Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Ron Johnson release text messages they say were sent from and received by Dr. Anthony Fauci in 2021 about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant women. The lawmakers present the messages as part of a larger set of data they obtained from Fauci’s government cellphone.
According to Johnson’s office, the texts come from a device containing more than 34,000 messages recovered from a copy of Fauci’s iPhone. The outlets describe the release as focused on pregnancy-related vaccine safety discussions within the 2021 timeframe. Both reports characterize the messages as evidence meant to inform the public debate about COVID-19 vaccination guidance. The coverage centers on the provenance of the texts and the specific topic—vaccine safety for pregnant people—rather than on any new findings from independent verification.
