Senators release FDA email showing official worries about COVID-19 vaccine side effects

Senators Ron Johnson and Rand Paul, each heading a Senate committee probing the pandemic, made public an email from Dr. Janet Woodcock, who was acting commissioner of the FDA in May 2021. Woodcock wrote to Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins after receiving direct reports from healthcare workers of adverse reactions that did not form a recognizable pattern and were not easily measured by one outlet tests. She warned that systems such as VAERS, the CDC’s surveillance, and the FDA’s own monitoring would likely fail to detect these issues, and she urged a formal study despite anticipating little backing from the vaccine industry.

Fauci subsequently forwarded the correspondence to Collins, indicating the need to consult the CDC, though the release says it is unknown if Director Rochelle Walensky was involved. The senators also highlighted earlier internal alerts that the FDA’s VAERS algorithm was suppressing safety signals and referenced NIH doctor Avindra Nath’s work treating severe vaccine-related injuries.