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Senate Says FDA Suppressed Analyst’s 25 COVID Alerts

5/8/2026

Summary

Story summary

Senate investigators said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suppressed a data-mining analyst’s COVID-19 vaccine safety alerts due to political pressure.
Senator Ron Johnson’s subcommittee reported the FDA blocked the analyst’s method that flagged 25 adverse-event signals.
The analyst’s algorithm identified signals as early as March 2021, which the agency’s standard system missed.
Critics said the case series design removes confounding but may bias results because people delay vaccination when ill.

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Story summary

Senate investigators said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suppressed a data-mining analyst’s COVID-19 vaccine safety alerts due to political pressure.
Senator Ron Johnson’s subcommittee reported the FDA blocked the analyst’s method that flagged 25 adverse-event signals.
The analyst’s algorithm identified signals as early as March 2021, which the agency’s standard system missed.
Critics said the case series design removes confounding but may bias results because people delay vaccination when ill.