Fauci was privately informed about questions over COVID-19 vaccines and miscarriages, new texts show

Nypost · Aug 16, 2026 · 779 words · By Ryan King

Political conflict Government Transparency Vaccine Safety

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What to know about Political conflict

Fauci was privately informed about questions over COVID-19 vaccines and miscarriages, new texts show See more of our coverage in your search results.

Claims checked 17

Techniques found 2

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center75%

Right25%

4 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Fauci was privately informed about questions over COVID-19 vaccines and miscarriages, new texts show See more of our coverage in your search results.

Why it matters

Add The New York Post on Google WASHINGTON — Dr.

Common ground

Anthony Fauci was privately informed in January 2021 that the initial studies on COVID-19 vaccination did not include women in the first trimester of pregnancy because of miscarriage risk, according to new texts released by Sens.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Name Calling / Labeling: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this Political conflict story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Last week, Fauci declined to appear before Johnson’s subcommittee?
How does this story connect Political conflict with Government Transparency over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/08/16/us-news/fauci-was-told-about-questions-over-covid-…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 2 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

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Loaded Language 90% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.

Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

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Name Calling / Labeling 80% confidence

Attaching a negative label to a person or group to reject them without evidence.

Why it matters: Recognizing name calling / labeling helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 17 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 7

check_circle Corroborated 6

help Insufficient Evidence 2

verified Verified By Reference 1

info Single Source 1

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Claim 1: “Last week, Fauci declined to appear before Johnson’s subcommittee.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 2: “Johnson and Paul also divulged an email from Dr. Janet Woodcock, the then-Acting Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, to Fauci and Francis Collins about adverse COVID-19 events.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 3: “Dr. Anthony Fauci was privately informed in January 2021 that the initial studies on COVID-19 vaccination did not include women in the first trimester of pregnancy because of miscarriage risk”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent reports cite text messages from January 2021 where Dr. John Mascola informed Dr. Fauci that initial studies avoided vaccination in the first trimester due to miscarriage risks.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Anthony Stephen Fauci (born December 24, 1940) is an American physician-scientist and immunologist who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Fauci

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — On 23 January 2020, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the State Council of China imposed a lockdown in Wuhan and other cities in Hubei in an effort to quarantine the center of an outbreak of COVID…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_lockdown_in_China

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health is a 2021 book by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in which he denounces Anthony Fauci and his leadership of the …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Real_Anthony_Fauci

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 4: “Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination over 100 times [during a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing]”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 5: “drawing a contempt vote against him, which was approved by the committee and turned over to the Justice Department.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 6: “there are studies indicating that contracting COVID-19 during the early stages of pregnancy can increase the risk of miscarriage.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided in the search results to specifically confirm the link between contracting COVID-19 in early pregnancy and increased miscarriage risk.

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Claim 7: “on Feb. 3, Fauci said during a question-and-answer livestream with the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that the FDA “found thus far… no red flags about… pregnant women.””

CORROBORATED

The claim that Fauci stated there were 'no red flags' during a JAMA livestream on Feb 3, 2021, is corroborated by a cross-reference and multiple web sources.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Robert Lee Rayford (February 3, 1953 – May 15, 1969) sometimes identified as Robert R. due to his age, was an American teenager from St. Louis, Missouri whose chronic illness, which began in 1966 and …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Rayford

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The dexamethasone suppression test (DST) is used to assess adrenal gland function by measuring how cortisol levels change in response to oral doses or an injection of dexamethasone. It is typically us…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexamethasone_suppression_test

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Infectious mononucleosis (IM, mono), also known as glandular fever, is an infection usually caused by the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). Most people are infected by the virus as children, when the disease …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infectious_mononucleosis

+ 4 more evidence sources

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Claim 8: “There have since been numerous studies, including a British analysis in 2022 and another one in 2023, that looked at tens of thousands of pregnancies and found no strong link between the vaccine and miscarriage.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources cite studies (including registry data and large-scale analyses) finding no strong link between the vaccine and miscarriage or reduced fertility.

