HHS Owes the Public an Explanation on Failure to Study COVID Vaccine Safety
On September 22, 2025, the following letter was sent to as many RFK, Jr.-appointed members of the HHS Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for whom email addresses could be found. There has been no response to date. That can change.
ACIP Committee Members:
I’m writing to encourage ACIP to take up a question I posed in a FOIA request in 2021 – who at HHS decided not to study COVID vaccine safety in any serious way after the problems became apparent, and why?
I lived through the swine flu debacle. In 1976, U.S. regulators pulled the swine flu vaccine from the market after it was linked to 25 deaths. In stark contrast, U.S. regulators did not pull the COVID vaccines from the market despite 18,000 deaths having occurred shortly after vaccination by the time I filed my FOIA request. This information came from VAERS reports. The number of deaths reported to VAERS has increased to more than 38,000 while other COVID vaccine injuries now total over 1.6 million, according to OpenVAERS.
The first half of the VAERS disclaimer states the reports do not necessarily prove causation. Fair enough, but the second half of the VAERS disclaimer indicates the government is supposed to undertake safety studies where problems are manifest.
Despite unprecedented off-the-charts numbers of deaths and injuries associated with COVID vaccines, HHS and its components did not undertake to study COVID vaccine safety in any serious way. There were a handful of ‘studies’ declaring in conclusory fashion the benefits of the vaccines outweighed the risks. There was eventually a myocarditis study that admitted there was a very small problem. There was also a study that cherry-picked about a hundred VAERS reports to reach the predetermined and politicized conclusion that causation is murky.
Hogwash. Res ipsa loquitur – the facts speak for themselves. All it takes is one look at the OpenVAERS chart of vaccine injuries over the last 30 years to know something went horribly wrong with the COVID vaccines.
On September 22, 2025, the following letter was sent to as many RFK, Jr.-appointed members of the HHS Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for whom email addresses could be found. There has been no response to date. That can change.
- TAKE ACTION! Send the same letter demanding answers to ACIP members yourself. Contact [email protected] for a list of addresses. If enough activists participate, ACIP and HHS will have to answer.
ACIP Committee Members:
I’m writing to encourage ACIP to take up a question I posed in a FOIA request in 2021 – who at HHS decided not to study COVID vaccine safety in any serious way after the problems became apparent, and why?
I lived through the swine flu debacle. In 1976, U.S. regulators pulled the swine flu vaccine from the market after it was linked to 25 deaths. In stark contrast, U.S. regulators did not pull the COVID vaccines from the market despite 18,000 deaths having occurred shortly after vaccination by the time I filed my FOIA request. This information came from VAERS reports. The number of deaths reported to VAERS has increased to more than 38,000 while other COVID vaccine injuries now total over 1.6 million, according to OpenVAERS.
The first half of the VAERS disclaimer states the reports do not necessarily prove causation. Fair enough, but the second half of the VAERS disclaimer indicates the government is supposed to undertake safety studies where problems are manifest.
Despite unprecedented off-the-charts numbers of deaths and injuries associated with COVID vaccines, HHS and its components did not undertake to study COVID vaccine safety in any serious way. There were a handful of ‘studies’ declaring in conclusory fashion the benefits of the vaccines outweighed the risks. There was eventually a myocarditis study that admitted there was a very small problem. There was also a study that cherry-picked about a hundred VAERS reports to reach the predetermined and politicized conclusion that causation is murky.
Hogwash. Res ipsa loquitur – the facts speak for themselves. All it takes is one look at the OpenVAERS chart of vaccine injuries over the last 30 years to know something went horribly wrong with the COVID vaccines.
Something has changed in the regulatory response to vaccine fatalities, and not for the better, since the swine flu debacle when injury reports were taken seriously. The change and HHS’ disregard of COVID vaccine injury reports beg the question: why did regulators not undertake to study COVID vaccine safety in any serious way after the problems became apparent?
There could be any number of reasons, but two plausible theories would account for the change: First, the COVID vaccine was rolled out quickly to the entire population to rehearse the feasibility of mRNA technology to handle a future bio-threat to national security. It is not disputed that the War Department has been developing mRNA technology for many years. It is plausible the defense establishment convinced the public health authorities to go ahead with a national roll-out of the COVID vaccines as a test run.
The second plausible reason for keeping the COVID vaccines on the market was to keep patent royalties flowing to NIH and its personnel. Hundreds of millions of dollars were at stake. This financial incentive could certainly account for why COVID vaccine safety issues were swept under the rug.
Whatever the reason(s), the public is entitled to know what the government was up to. We are not supposed to have secret government in this country.
The Biden administration stonewalled my FOIA request at the administrative level and in court for three years (similar to the experience of RFK,Jr. and others in his circle who also have had FOIA requests stonewalled). None of the above mattered to the judge who ruled against me in July (the case is still pending with respect to FDA). The government admitted to wrongdoing in my case, but the judge didn’t care about that either. A lot of judicial filigree has grown up around the Freedom of Information Act that allows judges to rule any way they want and deliberately keep records hidden from the public. My FOIA case pretty much ended with the judge telling me I have no right to records that would answer my questions. The public has no right to know, even though no FOIA exemption (like national security) had been claimed. I had also filed a motion for Trump administration review, but the judge ruled against me on that, also. (Wright v. HHS, District Court for the District of Columbia, Civil Action No. 22-1378)
None of this mattered to the judge, but it should matter to you and your ACIP colleagues. Investigating COVID vaccine safety is within your remit and, during his confirmation process, RFK, Jr. promised ‘radical transparency’ for the agency.
I urge you and your colleagues to take up my questions and get to the bottom of what went wrong. Justice for the vaccine victims and popular sovereignty demand it.
Happy to discuss.
Best wishes,
-Chris Wright
There could be any number of reasons, but two plausible theories would account for the change: First, the COVID vaccine was rolled out quickly to the entire population to rehearse the feasibility of mRNA technology to handle a future bio-threat to national security. It is not disputed that the War Department has been developing mRNA technology for many years. It is plausible the defense establishment convinced the public health authorities to go ahead with a national roll-out of the COVID vaccines as a test run.
The second plausible reason for keeping the COVID vaccines on the market was to keep patent royalties flowing to NIH and its personnel. Hundreds of millions of dollars were at stake. This financial incentive could certainly account for why COVID vaccine safety issues were swept under the rug.
Whatever the reason(s), the public is entitled to know what the government was up to. We are not supposed to have secret government in this country.
The Biden administration stonewalled my FOIA request at the administrative level and in court for three years (similar to the experience of RFK,Jr. and others in his circle who also have had FOIA requests stonewalled). None of the above mattered to the judge who ruled against me in July (the case is still pending with respect to FDA). The government admitted to wrongdoing in my case, but the judge didn’t care about that either. A lot of judicial filigree has grown up around the Freedom of Information Act that allows judges to rule any way they want and deliberately keep records hidden from the public. My FOIA case pretty much ended with the judge telling me I have no right to records that would answer my questions. The public has no right to know, even though no FOIA exemption (like national security) had been claimed. I had also filed a motion for Trump administration review, but the judge ruled against me on that, also. (Wright v. HHS, District Court for the District of Columbia, Civil Action No. 22-1378)
None of this mattered to the judge, but it should matter to you and your ACIP colleagues. Investigating COVID vaccine safety is within your remit and, during his confirmation process, RFK, Jr. promised ‘radical transparency’ for the agency.
I urge you and your colleagues to take up my questions and get to the bottom of what went wrong. Justice for the vaccine victims and popular sovereignty demand it.
Happy to discuss.
Best wishes,
-Chris Wright