Overview
- An Army physician, Dr. Theresa Long, said in an Aug. 14 federal court deposition that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth detailed her to serve as HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s senior medical military adviser and that she is leading the review.
- Long told the court she is examining 2,544 death reports filed to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System and military databases and hopes to complete the review within about a year.
- Long also said she is aware of 28 alleged vaccine-related deaths but said she was barred from giving further details and the claims remain unverified.
- Official analyses to date, including a 2026 Pentagon report and FDA guidance, found short-term increases in myocarditis and pericarditis after mRNA vaccination but did not identify confirmed vaccine-caused deaths, so the new review must reconcile VAERS signals with medical records and epidemiology.
- Coverage of the disclosure has split along ideological lines with conservative outlets emphasizing the probe and left-leaning outlets warning of its partisan context and the limits of VAERS as a tool that does not establish causation.