Newly released Department of Health and Human Services records show federal health officials under former President Joe Biden were warned early about potential COVID-19 vaccine safety issues but failed to alert the public, Sen. Ron Johnson said Thursday.
Documents obtained from HHS under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s transparency initiative indicate officials ignored or concealed safety signals identified within months of the vaccines' emergency authorization, the Wisconsin Republican told Newsmax's "Bianca Across the Nation."
"Because of Bobby Kennedy's commitment to radical transparency, we got 11 million pages from HHS," Johnson said. "We had to find these needles in the haystack."
Johnson said one document showed that on March 1, 2021, FDA vaccine official Peter Marks was warned the algorithm used to analyze the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, would "hide and mask safety signals."
Twenty-nine days later, Johnson said, senior health officials were presented with safety signals that included sudden cardiac death, pulmonary infarction, Bell's palsy, and several types of stroke.
"For three consecutive months, because reports were coming in, they continued to do these runs using algorithms showing more sudden death, more safety signals," Johnson said. "And they denied it."
Johnson said officials continued using the original algorithm despite being warned it could obscure potential adverse events.
"They knew it was going to hide safety signals," he said. "They even saw safety signals. They're denying it to this day. They continue to lie to the American public."
Johnson called the handling of the information "the largest government scandal in my lifetime" and criticized national news organizations for what he described as a lack of coverage.
"Not one major newspaper or broadcast station has covered this as a news story," Johnson said. "I think that's outrageous as well."
Johnson also said he expects former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci to face questions when he testifies before Congress later this month.
"First of all, expose his lies. Find out what he knew, when he knew it," Johnson said. "He better not lie to Congress."
Johnson added he has concerns about the nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying he is uncertain whether he can support the nominee if the individual continues to believe the COVID-19 vaccines are "safe and effective."
The FDA and HHS have previously said they continuously monitored vaccine safety through multiple surveillance systems and have maintained that the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweighed the risks for the vast majority of recipients.
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