Fauci Weighed Vaccine Safety Questions for Pregnant Women in Private Messages, Senate Releases Show

Text messages obtained from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s government cell phone reveal he privately weighed concerns about COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and pregnancy in January 2021, conversations that included questions about fever following a second dose and potential first-trimester complications. The exchange, made public Monday by Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., involved then-CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and Dr. Vivek Murthy, who later became President Joe Biden’s surgeon general.

In the messages, Fauci noted that since many people develop fever and cytokine-related symptoms after the second dose, this reaction “theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester.” Johnson’s office characterized the release as potentially significant for “public health and the principle of informed consent,” though it remains unclear what action, if any, resulted from the private discussion.

Fauci initially told Murthy there were “no data or theoretical reason” to prefer vaccination at any particular stage of pregnancy and disputed claims that mRNA vaccines could alter human genes. However, later that evening he raised the potential second-dose complications, which Walensky called “definitely a good point, esp after dose two.”

When Murthy flagged a World Health Organization recommendation against Moderna vaccines in pregnancy due to limited data, Fauci responded by citing more than 10,000 pregnant women already vaccinated without reported problems and noting that FDA, ACIP, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists all permitted pregnant women to choose vaccination. He also emphasized that animal toxicology studies showed no red flags.

Murthy warned that a strong recommendation against vaccination based on insufficient data could damage confidence among pregnant women, a concern Walensky said she would bring to an upcoming ACIP meeting. The Senate release noted that among 34,000 text messages and 522 voicemails, only three contacts were identified by name while others appeared solely as phone numbers.