Sen. Johnson asks FDA, CDC for information related to adverse COVID-19 vaccine reactions

Sen. Ron Johnson, the top Republican on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, is demanding the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to turn over information pertaining to adverse reactions suffered by recipients of specific lots of the COVID-19 vaccine.

In his letter, Johnson references information he obtained from researchers who used publicly available information from the CDC's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System to uncover a possible relationship between certain lots of the COVID-19 vaccine and adverse events. 

"Using VAERS data, these researchers found that for the past 30 years, seasonal flu vaccines have never had more than 137 adverse events reported for a single lot in VAERS," the Wisconsin Republicans wrote. "In stark contrast, in less than one year, 5,297 adverse events were associated with a single COVID- 19 vaccine lot. In addition, 186 lots of COVID-19 vaccine had over 1,000 reports of adverse events, and an additional 70 lots between 500-999 reports"

"The researchers’ analysis further shows that approximately 80% of U.S.-only adverse events reported to VAERS for COVID-19 vaccines are associated with approximately 1% of vaccine lots reported to VAERS, and approximately 80% of serious adverse events (those involving emergency room visits, hospitalization, or death) are associated with approximately 5% of specific vaccine lots reported to VAERS."

Johnson is curious about the sorts of quality control checks the agencies run on lots of COVID-19 vaccines, and expresses significant frustration that figures previously reported to VAERS failed to prompt "serious" investigation at an earlier date.

The letter continues, "In addition, the total number of adverse events and deaths reported to VAERS for the COVID-19 vaccines should have prompted serious investigations and corrective action many months ago. As noted by federal health agencies, the reports on VAERS are "only a small fraction of actual adverse events."

"Through December 17, 2021, there have been 983,758 total adverse events and 20,622 deaths reported worldwide associated with the COVID-19 vaccines. Of the 20,622 deaths, 6,232 (30%) have occurred on day 0,1, or 2 following vaccination. In contrast, over 30 years of reporting on seasonal flu vaccines, there have been a total of 200,264 adverse events and 2,078 deaths."

Johnson, who also recently inquired with the Department of Defense about a number of questions pertaining to Dr. Anthony Fauci's knowledge of gain-of-function research that his agency allegedly was funding in Wuhan, China, requested the information be delivered by Jan. 12.

Over the weekend, the two-term senator announced that he will seek reelection in Wisconsin in what is bound to be a closely watched race this coming fall.