Top Biden health officials withheld key warnings about heart inflammation risks tied to mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, according to a new Senate investigation released Wednesday by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).
The interim report, based on previously redacted documents, claims federal agencies were aware of serious safety signals but chose to delay public disclosure while downplaying the dangers.
The 54-page report from the Senate Homeland Security’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations reveals that as early as February 2021, officials at the CDC and FDA were alerted to a growing number of myocarditis cases in young vaccine recipients. Many of the cases were men, particularly following the Pfizer shot. Israeli health authorities warned their American counterparts of the issue, triggering internal discussions that lasted for months.
Despite mounting evidence and over 150 documented reports of myocarditis, pericarditis, or related inflammation cases by April 2021, senior health officials blocked efforts to issue a formal health alert to clinicians. Instead, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly posted a notice on its website, and the FDA waited until late June to update vaccine labels.
“Federal health officials had ample evidence of myocarditis and related heart inflammation conditions occurring in young adults who received mRNA COVID-19 vaccines,” the report stated. “But rather than promptly notify the public, they delayed and debated — putting politics over transparency.”
Among those named in the report is then-Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, who pushed back against a CDC proposal to issue a Health Alert Network (HAN) message to doctors nationwide. In an email to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, Woodcock argued against the alert, reportedly worried about appearing “alarmist.”
Internal emails show CDC official Dr. Sara Oliver acknowledged the likelihood of issuing a HAN alert, but said that “people don’t want to appear alarmist either,” despite the growing concern among military health contractors and frontline physicians.
Some doctors who raised early concerns faced censorship or had their social media accounts flagged for spreading “misinformation.”
Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg, an epidemiologist who consulted for Florida’s Department of Health, had one of her posts about myocarditis flagged as misleading. Philadelphia cardiologist Dr. Anish Koka saw his Twitter account suspended in 2022 for sharing a review of post-vaccine myocarditis.
The report also claims the Biden administration circulated internal talking points describing myocarditis as “rare,” even as the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) showed a dramatic increase, rising to over 750 cases by late May 2021.
By mid-June, the FDA finally moved to revise vaccine labels to acknowledge the risk. But Johnson’s report argues the damage had already been done. “The American people fund these agencies with their tax dollars. The information belongs to them,” the report said. “Instead, they were kept in the dark.”
Senator Johnson will lead a hearing Wednesday afternoon to further examine the findings and hear testimony on the extent of the Biden administration’s response failures.