Sen. Ron Johnson publishes op-ed alleging nearly 40,000 COVID-19 vaccine deaths based on VAERS reports

Sen. Ron Johnson published an op-ed on June 18, 2026, stating that nearly 40,000 people died after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine and that federal health officials knew of safety concerns in 2021 but did not inform the public. " He wrote that The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA TODAY, and Fox Digital declined or ignored his requests to publish it.

The op-ed also states that NBC, ABC, PBS, CNN, and MSNBC refused to cover a Senate subcommittee report on the issue. Fox News reported on the subcommittee findings on May 3, 2026, but did not accept Johnson’s offer to follow up with the op-ed. Johnson cited a Majority Staff Interim Report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that states Biden health officials purposely turned a blind eye toward COVID-19 vaccine safety signals and references cases of “Death and sudden death” associated with the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

The senator wrote that Peter Marks, former director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, was briefed that an algorithm used to analyze VAERS data would “mask” adverse events. ” Johnson stated that VAERS shows 1,676,100 cumulative worldwide adverse events and 39,099 deaths associated with the COVID-19 vaccine, with 9,332 (24%) of the reported deaths occurring within 2 days of injection.

“I consider this to be the biggest government scandal in my lifetime, and one that is crying out for full media attention and coverage,” Johnson wrote.