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web search NEUTRAL — “Similarly, several studies have documented no appreciable association between COVID-19 vaccination and miscarriage risk.” The study included data on 2,126 women, ages 21 to 45, in the United States a…
https://www.wsaw.com/2022/01/21/covid-19-vaccinations-do-not…

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web search NEUTRAL — The study found no connection to COVID-19 infection in men and conception rates outside of the 60-day window. Surveys have found that reproductive-aged adults have cited concerns about potential effec…
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/rochester/health/2022/01/2…

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web search NEUTRAL — To summarize the authors’ claim, COVID-19 vaccination is not causally associated with a reduction in childbirth among women of childbearing age. Based on Swedish registry data and a target-trial emula…
https://blog.openvaet.info/p/new-nature-study-finds-no-corre…

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Claim 9: “Fauci and then-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky both indicated it was “data free” at the time [regarding vaccinating early vs late in pregnancy].”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided in the search results regarding statements by Fauci and Walensky calling the data 'data free' at that specific time.

verified

Claim 10: “Mascola was serving as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ (NIAID) Vaccine Research Center at the time.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia and official reports confirm John R. Mascola was the director of the NIAID Vaccine Research Center (VRC).

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — John R. Mascola is an American physician-scientist, immunologist and infectious disease specialist. He was the director of the Vaccine Research Center (VRC), part of the National Institute of Allergy …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._Mascola

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Vaccine Research Center (VRC), is an intramural division of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), US Department of Hea…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine_Research_Center

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A Zika virus vaccine is a vaccine designed to prevent the symptoms and complications of Zika virus infection in humans.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zika_virus_vaccine

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 11: “Johnson (R-Wis.), who chairs the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, had sought Fauci’s government-issued cellphone, which the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) forked over on Aug. 5.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 12: “Dr. John Mascola texted Fauci on Jan. 25, 2021: “I am corrected on pregnancy studies. Initial Studies [sic] avoid vaccination in first trimester due to possible fever and higher rates of miscarriage in first trimester,””

CORROBORATED

The specific text message from Dr. John Mascola to Dr. Fauci on January 25, 2021, is quoted verbatim across multiple reporting sources.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Michel C. Nussenzweig (born 10 February 1955) is a professor and head of the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology at The Rockefeller University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. He is …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_C._Nussenzweig

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 13: “US officials allowed pregnant women to get the vaccine starting in late 2020, deferring to consultation between them and their doctors”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence does not specifically confirm the timing (late 2020) or the specific policy of 'deferring to consultation' for pregnant women in the US.

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web search NEUTRAL — Will COVID Vaccine Turn Us Into 5G Antennas? |Covid-19: Researcher blows the whistle on data integrity issues in Pfizer’s vaccine trial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOl2-xI76tI

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web search NEUTRAL — Ontario is expanding access to COVID-19 vaccines across the province starting this week. All adults 18 and older living in 114 specific postal codes designated as virus hot spots can book their shots …
https://ottawa.citynews.ca/2021/05/05/who-have-provinces-peg…

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web search NEUTRAL — State health officials have issued a statement saying the vaccine is safe and effective for pregnant women. Expecting mothers are among the least vaccinated groups in the U.S. at 25% due to the CDC no…
https://www.dailymail.com/health/article-10002899/Pregnant-w…

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Claim 14: “Woodcock noted in her May 27, 2021 email that she had received complaints from healthcare professionals, including ones she knew, about adverse effects from the vaccine.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 15: “it was publicly reported at the time that the vaccine had not been tested on early pregnancies during the initial clinical trials.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm that pregnant women were not included in the initial clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines, which was a matter of public record/reporting.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Starting in January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The global COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A COVID‑19 vaccine is designed to induce immunity against SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). COVID-19 vaccines help reduce the risk of severe illness, hospitali…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_vaccine

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 16: “pregnant women were actively encouraged to get the vaccine [later in 2021, after more research was conducted]”

CORROBORATED

Evidence indicates that COVID-19 vaccination was subsequently strongly promoted for pregnant women after initial rollout.

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web search NEUTRAL — Elijah said this was significant because Covid-19 vaccination was subsequently strongly promoted for pregnant women in the US and globally. Elijah has been digging through those records, including pre…
https://dailytelegraph.co.nz/news/covid-vaccine-pregnancy-ri…

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web search NEUTRAL — COVID-19 vaccines infertility. There have also been concerns over infertility among women for receiving coronavirus jabs.He said pregnant and recently pregnant women are at increased risk for severe i…
https://newsroom.amref.org/news/2021/08/study-shows-it-is-sa…

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web search NEUTRAL — Pregnant woman holds her belly beside a COVID-19 vaccines vial and syringe.Researchers say the overall scientific picture is now quite consistent: COVID-19 vaccines do not reduce fertility. Vaccinatio…
https://nchstats.com/covid-19-vaccines-and-fertility/

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Claim 17: “Fauci’s phone had over 34,000 texts and 522 voicemails on it.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.