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The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is carrying out a wide-ranging investigation into deaths potentially associated with Covid-19 vaccines, a spokesperson for vaccine-sceptic Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Tuesday.
Since Kennedy’s appointment by former President Donald Trump, the US government has launched a major review of vaccine policy, raising concerns among medical professionals.
“FDA is conducting a thorough investigation, across multiple age groups, of deaths potentially related to COVID vaccines,” Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services, told AFP. Reports by Bloomberg and the Washington Post had previously covered the probe.
The review, originally aimed at examining potential child fatalities, became controversial after the leak of an internal document in late November. The memo, attributed to a senior FDA official, claimed Covid vaccines were linked to at least ten infant deaths, though it provided no supporting evidence.
Health authorities worldwide have documented the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, noting that rare, severe side effects do not outweigh the benefits for most populations. Nixon declined to provide details on the investigation’s methodology, data sources, or expected timeline.
Experts have criticised the FDA under Kennedy, who has previously promoted misinformation and conspiracy theories. In 2023, Kennedy claimed without evidence that Covid vaccines were deadly and suggested that the virus was ethnically “targeted” to affect certain groups while sparing others.
