Texts recovered from Anthony Fauci’s phone reveal private conversations among Biden administration officials regarding the safety of COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant women, highlighting concerns about miscarriage and birth defects just three months before the government formally recommended vaccination during pregnancy.

According to texts released by Senator Ron Johnson’s office, Vivek Murthy, then U.S. Surgeon General under President Joe Biden, inquired with Fauci and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky about data on vaccine safety across different pregnancy stages. Fauci responded that no safety signals had emerged among the approximately 10,000 pregnant women vaccinated at that time, despite the World Health Organization’s recommendation against vaccinating low-risk pregnant women.

The CDC’s Director of Immunization Safety, Tom Shimabukuro, wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine that miscarriage and birth defect rates among vaccinated pregnant women appeared similar to pre-pandemic incidences, though he noted the data were not directly comparable.

In July 2021, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a strong recommendation supporting COVID vaccination during pregnancy.

However, Pfizer halted a planned study intended to enroll 4,000 pregnant women, ultimately including only 683 participants. Former FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Director Tracy Beth Høeg reported that 5.1% of infants born to vaccinated mothers experienced adverse events of special interest within six months of birth, compared to 1.3% in the control group.

Senator Ron Johnson’s office is currently reviewing 34,000 text messages and 522 voicemails from Fauci’s phone as part of ongoing investigations.

Sources