A US senator says federal health officials hid COVID vaccine safety warnings — bad news for trust in health agencies, though no hard proof of a cover-up has surfaced.

• Senator Ron Johnson is holding hearings claiming the FDA spotted serious vaccine side effects early and buried them.
• The claim: a top FDA official, Peter Marks, knew in 2021 that the agency's data system was hiding "safety signals" like cardiac deaths and strokes, and shut down staff who flagged it.
• No "smoking gun" exists yet — the argument is that drug-company money and a revolving door between regulators and industry kept everyone quiet.
• Big media like CNN is accused of ignoring the story because drugmakers are major advertisers; a CNN reporter on camera brushed it off to ask about Iran instead.
• Don't expect action — Congress is called too tied to pharma money and too dysfunctional to issue subpoenas.

Outlook: More hearings are likely, but with no proof and no congressional appetite, criminal investigations or subpoenas appear unlikely soon.