OSHA Whistleblower Revelations: COVID Vaccine Injuries Went Unreported for Years

If you thought workplace safety reporting was straightforward, buckle up. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the agency tasked with keeping workers safe, apparently decided that COVID-19 vaccines were… special. So special, in fact, that for nearly four years, healthcare employers weren’t required to report adverse events from these vaccines — even if those events meant workers had to take time off or became permanently disabled. Funny enough, OSHA kept tracking injuries from all other vaccines just fine.

A Whistleblower Uncovers the Directive

It all came to light thanks to a whistleblower in the healthcare industry. According to Michael Nevradakis at The Defender, the internal OSHA directive dated June 28, 2021, basically told hospitals and clinics: “Don’t log vaccine injuries — we don’t want to discourage vaccination.” So, while a nurse or doctor might suffer severe side effects, it didn’t officially exist in OSHA’s books.

Think about that for a second. The very agency charged with workplace safety, effectively telling employers to look the other way — at least for this one vaccine. Meanwhile, every other workplace injury, every other vaccine reaction, was still on the record.

Why This Matters

This policy meant that healthcare workers had a nearly impossible time getting workers’ compensation or disability benefits for vaccine-related injuries. Zowe Smith, a former medical coder, called the move “especially inflammatory” and “an admission they know the vaccine is not safe and carries a risk of injury serious enough to affect one’s ability to work.”

Legal experts argue that it wasn’t just careless — it was deliberate. Attorney Greg Glaser told The Defender that OSHA’s directive “manipulated public perception by withholding safety data” and undermined its own mission to maintain safe workplaces.

Real-World Consequences

Take Danielle Baker, a former hospice nurse. She got the COVID-19 vaccine under employer pressure and now suffers permanent disability. Because OSHA didn’t enforce reporting, her injury wasn’t properly documented, and she struggled to access benefits. Meanwhile, employees at Smith’s hospital were discouraged from connecting new health issues to vaccines, often attributing symptoms to COVID itself.

It’s easy to see the pattern: a system designed to protect workers instead masked harm. This double standard — tracking adverse events for other vaccines but not COVID-19 shots — raises serious questions about political pressure, corporate interests, and accountability.

The Numbers Game

OSHA eventually removed the directive from its website after inquiries, but archived versions confirm it existed. The policy stayed in place until February 2025 — nearly four years of no official reporting. Even after terminating enforcement, OSHA provided raw spreadsheets for injury reports but no analyzed data. In other words, good luck figuring out vaccine-related injuries from that mess.

Dr. Peter McCullough said OSHA’s actions “substantially encouraged COVID-19 vaccination, thus vaccine victims did not feel free to make a choice over vaccination.” Scott C. Tips echoed this, calling it a criminal obstruction of informed consent.

A Systemic Problem

Experts argue this wasn’t just an isolated lapse. According to Smith and Bowden, a broader trend emerged during the pandemic: hospitals and agencies systematically denied connections between new-onset conditions and COVID vaccines. No ICD-10 code existed for reporting vaccine injuries, which further obscured data. It was, as Charlene Delfico described it, “institutionalized gaslighting.”

So, let’s be real: when workplace safety becomes optional for politically sensitive topics, employees pay the price — often with their health, careers, and financial security.

Looking Ahead

This revelation raises urgent questions: should OSHA be investigated? How can healthcare workers trust reporting systems if certain injuries are ignored? And what precedent does this set for future public health initiatives? Transparency, accountability, and reform are desperately needed, experts argue, or the same playbook could be reused — with entirely predictable consequences.

Funny enough, the directive may have seemed like a short-term workaround to encourage vaccination, but its ripple effects could shape healthcare policy debates for years. Workers’ safety, informed consent, and trust in public institutions are at stake.

Sources:

1. Children’s Health Defense: “Exclusive: OSHA Admits It Told Healthcare Employers Not to Report COVID Vaccine Injuries”
   https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/exclusive-osha-admits-healthcare-employers-told-not-to-report-covid-vaccine-injuries/
2. Littler: “OSHA Shifts Position on Recordability of Adverse Reactions from COVID-19 Vaccines”
   https://www.littler.com/news-analysis/asap/osha-shifts-position-recordability-adverse-reactions-covid-19-vaccines
3. Public Health Policy Journal: “Exclusive: OSHA Admits It Told Healthcare Employers Not to Report COVID Vaccine Injuries”
   https://publichealthpolicyjournal.com/exclusive-osha-admits-it-told-healthcare-employers-not-to-report-covid-vaccine-injuries/
4. SHRM: “Does OSHA Require Employers to Record Vaccine Reactions?”
   https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/employment-law-compliance/osha-require-employers-to-record-vaccine-reactions