- Jordan Loses Speaker Bid on Second Try
By Jackson Richman and Emel Akan
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) will try on Oct. 18 for a second time to become second in line to ...
- Sen. Ted Cruz Says RFK Jr. Needs Secret Service Protection, Questions DHS Denial
By Naveen Athrappully
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday, questioning why the agency ...
- Major Donor Stops Donations to UPenn Over Its Response to Hamas Attacks on Israel
By Samantha Flom
Former U.S. Ambassador and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, a longtime donor to the University of Pennsylvania, notified his alma mater on Oct. ...
- New York Delivers Major Blow to Green Energy Development
By Jack Phillips
New York’s state government rejected requests from offshore wind energy developers who asked to re-negotiate contracts amid elevated inflation and rising costs.
The ...
- Momentum Swings in Jordan’s Favor as Holdouts Flip Ahead of Speaker Vote
By Joseph Lord and Jackson Richman
It has been almost two weeks without a speaker of the House but that soon could end with Rep. ...
- Trump Sues Ex-British Spy Christopher Steele Over Dossier Allegations
By Savannah Hulsey Pointer
A lawyer for former President Donald Trump told a London judge that his client intends to prove that a report written ...
- Mike Pence’s 2024 Campaign Is Six Figures in Debt
By Jack Phillips
Former Vice President Mike Pence’s campaign reported a debt of more than $600,000, according to a recent federal filing, coming as his ...
- Judge Prohibits Trump From Speaking Out Against Prosecutors, Others
By Sam Dorman and Catherine Yang
WASHINGTON—Judge Tanya Chutkan, presiding over the case against former President Donald Trump for allegedly interfering in the 2020 presidential ...
- Proposed Trump Gag Order to Be Considered in Federal Election Case
By Sam Dorman
The D.C. District Court is holding a hearing on Oct. 16 over the Biden administration’s request for a gag order on former ...
- Landry Wins Louisiana Governor’s Race, Flipping State Red
By John Haughey
Trump-endorsed Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry will be the first Republican in eight years to move into the governor’s mansion after a ...
- Most Americans Think President Biden Did Something Wrong in Hunter Biden Affairs
By Tom Ozimek
Most Americans believe that President Joe Biden acted either illegally or unethically in how he handled the international business dealings of his ...
- FDA Asks Court for 18-Month Pause in Key COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Data Cases
By Zachary Stieber
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wants an 18-month pause in litigation over its refusal to hand over key safety data ...
![The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is refusing to release the results of autopsies conducted on people who died after getting COVID-19 vaccines. The FDA says it is barred from releasing medical files, but a drug safety advocate says that it could release the autopsies with personal information redacted. The refusal was issued to The Epoch Times, which submitted a Freedom of Information Act for all autopsy reported obtained by the FDA concerning any deaths reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System following COVID-19 vaccination. Reports are lodged with the system when a person experiences an adverse event, or a health issue, after receiving a vaccine. The FDA and other agencies are tasked with investigating the reports. Authorities request and review medical records to vet the reports, including autopsies. The FDA declined to release any reports, even redacted copies. The FDA cited federal law, which enables agencies to withhold information if the agency “reasonably foresees that disclosure would harm an interest protected by an exemption,” with the exemption being “personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” Federal regulations also bar the release of “personnel, medical and similar files the disclosure of which constitutes a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” The Epoch Times has appealed the denial, in addition to the recent denial of results of data analysis of VAERS reports. ‘Easily Be Redacted’ Kim Witczak, a drug safety advocate who advises the FDA as part of the Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee, said that the reports could be released with personal information blacked out. “The personal information could easily be redacted without losing the potential learnings from [the] autopsy,” Witczak told The Epoch Times via email. People make the choice to submit autopsy results to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, Witczak noted. “If someone submits their experience to VAERS they want and expect to have it investigated by the FDA. This includes autopsy reports,” she said. Autopsies are examinations of deceased persons performed to determine the cause of death. “Autopsies can be an important part of postmortem analysis and should be done especially with increased deaths following COVID-19 vaccination,” Witczak said. FDA Responds An FDA spokesperson noted that deaths following COVID-19 vaccination are rare, citing the number of reports made to VAERS. As of Sept. 14, 16,516 reports of death following COVID-19 vaccination have been reported. Approximately 616 million doses have been administered in the United States through September. The spokesperson declined to say whether the FDA would ever release the autopsy results, but pointed to a paper authored by researchers with the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The paper, which has not been peer reviewed, analyzed the approximately 9,800 reports of death to VAERS following COVID-19 vaccination lodged from Dec. 14, 2020, to Nov. 17, 2021. Researchers found that reporting rates were lower than the expected all-cause mortality rates. “Trends in reporting rates reflected known trends in background mortality rates. These findings do not suggest an association between vaccination and overall increased mortality,” the researchers wrote. The researchers noted that prior studies have found that adverse events reported to VAERS are an undercount of the true number of events.](https://www.usnn.news/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/FDA-Withholding-Autopsy-Results-on-People-Who-Died-After-Getting-COVID-19-Vaccines.jpg "FDA Withholding Autopsy Results on People Who Died After Getting COVID-19 Vaccines 2")
