Anthony Fauci warned of miscarriage risk from COVID vaccine, then publicly said 'no red flags': Report
However, Fauci publicly said days later that there were ‘no red flags’ for pregnant women.
The messages show Fauci discussing the issue with then-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr Rochelle Walensky and then-Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.
In a January 25, 2021, text exchange, Fauci wrote, “I asked around a bit more and another issue came up that you need to be aware of.” Walensky responded that the concern was “definitely a good point,” particularly because of the potential effects after the second dose, the NY Post reports.
“Since many people have significant cytokine storms and fever after the 2nd dose, this theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester,” Walensky wrote.
In another January 26, 2021, message, Murthy said he was surprised by a World Health Organisation recommendation that did not recommend the Moderna vaccine for most pregnant women at the time.
“That’s a strong statement to make and potentially quite damaging to public confidence among pregnant women,” Murthy told them.
A few days later, during a February 3, 2021, question-and-answer livestream with the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Fauci said the US Food and Drug Administration had found no warning signs involving pregnant women.
“The FDA found thus far, and we have to be careful, but thus far no red flags about that, about pregnant women,” he said.
Months later, Fauci also publicly argued that there was no evidence showing increased adverse outcomes among vaccinated pregnant women.
He said that ‘tens and tens and tens of thousands’ of women who had been followed by the CDC after being vaccinated during pregnancy showed no indication of an increase in adverse issues compared with unvaccinated pregnant women.
“It’s pretty clear that pregnant women should get vaccinated,” he added.
The messages were released by Republican Sens Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. They came from more than 34,000 text messages and 522 voicemails obtained by the Senate Homeland Security Committee from Fauci’s government-issued cellphone.
Paul and Johnson said the review of the phone records was still at an early stage. According to the senators, only three contacts are listed on the phone, although they said it was too early to determine whether any data had been deleted.
The messages come after Paul asked prosecutors to consider taking legal action against Fauci, who refused to testify before the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination during a July 29 congressional hearing, declining to answer questions about the COVID-19 pandemic and so-called gain-of-function research supported by US grants.
Paul has also accused Fauci and his assistants of potentially deleting federal records that could be important to investigations into the origins of COVID-19. One of the officials named in the dispute is Dr Tom Shimabukuro, the former director of the CDC’s Immunization Safety Office.
Johnson has accused Shimabukuro of deleting emails related to adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines.
“We’ve invited Anthony Fauci now for a transcribed interview,” Johnson said on Fox News’ ‘America Reports’. “Quite honestly,” Johnson said, “he’s the only guy that can answer some of these questions.”
President Donald Trump was also asked Monday whether he had discussed the possibility of prosecuting Fauci with Attorney General Todd Blanche or DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro. “I have not spoken to them about that, no,” Trump said.