Fauci Phone Texts Raise New Vaccine Questions

The Fauci phone texts released this week are putting new attention on how top federal health officials discussed Covid vaccine safety in pregnancy during the early rollout. Senators Ron Johnson and Rand Paul said they obtained a copy of Anthony Fauci’s pandemic-era government phone, and the messages inside include a January 2021 exchange about miscarriage risk, vaccination timing, and how much officials really knew at the time.

According to Johnson and Paul, the device contains more than 34,000 text messages and 522 voicemails, even though it listed only three saved contacts. The senators also said investigators cannot yet determine whether anything was removed from the phone. One of the first messages made public centers on Fauci, then-CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, and then-Surgeon General Vivek Murthy discussing whether pregnant women should be vaccinated early or later in pregnancy and when stronger safety data might arrive.

In that conversation, Murthy asked Fauci whether there was any data or even a theoretical basis for advising pregnant women to get vaccinated earlier rather than later. He also said he had been telling pregnant patients that clinical trials had not shown troubling outcomes. Fauci replied that there was “no data or theoretical reason to believe that vaccinating early versus later in pregnancy would be preferred.” He also rejected a rumor that mRNA vaccines could alter genetic code, saying that concern only became more intense when applied to a fetus.

Fauci then sent a follow-up warning about two hours later. He said many vaccine recipients experienced a cytokine storm with fever after a second dose and raised the possibility that such an immune reaction could theoretically trigger miscarriage if it happened in the first trimester. The Cleveland Clinic describes a cytokine storm as an intense flood of immune-system proteins that can damage tissue and organs. Walensky responded that it was “definitely a good point, esp after dose two,” while Murthy said the concern matched other warnings he had heard and agreed it deserved attention.