Republican senators release Fauci texts on vaccine pregnancy risk

The Story in Brief

Republican Senators Ron Johnson and Rand Paul have released over 34,000 text messages and 522 voicemails from Dr Anthony Fauci's government phone. The messages include a January 2021 exchange where Fauci expressed concern that a second Covid vaccine dose could "theoretically be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester". The senators claim the release shows Fauci and other officials privately acknowledged risks not fully disclosed to the public. The messages date from early in the US vaccine rollout.

The release follows a tense Senate hearing where Fauci repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment. Senator Paul has referred a contempt vote against Fauci to the Justice Department. Fauci's lawyer was removed from the hearing after attempting to speak on his behalf. The senators questioned why only three contacts were named in the phone records. The documents are part of a wider Republican probe into the US pandemic response, with Johnson alleging the FDA ignored warnings about its vaccine safety monitoring system.