Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) released emails obtained from Anthony Fauci’s government account showing that Dr. Janet Woodcock, then-Acting Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), wrote to Drs. Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins regarding reports she received directly from individuals—including “healthcare professionals”—of adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination.

According to Johnson’s office, Woodcock stated:
“The symptoms do not fit together into a distinctive syndrome and most are not easily quantifiable or evaluated with standard laboratory testing.”
“These problems are not the sort that a system like VAERS would be able to detect, or even a more sophisticated population-based active followup such as CDC has, or a medical record based system such as BEST [an FDA safety surveillance system].”

Johnson noted: “As our investigation continues, we have mounting evidence that, time and time again, those responsible for watching for safety signals failed to warn the public when they saw them. They let people die and become permanently disabled because they didn’t want to cause ‘vaccine hesitancy.’”

Woodcock also expressed skepticism about industry cooperation for further study: “I doubt the industry would support, for obvious reasons. But my experience is, that if you let a problem fester, then it will come back to bite you later and you are not prepared.”

The day after receiving Woodcock’s email, Dr. Fauci forwarded it to Dr. Collins with this note: “Janet asks what we think of this? We cannot ignore her. We should probably bring in CDC and see what Rochelle Walensky thinks.” Johnson stated that it remains unclear whether Walensky was ever consulted on the matter.

Woodcock’s May 27, 2021 email reveals critical context: By that date, VAERS had recorded 440,025 adverse events and 8,650 deaths globally linked to COVID-19 injections—3,350 (39%) occurring within two days of vaccination. The volume of reports far exceeded the worst-case scenario of 1,000 per day projected by VAERS contractor General Dynamics Information Technology in December 2020.

Johnson’s report details that three months before Woodcock’s email—on March 1, 2021—Dr. Ana Szarfman, an FDA official, warned that the agency’s algorithm for analyzing VAERS data was masking safety signals. Monthly runs using a new algorithm revealed dozens of concerning patterns, including sudden cardiac death, pulmonary infarction (later linked to Dr. Fauci in June 2021), cerebral artery occlusion, basal ganglia stroke, agonal rhythm, and Bell’s palsy.

The report further states that FDA officials disregarded Szarfman’s warnings and instructed her to cease operations while continuing with the flawed algorithm. Additionally, NIH researchers led by Dr. Avindra Nath had been diagnosing and treating severe injuries from COVID-19 injections since March 2021—symptoms consistent with those reported directly to Woodcock.

Johnson questioned whether Woodcock was aware of these developments when she wrote her May 27, 2021 email: “Was Acting Commissioner Woodcock aware of Dr. Nath’s diagnosing and treatment of COVID injection injuries at NIH and/or what senior FDA officials had been told and shown about safety signals? If so, why did she hide that knowledge from the public?”