WASHINGTON – On April 25, 2023, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra requesting unredacted copies of 106 pages that show U.S. public health officials sharing information about ivermectin.

The heavily redacted documents were released to Judicial Watch pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request and contain a February 26, 2021 email from Dr. Tess Lawrie to HHS and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials apparently sharing information from the British Ivermectin Recommendation Development (BIRD) organization that concluded that “ivermectin should be approved immediately for the prevention and treatment of covid-19.”

Sen. Johnson wrote that “shortly after then-Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock received Dr. Lawrie’s email and attachment, she forwarded the message to other public health officials including Francis Collins, then-director of the National Institutes of Health, and Anthony Fauci, then-director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).   It appears that in addition to forwarding Dr. Lawrie’s email, Dr. Woodcock also wrote her own message to Drs. Collins, Fauci, and others, however, that message is completely redacted.”

The senator added, “The public has a right to know what information HHS, FDA, NIH, and NIAID officials reviewed regarding the effectiveness of ivermectin and how it considered or dismissed certain data.  It’s past time for HHS to lift the redactions on the enclosed 106 pages and be transparent with the American people.”

The full text of the letter can be found here.

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