The Biden administration has been accused of purposefully covering up potentially deadly side effects of the Covid vaccines.
A Congressional investigation found White House officials held back warnings about heart damage from Covid vaccines in younger people, even after getting early alerts from other countries, including Israel.
Internal emails and memos suggest a planned Health Alert Network (HAN) message by the CDC regarding myocarditis – inflammation of the heart muscle – was not released.
Drafts of this alert reportedly downplayed risks, emphasizing vaccine benefits over potential adverse events, according to the report.
Emails indicate FDA officials, including then-Commissioner Janet Woodcock, expressed reservations about the language in the proposed HAN, leading to its suppression.
The Biden administration, the report alleges, gave former top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci talking points to downplay the myocarditis risk, instructing them to say that the reported cases ‘have been mild and often go away without requiring treatment.’
As of now, there is no definitive count of deaths in the US directly attributed to myocarditis caused by Covid vaccines.
Some argue that America’s fragmented healthcare system means rare complications from Covid vaccines have been underreported.
The Biden administration has been accused of purposefully covering up potentially deadly side effects of the Covid vaccines
Brittany Burnette (circled) was used to caring for others as the director of a nursing home until she developed a condition that caused her bones to rot after taking the Covid shot. Burnette was not diagnosed with myocarditis
But a study analyzing death certificates in Oregon found no deaths directly linked to vaccination-induced myocarditis among individuals aged 16–30.
Similarly, the CDC has not identified a significant number of deaths directly caused by vaccine-related myocarditis.
The new probe was led by Sen Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, and chair of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
Johnson, known for his critical stance on Covid vaccine policies, said: ‘I think we finally got enough documents to certainly demonstrate in this case… that the federal government was well aware of myocarditis.’
Internal emails revealed by the committee show the CDC drafted a nationwide Health Alert Network (HAN) warning in May 2021 but it was scrapped when faced with pushback at the FDA, with Woodcock emailing then-CDC Director Rochelle Walensky that the agency ‘does not concur’ with the decision to issue the warning.
‘The same day, they decided to nix it and instead publish less formal clinical myocarditis considerations on the CDC website,’ Sen Johnson said.
The CDC, according to the report removed critical language from public advice, including a recommendation from Dr Demetre Daskalakis—then-Director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, to restrict athletes with myocarditis from sports for three months.
The report also slams the former administration for apparently prioritizing Big Pharma over public health, showing federal agencies were in contact with Moderna and Pfizer about reports of the heart condition.
The above graph shows the risk of suffering myocarditis by doses, based on people under 40 years old and up to seven days after getting their vaccine, according to a 2022 study. Risk was highest after the second dose
On May 28, 2021, the CDC published updated guidance acknowledging a rise in myocarditis and pericarditis cases following mRNA Covid vaccination (Pfizer and Moderna).
However, the agency maintained its recommendation for everyone 12 and up to get vaccinated.
The public guidance omitted a key safety precaution that had been discussed internally just one day earlier – specifically avoiding strenuous activity for recovering patients – which Dr Daskalakis had highlighted as important for inclusion.
Internal minutes from a June meeting of the Vaccine Safety Technical (VaST) Work Group show scientists upgraded myocarditis risk language from ‘potential’ to ‘likely association’ with mRNA vaccines for young people—language later used in the final presentation to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices that June.
The combined effort to obscure safety concerns about the new Covid vaccines, according to Republicans, undermined Americans’ health and safety.
The committee alleges that two months after the Covid vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna were granted authorization from the FDA, it began monitoring an uptick in cases of myocarditis in young men aged 16 to 30 in Israel and communicating with health officials there.
The US agencies were alerted to ‘large reports of myocarditis, particularly in young people’ in Israel on February 28. A few days later, US representatives wrote back, acknowledging around 27 cases, though they acknowledged that the risk of getting the condition was low.
A few weeks after Israeli officials presented shocking data at the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Technical Group, the agency prepared a national warning about the heart inflammation risk through its Health Alert Network (HAN).
A Congressional investigation found White House officials held back warnings about heart damage from Covid vaccines in younger people, even after getting early alerts from other countries, including Israel
This system is how the CDC quickly shares important health warnings with doctors, public health officials, and medical labs across the country..
Meanwhile, the report reveals CDC officials privately briefed Pfizer and Moderna about the potential myocarditis warning while keeping the American public in the dark.
All the while, vaccine makers were making billions. Total sales of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine surpassed $80 billion and those for Moderna exceeded 36 billion.
Despite the VaST work group’s consensus by May 17, 2021, that providers needed myocarditis warnings, leadership stalled until late June – a critical six-week gap when millions of young Americans received doses without this safety context.
According to the report: ‘Given that CDC officials were aware of the growing risk of myocarditis coupled with the lack of nationwide reporting about it, it would make the issuance of the HAN not only useful, but extremely necessary.
‘However, CDC officials ultimately decided against the formal HAN message on myocarditis, potentially leaving the public and health care providers less informed about the cardiac-related risks of the COVID-19 vaccines.’
The side effect is rare, but exactly how rare is still being debated. A major 2021 study in Israel put the rate at one in 50,000. Other studies have come to vastly different estimates.
While most cases are mild, in rare instances, myocarditis can damage the heart and make it difficult for it to pump blood, eventually leading to heart failure, heart attack, and stroke.
The report slams the former administration for apparently prioritizing Big Pharma over public health
The CDC’s voluntary side effect reporting database VAERS, has logged over 1,600 cases of myocarditis in the US, primarily in young men 12 to 29, after they received a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, which relies on mRNA technology to teach the immune system how to fight Covid.
The report suggests the actual number is likely higher due to VAERS’s passive surveillance system missing cases.
Currently, there is no conclusive evidence of deaths in the US directly caused by myocarditis from Covid vaccines.
For example, a 2023 Oregon study reviewing death certificates found no fatalities linked to vaccine-induced myocarditis in individuals aged 16–30.
Similarly, CDC surveillance data has not identified a significant number of deaths attributable to this rare side effect.
However, some researchers caution that underreporting is possible due to gaps in America’s healthcare system, where mild or atypical cases may go unrecorded.
Still, the consensus among health authorities is that fatal outcomes from vaccine-related myocarditis—if they occur—are extremely rare, while the risks of severe Covid (including heart damage) remain well-documented.
