Sen. Ron Johnson Pursues Documentation on Vaccine-Related Deaths
Senator Ron Johnson announced in a letter on Monday that he will persist in seeking information regarding deaths linked to coronavirus vaccines, following significant revelations last November that confirmed the Trump administration acknowledged deaths among children due to the vaccines.
The letter, shared exclusively with a news organization, requests further details about these fatalities and criticizes the U.S. vaccine safety oversight system under the Biden administration, along with the Food and Drug Administration for purported delays in reporting that lasted years. “Nobody wanted to admit these things were causing deaths. This is really a case of willful ignorance,” Johnson mentioned during an interview.
Johnson’s inquiry continues from a memo released on November 28, where Vinay Prasad, head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, laid out key findings from a study into child deaths following COVID-19 vaccinations. Prasad has called for more rigorous standards surrounding vaccine approvals, advocating for randomized clinical trials for most new vaccines.
The letter urges the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide “all records referenced or related to the investigation of the 96 post-incident death reports.” This includes various memorandums and reports prepared after considering COVID-19 vaccines, along with the data behind those reports.
“I appreciate that there are individuals in federal health agencies who prioritize vaccine safety and effectiveness, but I’m frustrated that despite HHS being subpoenaed for the necessary data, it does not seem to have been given to my office,” the letter stated.
HHS has yet to respond to comments on the matter.
Johnson remarked, “This is a significant finding. For the first time, the FDA will recognize that a COVID-19 vaccine has resulted in child deaths in the U.S. Those mandates forced individuals to receive potentially dangerous vaccines. It’s hard to grapple with the fact that children between the ages of 7 and 16 may die as a consequence of these vaccines, and without this investigation led by the FDA commissioner, we might not have uncovered this safety concern.”
Johnson continues to delve into adverse events connected to COVID-19 vaccines and is asking for clearer answers on why the FDA only examined a fraction of the reports submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). He noted that the 96 reviewed deaths are just a small subset of the 9,299 total deaths reported globally within two days of vaccination.
In his correspondence, Johnson indicated that autopsy reports are crucial to differentiate between genuine fatal side effects and coincidental deaths; however, both regulators and medical professionals often don’t pursue such investigations due to ideological hesitations about vaccine risks. He mentioned that he has encountered families who suspected vaccine-related harm but faced obstacles in obtaining autopsies.
“For some federal health and medical officials, vaccines are almost held with a religious reverence. They seem uncomfortable muddying the waters with concrete data,” he stated.
Johnson’s letter highlights that Prasad noted a culture of “getting acquitted with impunity when vaccines are ambiguous” within the FDA and raises concerns that the true death toll may be significantly higher.
As the chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Johnson has been scrutinizing the Biden administration’s push for broad vaccine and booster distribution among healthy young people and children.
His committee has discovered internal documents revealing that the CDC did not modify its vaccine surveillance system, V-Safe, to encompass cardiac symptoms, even though it acknowledged myocarditis as a potential adverse effect. A report indicated that FDA leaders had blocked warnings to healthcare providers about myocarditis risks linked to the Pfizer vaccine after it was sanctioned for use in 12- to 15-year-olds in May 2021, even though safety indications were noted earlier that year.
Johnson’s letter underlines the absence of vital safety studies that drug companies failed to conduct.
Under the current administration, the FDA has allowed drug companies to bypass some postmarket studies they previously committed to. According to Prasad’s memo, these pending studies cover promising research on subclinical myocarditis and unrecorded rates of cardiac inflammation without overt symptoms.
Johnson also pointed out that his committee has yet to receive records from HHS concerning liability protections related to coronavirus vaccines.
Reports emerged on December 11 that FDA officials announced a reduction in certainty regarding the vaccine’s link to some fatalities since Prasad received preliminary results. This followed earlier leaks from career staff that appeared intended to undermine the newly appointed FDA chief.
Prasad’s memo highlighted that Tracy Beth Hogue, acting director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, had initially confirmed a child’s death over the summer, but subsequently, this information was leaked in a manner that painted Hogue as fearmongering about vaccine safety.
Johnson’s letter requests documentation from meetings attended by Hogue, specifically a list of participants.
