US senator claims health officials ignored COVID-19 vaccine safety concerns

US Sen. Ron Johnson on Sunday alleged that federal health officials failed to warn the public about COVID-19 vaccine safety concerns, citing what he called "mounting" evidence of persistent nondisclosure.

"They let people die and become permanently disabled because they didn't want to cause 'vaccine hesitancy,'" Johnson wrote on US social media company X.

The Wisconsin Republican, working with Sen. Rand Paul, released communications that he claimed showed top experts were aware of potential risks as early as January 2021.

The experts, according to him, included Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Johnson cited an alleged text message to Fauci by John Mascola, then director of the institute's Vaccine Research Center, which he said noted that initial studies suggested avoiding vaccination in the first trimester due to "higher rates of miscarriage."

The senator also cited what he described as a May 2021 email from Janet Woodcock to Fauci concerning reports of patients experiencing adverse events.

Woodcock wrote that she had personally received reports of patients experiencing "hard to classify adverse events," according to Johnson.

"Why wasn't the public alerted to their concerns?" the senator asked, also questioning the ethics of subsequent vaccine mandates.

Johnson said he hoped the officials involved would eventually cooperate to clarify the meaning of their private correspondence.

His allegations came as the Senate Homeland Security Committee voted to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress.

The former NIAID director repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment during a contentious hearing earlier, refusing to answer questions about "gain-of-function" research and potential coordination with the intelligence community.

Fauci's legal team previously called the investigation a "pathological course of retribution" by Paul.