Rand Paul slams Moderna CEO on failing to concede to studies on rare heart inflammation due to vaccine

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., slammed Modern CEO Stéphane Bancel during a Wednesday hearing when the CEO refused to concede to studies showing negative vaccine side effects on adolescent boys. 

Paul initially asked Bancel if there was a higher incidence of myocarditis – a type of rare heart inflammation – in boys ages 16-24 after taking the Moderna vaccine. Bancel responded by stating that data showed that those who took the vaccine were at a smaller risk of myocarditis versus those who contracted coronavirus. 

“That is not true,” Paul stated. The senator proceeded to enter into evidence six peer-reviewed papers that “say the complete opposite” of Bancel’s statements. 

“I also spoke with your president just last week and he readily acknowledged in private that yes, there is an increased risk of myocarditis,” Paul said. “The fact that you can’t say it in public is quite disturbing.”

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Sen. Rand Paul speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, March 22, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via / Getty Images)

Paul then asked Bancel if it was “scientifically sound to mandate three vaccines for adolescent boys,” to which Bancel responded that was up to “public health leaders to decide.”

“You’ve been advocating for it, you’ve been interviewed and you’ve been advocating for boosters,” Paul rebuked. “Do you know when the myocarditis is most common among these adolescent boys? After the second dose. When I spoke with your president, he readily acknowledged in private, yeah, that maybe there ought to be a discussion whether we ought to have one vaccine versus two versus three.”

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Previous studies showed mostly adolescent and young adult males developed myocarditis after the second COVID-19 shot. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) then suggested waiting longer than usual between each dose to reduce the risk of developing myocarditis. 

Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on Capitol Hill on March 22, 2023. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

“You sit here and act as if you’ve never heard of myocarditis and you don’t think it’s an increased risk for young adolescent males when all of the studies… have found that yes, there is an increased risk after taking your vaccine,” Paul said.  

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Wednesday’s Senate hearing addressed the planned price increase of the Moderna vaccine, with a single dose expected to cost about $130 once the U.S. government stops buying the shots, according to Reuters. 

A pharmacist holds a vial of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine in West Haven, Connecticut, Feb. 17, 2021. (Mike Segar/File Photo / Reuters)

The pandemic public health emergency is set to end in mid-May, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The government will therefore no longer buy and distribute the shots and price negotiations will then shift to insurers and government health programs. 

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Fox News’ Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.