Fauci texts raising theoretical miscarriage concern after COVID vaccine dose spark backlash
Multiple officials erupted on social media after a Senate committee released text messages Monday showing Dr. Anthony Fauci privately raised a theoretical concern that fever and other reactions after a second COVID-19 vaccine dose could be associated with miscarriage in the first trimester.
The January 2021 conversation, obtained from Fauci's government-issued cellphone, shows the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) discussing concerns about fever and other symptoms following a second vaccine dose. Fauci wrote that the reaction "theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester."
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who released the conversation with Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., blasted Fauci on social media.
"Once again, Anthony Fauci was saying one thing in public and something completely different in private," Paul said in a post on X. "He was willing to put women and their unborn children at risk instead of admitting that he was wrong about the vaccines that he tried guilting Americans into taking."
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier also blasted the former top health official, accusing him of withholding information that could have put pregnant women and their unborn children at risk.
"Pregnant women were told it was safe! How many women lost babies due to Dr. Fauci's lies," Uthmeier said in a post on X.
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., took a step further, calling for Fauci's arrest in an ordeal she called "the most infuriating thing."
"Fauci knew Covid shots cause miscarriages. And still forced the shots. Fauci belongs in prison," Greene said in a post on X.
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"If a Covid vaccine can kill a baby and cause a miscarriage, then imagine all the other things it can do to you. And Fauci knew it and still told people to take it," she added in a separate post.
Johnson's press release on the text messages said the findings "could have an immediate impact [on] public health and the principle of informed consent."
In addition, Fauci had previously acknowledged that there were "no data or theoretical reason" to believe vaccination earlier in pregnancy should be preferred over vaccination later in pregnancy.
He also noted that more than 10,000 pregnant women had already been vaccinated with "no issues" reported.
Around that time, Dr. Vivek Murthy, who was part of the conversation and would later serve as former President Joe Biden's surgeon general, flagged a World Health Organization recommendation against Moderna's vaccine for pregnant women due to limited data.
Murthy said issuing a strong recommendation against vaccination based on a lack of data could be "potentially quite damaging to public confidence among pregnant women."
Fox News Digital's Eric Mack contributed to this report.