The Biden administration “downplayed” and “delay[ed]” warnings about risks associated with receiving the mRNA Covid vaccines, according to a new congressional report released Wednesday.
Published by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, the analysis’ findings are based on records forfeited by the Trump Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in compliance with requests issued by the subcommittee’s chair, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. As noted in the document, the interim report is “a culmination of a multi-year fight to overcome the obstruction of the Biden administration to get unredacted records and data about the COVID-19 pandemic and the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines.”
According to the subcommittee, the more than 2,473 pages of records disclosed by the Trump administration show how Biden administration officials sought to “downplay and delay warning the public about the risks of myocarditis associated with the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.”
A timeline laid out in the report documents how, throughout the early months of 2021, U.S. health officials began receiving data and reports about vaccinated individuals experiencing myocarditis and other cardiac-related adverse events after receiving the Covid shots. These reports came from domestic entities, as well as the Israeli Ministry of Health, which informed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “in late February 2021 of large reports of myocarditis, particularly in young people, following the administration of the Pfizer vaccine.”
As noted in the analysis, “in May 2021, following months of reports of myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination, health officials at HHS discussed whether to issue a formal warning about the adverse event.” At the time, the CDC was planning to release such an advisory “about myocarditis” in the form of a Health Alert Network (HAN) message, which the agency classifies as its “primary method of sharing cleared information about urgent public health incidents with public information officers …”
According to the Senate report, however, the agency’s planned HAN was never issued. The analysis noted how the CDC and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “ultimately decided against issuing a formal HAN and, instead, posted ‘clinical considerations’ on CDC’s website about myocarditis.”
Unredacted records contained within the report seemingly show how a later draft of the intended HAN “appear[ed] to contain more language emphasizing that benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the risks” than that used in a prior draft. The analysis noted, “Documents show that around the time that [then-CDC Director Rochelle Walensky] received the updated version of the HAN, then-FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock emailed Walensky and appeared to raise concerns about issuing the alert.”
“Rochelle, do you know that FDA does not concur with issuance of the myocarditis HAN as written,” the subject line of a May 26, 2021, email from Woodcock to Walensky reads.
While a HAN for myocarditis was never issued, the language used in the “clinical considerations” posted on the CDC’s website was also seemingly watered down from what was originally proposed.
“On May 28, 2021, CDC posted its ‘clinical considerations’ on its website stating ‘increased cases of myocarditis and pericarditis have been reported in the United States after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna),’ but CDC still ‘continues to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for everyone 12 years of age and older,’” the report reads. “The website did not contain the language about [the need to reduce] rigorous activity” that health officials took issue with a day prior.
It’s worth noting that, despite the reports and data collected by federal health officials of the jabs’ potential risks at that point, the FDA authorized Pfizer’s Covid shot for emergency use in 12–15-year-old adolescents on May 10, 2021 — 18 days prior to the CDC’s issuance of its “clinical considerations.” As noted in the report, the agency’s May 10 announcement “did not mention the risk of myocarditis and broadly stated that ‘the known and potential benefits of this vaccine in individuals 12 years of age and older outweigh the known and potential risks[.]’”
“The full extent of the Biden administration’s failure to immediately warn the public about all COVID-19 vaccine adverse events must be completely exposed,” the interim report reads. “The information developed by these departments and agencies belong to the American people, and should be made fully and transparently available.”
The Senate report’s findings mirror similar discoveries revealed in an investigative analysis produced by House Republicans last year. As The Federalist first reported, the report showed how the Biden administration “pressured federal health agencies to ignore and sidestep several vaccine safety protocols to fast-track its Covid shot mandates.”
Senate PSI Majority Staff Interim Report – May 21, 2025 – Covid Shot Risks by The Federalist
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
