Senator Ron Johnson called for an investigation after a top CDC Covid vaccine safety officer’s records went ‘missing.’
Johnson said Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, the director of the CDC’s Immunization Safety Office, may have deleted records related to the Covid vaccine’s adverse reactions.
Department of Health and Human Services officials told Ron Johnson that they could not find requested documents under subpoena and believed they may have been deleted from the HHS’s email system.
Senator Johnson called on the Department of Justice, FBI, HHS and OIG to investigate the ‘mishandling’ of records.
“Dr. Shimabukuro’s potential mishandling of his official records is highly concerning. His actions, if true, would have directly obstructed my multi-year oversight efforts of the COVID-19 vaccines and would be in clear violation of my November 19, 2024 demand to HHS, CDC, and the Food and Drug Administration to ‘preserve all records referring or relating to the development, safety, and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines.’ Furthermore, given Dr. Shimabukuro’s role at CDC, which includes monitoring adverse events relating to the COVID-19 vaccines, his communications are directly responsive to my January 28, 2025, subpoena to HHS for records relating to the development and safety of the COVID-19 vaccines. Any attempt to obstruct or interfere with my investigatory efforts would be grounds for contempt of Congress,” Chairman Johnson wrote.
Chairman Johnson called on these agencies to initiate an investigation to determine:
The extent to which officials with HHS and its sub-agencies, including Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, deleted or destroyed official agency records; and
The extent to which officials with HHS and its sub-agencies, including Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, deleted or destroyed official agency records to avoid or subvert Congressional oversight or the Freedom of Information Act.
The New York Post reported:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doctor in charge of monitoring reports of adverse COVID-19 vaccine reactions has been accused by a Republican senator of mishandling and possibly deleting key records.
Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) struggled to find records belonging to Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, the director of the CDC’s Immunization Safety Office, while trying to comply with a subpoena from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) for vaccine safety data.
“HHS officials recently informed me that Dr. Shimabukuro’s records remain lost and, potentially, removed from HHS’s email system altogether,” Johnson wrote in a Wednesday letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and acting HHS watchdog Juliet Hodgkins.
“Dr. Shimabukuro’s potential mishandling of his official records is highly concerning.”
It is not clear what specific records are missing, but Johnson’s team was told HHS was struggling to locate information for which Shimabukuro had responsibility and that should exist, an aide explained to The Post.
