Arkansas – “Fauci knew the risks. He hid them. He must be held accountable.” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., made the statement Tuesday after Senate Republicans released an initial batch of text messages from former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci’s government-issued cellphone, saying the messages raised further questions about what Fauci knew about potential COVID-19 vaccine risks and when that information was communicated to the public.
Cotton’s comments came one day after Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., released a selection of Fauci’s messages as part of their ongoing congressional investigation into the federal government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The senators said the records were obtained from Fauci’s government phone and that the device contained more than 34,000 text messages and 522 voicemails, WSJ reported.
Among the messages released was a January 2021 exchange concerning COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy. Fauci discussed the potential risks and benefits of vaccination for pregnant women, including the possibility that a second vaccine dose could theoretically be associated with miscarriage during the first trimester, per reports.
The messages showed Fauci discussing the lack of sufficient data available at the time and considering how the potential risks should be weighed against the benefits of vaccination. The discussion involved other senior health officials, including then-Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and then-CDC Director Rochelle Walensky.
Republican senators have portrayed the messages as evidence that Fauci and other federal health officials were aware of potential concerns that were not adequately communicated to Americans.
Cotton, who has been one of Fauci’s most outspoken congressional critics, characterized the revelations more directly, accusing the former federal health official of knowing about risks and deliberately concealing them.
“Fauci knew the risks. He hid them. He must be held accountable,” Cotton wrote on X on Aug. 11.
The released messages, however, do not by themselves establish that Fauci deliberately concealed a known danger from the public. The texts instead show Fauci discussing the uncertainty surrounding vaccination during pregnancy at a time when data on pregnant women were limited.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the messages provided a look at Fauci’s real-time discussions during the pandemic, including his conversations about the risks and benefits of COVID-19 vaccination for pregnant women. The report noted that Fauci expressed concern about possible early-pregnancy risks while also pointing to the absence of safety problems observed among thousands of vaccinated pregnant women.
CBS News similarly reported that the texts showed Fauci discussing how to weigh potential risks against the benefits of vaccination during pregnancy. The messages were from January 2021, when public-health officials were still working with limited data regarding COVID-19 vaccination among pregnant women.
The Washington Post reported that the messages were part of a much larger collection recovered from Fauci’s government phone. Republican lawmakers released only an initial selection as their investigation continues.