Texts prove Dr. Anthony Fauci, who helped lead the United States’ COVID-19 response, covered up data indicating that 82% of pregnant women who received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in their first trimester miscarried.
The rate of miscarriage among pregnant women who received the COVID-19 vaccine is not 82% — that figure comes from a misinterpretation of a 2021 study. Studies have consistently shown the rate of miscarriage among vaccinated women is in line with rates among the broader population.
In August 2026, anti-vaccine advocates claimed online that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former presidential medical adviser, covered up credible data showing a miscarriage rate of more than 80% among pregnant women who received the COVID-19 vaccine in their first trimester.
“They said the Covid vaccine had a 12.6% miscarriage rate for pregnant women but it was actually 82%,” one X post said. “Fauci and his co-conspirators need to be thrown in jail.”
(X users DC_Draino, KatiePavlich)
Posts called for Fauci’s imprisonment, alleging the above text showed that Fauci, who helped lead the nation’s COVID-19 pandemic response, knew the COVID-19 vaccine could harm pregnancies but still told pregnant people to get vaccinated.
We have rated this claim as false.
These posts have drawn an incorrect conclusion that relies on flawed data. Multiple studies have shown that pregnant people who receive a COVID-19 vaccine are not at an increased risk of miscarriage or pregnancy complications. As numerous fact-checking organizations determined in 2021 — and as we have independently verified — the 82% statistic is a gross misrepresentation of data released in an April 2021 study.
In fact, Fauci’s text, if legitimate, did not cite any data about miscarriages at all. It said that theoretically the vaccine could cause symptoms that may be associated with miscarriage — in other words, the text refers to a possibility Fauci thought was worth further investigation before the vaccines became available to the public.
Thus, the texts do not show that Fauci “covered up” any data. There’s also no evidence he ignored, covered up or downplayed data showing that COVID-19 vaccines increase miscarriage rates, because that data doesn’t exist.
Later texts from the same set of messages Paul and Johnson released indicate that, as the body of data grew more robust, Fauci said he believed it indicated “no issues” with vaccinating pregnant women. There’s no evidence Fauci believed otherwise while telling pregnant people to get vaccinated during the pandemic.
Snopes has not independently verified the legitimacy of these apparent texts, which Paul and Johnson said came from Fauci’s government-issued cellphone. There’s no evidence the
Origin of ‘82% miscarriage rate’ claim
In April 2021, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers published a study titled “Preliminary Findings of mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine Safety in Pregnant Persons.” The report used data taken from Dec. 14, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2021, in the CDC’s v-safe pregnancy registry, a self-reported database of pregnant people who received one of the two mRNA COVID-19 vaccines available at the time.
The report determined that of 827 women who had a “completed pregnancy” by March 2021, 104 had a miscarriage, which is called a “spontaneous abortion” in the study (see Table 4). Thus, of completed pregnancies available in the study, there was a 12.6% rate of miscarriage, which is in line with estimates for miscarriage rates across all pregnancies, which range from about 9% to 22%, with higher rates among older women.
Even this 12.6% datapoint, however, is incomplete — as the CDC later acknowledged — because the agency lacked follow-up data for the vast majority of women who were vaccinated early in their pregnancies. Later studies with more-complete data found miscarriage rates at 9% to 10.9%, equivalent to or lower than the rate of miscarriage among the broader population.
Anti-vaccine advocates claimed in 2021 that the rate of miscarriage should be calculated using only completed pregnancies among women who were vaccinated in the first or second trimester, because the loss of a fetus after 20 weeks — halfway through the second trimester — is considered a stillbirth, not a miscarriage. Of the 827 women with a completed pregnancy, 700 received the vaccine in their third trimester (see Table 4). Thus, the 82% rate of miscarriage comes from determining that 104 of 127 of the remaining women in the “completed pregnancy” group had a miscarriage.
Meanwhile, if any pregnancy ends — or is “completed” — within the first or second trimester, it’s probably because it was a miscarriage. (Other reasons listed in the study included deliberate abortions and ectopic pregnancies.)
Most of the 3,958 total participants in the study were still pregnant by the time researchers followed up with them in March 30, 2021, which means they could not have been included in the 82% rate of miscarriage calculation.
Consider two hypothetical pregnant study participants who received the vaccine during their first trimesters in January 2021. One woman went on to have a healthy pregnancy lasting nine months, meaning by March, she was still pregnant — and would therefore not be included in the “completed pregnancy” data used to calculate the supposed 82% rate of miscarriage. The second woman had a miscarriage in February that ended her pregnancy, so she would have ended up as part of the “completed pregnancy” data.
Thus, the “completed pregnancy” data for people who were vaccinated in the first or second trimester is skewed toward participants who had miscarriages.
Fact-checkers also have debunked a related claim that a study showed an 81% rate of miscarriage among pregnant women who received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. They determined the calculation was a math error and relied on a similar misrepresentation of the facts.
Fauci texts don’t show ‘cover-up’
The texts Johnson and Paul released of Fauci appearing to discuss vaccines for pregnant women don’t show Fauci attempting to cover up any data.
According to the messages, in January 2021, Dr. Vivek Murthy, then the U.S. surgeon general, had asked Fauci and Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director at the time, whether there was “any data or theoretical reason why vaccinating early vs late in pregnancy would be preferred?”
In response, Fauci said, “There are no data or theoretical reason to believe that vaccinating early versus later in pregnancy would be preferred” (see Page 2). About two hours later, he sent a text that said (emphasis ours):
I asked around a bit more and another issue came up that you need to be aware of. Since many people have significant cytokines storm and fever after the 2nd dose, this theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester
But there’s no evidence this theorized concern from Fauci showed up in the data available at the time. On Page 4, a text attributed to Fauci said “no issues have arisen” among pregnant women who received the vaccine (emphasis ours):
I would say that in any vaccine in which data are lacking in pregnant women one must weigh the potential risks against the benefits. COVID-19 can be a serious disease especially in pregnancy. In the vaccine trials, pregnant women were not allowed but following the EUA, a large number (more than 10,000) pregnant women have been vaccinated. No issues have arisen. The FDA and the ACIP and the ACOG are all permissive for pregnant women to have a choice. Animal tox studies did not raise any red flags.
In a February 2021 interview with the medical journal JAMA Network, Fauci said publicly that “we’ve got to be careful,” but at that time, the FDA had found “thus far, no red flags” among pregnant women who had received the vaccine (at 18:03). Thus, his apparent private texts aligned with his public messaging.
The CDC officially began recommending the vaccine to pregnant women in August 2021.
In sum …
The claim that texts prove Fauci covered up data showing a miscarriage rate of 82% for pregnant women who received the COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t pass a basic sniff test. Regardless of vaccination status, most pregnancies that end in the first or second trimesters do so because of miscarriage. That’s the only thing the “82% rate of miscarriage” points to.
The actual study showed no link between miscarriages and the COVID-19 vaccine, and later studies corroborated those results. Fauci’s texts, if legitimate, show him expressing preliminary concern about a possible effect of the new vaccines. The same texts show Fauci’s confidence in the safety of the vaccine for pregnancies growing as more and better data emerged.
