New Fauci Texts Reveal Early Questions Over COVID Vaccines and Miscarriage Risks
Newly released messages show Dr. Anthony Fauci was privately informed in early 2021 that initial COVID-19 vaccine studies had not included women in their first trimester of pregnancy, as federal health officials discussed unanswered questions surrounding fever and miscarriage risks.
The messages were released by Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Ron Johnson as part of their continuing investigation into the government’s handling of the COVID pandemic. They were recovered from Fauci’s government-issued cellphone, which contains more than 34,000 text messages and 522 voicemails.
On Jan. 25, 2021, Dr. John Mascola, who was then director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Vaccine Research Center, told Fauci that he had been corrected about the pregnancy studies. Mascola said the initial studies avoided vaccination during the first trimester because of concerns involving fever and the naturally higher rate of miscarriage during that stage of pregnancy.
The discussion came after then-Surgeon General Vivek Murthy asked Fauci and then-CDC Director Rochelle Walensky whether there was evidence suggesting women should receive the vaccine earlier or later during pregnancy. Fauci and Walensky acknowledged that there was little available data at the time.
Fauci subsequently raised a theoretical concern involving the strong immune response experienced by some people after their second vaccine dose. He wrote that significant fever and inflammatory responses could theoretically be associated with miscarriage during the first trimester.
Days later, Fauci publicly said during a February 2021 discussion with the Journal of the American Medical Association that the FDA had found no safety “red flags” involving pregnant women up to that point. Pregnant Americans had already been permitted to receive COVID vaccines after consulting with their doctors, although federal officials did not begin actively recommending vaccination during pregnancy until more data became available later in 2021.
The newly released communications do not establish that COVID vaccines caused miscarriages. Subsequent large studies conducted after substantially more pregnancy data became available found no strong association between COVID vaccination and miscarriage. Research has also found that COVID infection itself during early pregnancy can increase miscarriage risk.
Paul and Johnson separately released a May 2021 email from then-acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock concerning reports of other possible adverse reactions. Woodcock said health professionals had contacted her about patients experiencing symptoms that did not fit into an easily identifiable syndrome and warned that existing vaccine surveillance systems might have difficulty detecting such cases.
Woodcock urged federal officials to study those reports rather than dismiss them, warning that allowing an unresolved problem to linger could create larger problems later. Fauci forwarded her message to then-NIH Director Francis Collins and said the concerns could not simply be ignored, suggesting that the CDC and Walensky should become involved.
The communications are receiving additional scrutiny as Fauci faces an increasingly aggressive congressional investigation. He invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination more than 100 times during a Senate appearance last month and was subsequently held in contempt by a Senate committee.
Fauci has also declined a request to voluntarily appear before Johnson’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. With lawmakers continuing to examine thousands of messages recovered from his government phone, Republicans are now comparing what Fauci and other health officials discussed privately with the public guidance Americans received during the pandemic.