA officials and Dr. Ana Szarfman, who reportedly raised concerns about the methods being used to analyze vaccine-safety data. According to the senators’ release, Szarfman believed the agency’s existing algorithm could fail to identify certain potential safety signals and later used a different method that produced additional findings warranting review.

The senators alleged that senior FDA officials did not adequately pursue those findings and instructed Szarfman to stop using the alternative approach. They also raised questions about whether Woodcock knew about other federal research into people reporting persistent symptoms following vaccination.

The newly released correspondence adds more detail to the internal conversations taking place among federal health officials during the early months of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. It shows that at least some officials were discussing reports of unusual or difficult-to-measure symptoms and considering whether existing surveillance systems were sufficient to evaluate them.

The emails do not, by themselves, prove that the reported illnesses were caused by COVID-19 vaccines or that federal officials deliberately concealed confirmed vaccine injuries. They do, however, provide additional material for the continuing debate over how government agencies monitored potential side effects, investigated safety signals and communicated those concerns to the public.

The Western Journal

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