2024-11-19 RHJ To HHS FDA CDC Re Redacted Documents

November 19, 2024
The Honorable Xavier Becerra

Secretary
Department of Health and Human Services
The Honorable Robert Califf

Commissioner
Food and Drug Administration
Dr. Mandy Cohen

Director
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Dear Secretary Becerra, Commissioner Califf, and Director Cohen:
The lack of transparency from your agencies during the Biden presidency has been
appalling. Your agencies’ refusal to provide complete and unredacted responses and documents
to my numerous oversight letters on the development and safety of the COVID-19 vaccines has
hindered Congressional oversight and has jeopardized the public’s health.
In addition to hiding relevant information from Congress, your agencies have applied
heavy redactions to public documents released under Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
requests. These redactions have made many of these public documents hard to understand and,
in countless instances, impossible to read. What is clear from these excessive redactions,
however, is a concerted effort to obscure Congress’ and the public’s understanding of your
agencies’ detection of and response to COVID-19 vaccine adverse events such as myocarditis
and pericarditis. The following three examples from May 2021 highlight only a small fraction of
communications and documents on myocarditis and pericarditis your agencies continue to
conceal.
I. Heavily Redacted Pfizer Report on Myocarditis and Pericarditis
FOIA documents and public reporting indicate that in early 2021, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) received reports about post-vaccinated cases of myocarditis and
pericarditis.1 By May 22, 2021, heavily redacted documents reveal that then-CDC Director
1
Zachary Stieber, Timeline: COVID-19 Vaccines and Myocarditis, Epoch Times, Apr. 22, 2024,
https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/timeline-covid-19-vaccines-and-myocarditis-
5317985?utm_source=ref_share&utm_campaign=twitter&rs=SHRNCMMW; Ed Berkovich and Amy Kelly,
FOIA’d CDC Emails Reveal Disturbing Myocarditis Timeline Warranting Investigation: Different Messaging
Internally Vs. Publicly About COVID-19 Vaccines and Myocarditis, Daily Clout, Nov. 2, 2023,
https://dailyclout.io/foiad-cdc-emails-reveal-disturbing-myocarditis-timeline-warranting-investigation/; FOIA
production: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/wp-content/uploads/23-00056-for-2-24-2023-Close.pdf at 666-668,
November 19, 2024
Page 4
As a result of the redactions contained in this Pfizer report and the CDC’s May 22, 2021
email, it is unclear what information then-CDC Director Walensky received regarding cases of
myocarditis and pericarditis associated with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
II. CDC’s Draft Alert on Myocarditis Risk
Shortly after receiving Pfizer’s data on myocarditis and pericarditis then-CDC Director
Walensky and other CDC officials, contemplated whether to issue a warning to the public about
the risk of myocarditis among the vaccinated.6 In May 2021, CDC officials had drafted a Health
Alert Network (HAN) message that would have warned the public about the risk of myocarditis.7
According to CDC’s website, the HAN is “CDC’s primary method of sharing cleared
information about urgent public health incidents with public information officers; federal, state,
territorial, tribal, and local public health practitioners; clinicians; and public health laboratories.”8
A partially redacted document shows that on May 23, 2021, then-CDC Director Rochelle
Walensky received a draft of the HAN message on myocarditis.9 The draft HAN cited in the
FOIA document was not produced.10
6
Zachary Stieber, EXCLUSIVE: Email Reveals Why CDC Didn’t Issue Alert on COVID Vaccines and
Myocarditis, Epoch Times, Jan. 26, 2024, https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/exclusive-email-reveals-why-cdc-
didnt-issue-alert-on-covid-vaccines-and-myocarditis-5571675.
7
Id.
8
Health Alert Network (HAN), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Last Reviewed: Mar. 7, 2022,
https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/.
9
FOIA production: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K6B25XjBdKmjW5yEIEpZ1cvnr6jp3RAY/view at 315.
10
Id. (records released in connection with this FOIA request do not contain a copy of the draft HAN attached to the
May 23, 2021 email).
November 19, 2024
Page 8
The redactions in this email and the attachment make it impossible to know what “tough
QA” the Biden White House wanted Walensky, Fauci, and Collins to have on hand. Ultimately,
despite your agencies’ awareness of the risks associated with the COVID-19 vaccines, the main
talking point from these and other public health officials was uniform and entirely deceptive: the
vaccines are safe and effective.
####
For the last several years, I have sent over 60 public letters to federal agencies on
COVID-19 regarding the virus’ origins, early treatment, and the development and safety of the
vaccines. While your agencies have largely ignored or failed to fully cooperate with my
oversight efforts, I can assure you that your obstruction will soon come to an end. In the next
Congress, when I become chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, any
attempt by your agencies to withhold documents will be met with a subpoena.
Until then, my oversight work must continue and I, once again, call on you to provide full
and complete responses to the following requests:
1. An unredacted version of Enclosure 1.
2. All versions of the draft 2021 HAN on myocarditis and communications referring or
relating to the drafting of the HAN, the drafting of the clinical considerations on
myocarditis, the decision to not release the HAN, and an unredacted version of Enclosure
2.
3. An unredacted version of Enclosure 3.
I also call on your agencies to immediately preserve all records19 referring or relating to
the development, safety, and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines. Please provide the requested
information no later than December 3, 2024. Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
Ron Johnson
Ranking Member
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
Enclosures
19
“Records” include any written, recorded, or graphic material of any kind, including letters, memoranda, reports,
notes, electronic data (emails, email attachments, and any other electronically-created or stored information),
calendar entries, inter-office communications, meeting minutes, phone/voice mail or recordings/records of verbal
communications, and drafts (whether or not they resulted in final documents).
November 19, 2024
Page 9
cc: The Honorable Richard Blumenthal

Chairman
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
The Honorable Christi Grimm

Inspector General
Department of Health and Human Services
Enclosure 1
Enclosure 2
Enclosure 3

2024-11-19 RHJ To HHS FDA CDC Re Redacted Documents

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

2024-11-19 RHJ To HHS FDA CDC Re Redacted Documents

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

2024-11-19 RHJ To HHS FDA CDC Re Redacted Documents

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

November 19, 2024

The Honorable Xavier Becerra

The Honorable Robert Califf

Dr. Mandy Cohen

Dear Secretary Becerra, Commissioner Califf, and Director Cohen:

I. Heavily Redacted Pfizer Report on Myocarditis and Pericarditis

II. CDC’s Draft Alert on Myocarditis Risk

1. An unredacted version of Enclosure 1.

3. An unredacted version of Enclosure 3.

cc: The Honorable Richard Blumenthal

The Honorable Christi Grimm

You might also like