{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/2026/06/18/chairman-johnson-questions-cdc-awarding-pfizer-1-24-billion-for-mrna-covid-19-vaccines-after-fda-officials-recommended-warning-of-fatal-outcomes/", "Chairman\u00a0Johnson Questions CDC Awarding Pfizer $1.24 Billion for mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines After FDA Officials Recommended Warning of Fatal Outcomes", "2026-06-18", "2026", "2026-06", "Republican", "Senate", "WI", "Ron Johnson", "J000293", "www.ronjohnson.senate.gov", "ronjohnson", "https://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/category/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, wrote to Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raising concerns about the CDC recently awarding Pfizer two contracts for its mRNA COVID-19 vaccines valued at approximately $1.24 billion.\n\nIn conjunction with the letter, Chairman Johnson released a December 5, 2025 email, in which FDA officials recommended changing the label on mRNA COVID-19 vaccines to include \u201cmyocarditis with fatal outcomes.\u201d Chairman Johnson raised questions about the extent to which this proposed label change was considered by other FDA officials, particularly in light of the new Pfizer vaccine contracts.\n\nThe letter also revealed that in late 2025, FDA officials initially assessed ten cases of pediatric deaths to be probably or possibly connected to the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Communications enclosed in the chairman\u2019s letter show FDA officials discussing their plans to eventually reduce the number of pediatric deaths probably or possibly connected to the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines which was then reflected in their December 5, 2025 memo. Chairman Johnson released that memo as an enclosure in his May 11, 2026 letter to HHS.\n\n\u201cThe decision to award these contracts raises questions about CDC\u2019s commitment to vaccine safety,\u201d Chairman Johnson wrote.\n\n\u201cThe safety issues with the COVID-19 injections that the Subcommittee has uncovered so far should have raised serious concerns at HHS and CDC about the mRNA COVID-19 injections. Instead, CDC\u2019s reported awarding of approximately $1.24 billion in new contracts to Pfizer for a vaccine linked to serious adverse events\u2014including potentially the deaths of children\u2014suggests CDC continues to fail to take its vaccine safety responsibilities seriously,\u201d Chairman Johnson concluded.\n\nRead more about the chairman\u2019s letter in The Daily Caller.\n\nFull text of the letter can be found here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-06-19T06:50:32Z", "2026-06-19T06:53:40Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/2026/06/18/chairman-johnson-questions-cdc-awarding-pfizer-1-24-billion-for-mrna-covid-19-vaccines-after-fda-officials-recommended-warning-of-fatal-outcomes/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8836030028760433, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}