News Round-Up: Trump Cuts Childhood Vaccines; Fauci Lied on COVID Vax Safety for Pregnant Women; BTP to Scan Faces on London Tube
Twice a week, the editorial team of Freedom Research compiles a round-up of news that caught our eye – or what felt like under-reported aspects of news deserving more attention.
Over the past few days, the following topics attracted our attention:
US Drastically Curtails Childhood Vaccinations
Fauci Lied About COVID-19 Vaccine Safety for Pregnant Women
British Transport Police to Trial Facial Recognition in London Underground Stations
US Drastically Curtails Childhood Vaccinations
On Monday, 10 August, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that curtails childhood vaccinations, spreads the remaining doses over more visits and aims to phase out combination vaccines.
In accordance with the presidential order, the Department of Health and Human Services compiled a comprehensive assessment comparing the US vaccination programme with those of other developed countries. Upon signing the order, Trump explained: “America has recommended more childhood vaccines than any peer nation, and even twice as many doses as some European countries – and even more than that.” He emphasised that in the US, children are often required to receive as many as 72 doses; for example, newborns are vaccinated against hepatitis B, although he claimed this vaccine should not be administered before the age of 14 or 15. The Department of Health also found that most countries do not impose a direct obligation to vaccinate children; rather, high vaccination rates are achieved through trust and education. In the US, however, many states have introduced strict vaccination requirements that make vaccination a prerequisite for attending school.
The President therefore confirmed a plan to bring the US vaccination programme into line with scientific evidence and the practices of other countries. He also stated that programmes and government funding must support parents’ freedom, to the greatest extent possible, to choose whether to vaccinate their children and against which diseases. “Effective immediately, my administration is recognising the gold standard childhood vaccine recommendations for only 11 core vaccinations against the most serious and dangerous diseases, along with the MMR, which will hopefully be split up,” said Trump.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy noted that the administration is finally acting on the basis of the work that has been done and the evidence available. “We will preserve access to vaccines, strengthen safety monitoring, expand research, provide doctors and parents with better information, and restore informed consent and parental choice to their rightful place in American medicine,” Kennedy affirmed.
More specifically, the directive recommends vaccination against measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus, and varicella for all children. For high-risk groups, the recommendations also include respiratory syncytial virus monoclonal antibodies, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal B, meningococcal ACWY, and dengue. Decisions regarding hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rotavirus, meningococcal disease, influenza, and COVID-19 should generally be based on shared clinical judgement.
The directive also stipulates that, going forward, it must be possible to administer core vaccines as single-component vaccines. Combined vaccines should not be prioritised, although they should remain available where clinically indicated. For example, the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine must be administered in three separate doses once such products become available. “We want it in three separate vaccinations given at separate times. Together, there could be a possibility that they’re quite lethal, whereas separately they appear not to be lethal at all, but simply very effective,” Trump stated. Other vaccines should also, where possible, be administered during separate medical appointments. In other words, the US no longer favours a system where, for example, the flu vaccine is administered in the right arm and the COVID-19 vaccine in the left. Not to mention situations where, after a single visit, a child has to cope with vaccines for multiple diseases. Instead, Trump is insisting that if, for example, vaccines against five pathogens are scheduled within a single year, they must all be administered during separate medical appointments.
Finally, the Trump administration is requiring states to review local vaccination recommendations, particularly those relating to compulsory schooling. There are also plans to strengthen parents’ right to decide on their child’s vaccination. To this end, the order instructs the Department of Justice to challenge state laws that conflict with parental rights, freedom of religion, accommodation for people with disabilities and equal protection.
The current directive has already been met with a flood of criticism. According to some medical associations and pharmaceutical companies, the US’s current vaccination programme is based on evidence gathered over decades and takes into account the health needs of Americans. Dr Aaron Milstone of the American Academy of Paediatrics said that the main consequence of the policy is “confusion for parents” and conflicting messages may lead parents to delay vaccination. The pharmaceutical company Merck explained that there is no scientific evidence to support the benefits of administering the MMR vaccine in three separate doses. On the other hand, administering individual doses increases the number of injections and may result in delayed or missed vaccinations. These specialists believe that Trump is mistaken on the number of doses and that the recommended schedule leaves children at risk of preventable diseases.
Fauci Lied About COVID-19 Vaccine Safety for Pregnant Women
The US Senate has obtained a work phone belonging to Anthony Fauci, former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), who helped shape and promote the coercive COVID-19 measures and restrictions, including pushing for all pregnant women to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Fauci claimed that the vaccines were completely safe for pregnant women and that “there are no signs of risk”, yet private messages indicate he worried they might be linked to miscarriages, according to the New York Post.
In January 2021, Fauci messaged Rochelle Walensky (then CDC director) and Vivek Murthy (then surgeon general nominee) about possible dangers for women following the two-dose vaccination during pregnancy. Fauci wrote: “I asked around a bit more and another issue came up that you need to be aware of. Since many people experience a significant cytokine storm and fever after the second dose, this could theoretically be associated with miscarriage in the first trimester.” Walensky replied that the first-trimester concerns were “definitely a good point, especially after the second dose.”
A few days later, on 3 February, Fauci said in a JAMA broadcast that the FDA “has so far found – and we must be cautious – but so far there are no warning signs regarding pregnant women.” Months later, as White House medical adviser, he also stated: “Tens and tens and tens of thousands of women who have been monitored by the CDC and who were vaccinated whilst pregnant – there is absolutely no indication whatsoever that there is any increase in adverse events in a pregnant woman who was vaccinated compared to a pregnant woman who was not vaccinated... It’s really one of those things that’s not even a close call. It really is quite clear that pregnant women should get vaccinated.”
Messages between Fauci, Murthy and Walensky also show that when the WHO advised against the Moderna vaccine for pregnant women, Murthy wrote on 26 January 2021: “I was surprised to see the WHO issue such a strong statement saying they do not recommend Moderna for pregnant women. That’s a strong statement to make and potentially quite damaging to public confidence among pregnant women.”
The messages from Fauci’s phone were released by Senators Rand Paul and Ron Johnson. The phone holds more than 34,000 text messages and 522 voicemails, and according to Senator Johnson, it is too early to say whether any data was deleted, but the investigation into Fauci will continue.
British Transport Police to Trial Facial Recognition in London Underground Stations
The British Transport Police (BTP) has announced that it is expanding its trial of real-time facial recognition cameras and will install them in London Underground stations. The trials began in February this year and will run until November. During this period, the cameras will be trialled at several Underground and train stations, with the first facial recognition system being installed at Victoria Underground station, according to Biometric Update.
The BTP use camera systems installed in station waiting rooms, where the recorded footage is fed into an algorithm and compared against police or court wanted lists. If the system flags a potential match, the result is reviewed by a police officer, who decides whether to intervene.
The aim of the pilot at metro and train stations is to assess whether real-time facial recognition is effective on the rail network, how it affects public safety, and how the public reacts. The BTP hopes to use facial recognition to identify dangerous criminals travelling on the rail network, as the equipment is planned for installation at stations where a wanted person is most likely to pass through.
According to the BTP, images of anyone not on the wanted list will be deleted immediately. Alert images, however, will be retained for 24 hours. The police point out that video recordings from standard cameras are deleted after 31 days. Furthermore, the transport police have promised to clearly mark all locations where facial recognition cameras are in use and to provide additional information via a QR code; those who do not wish to enter the detection zone will be offered an alternative route.
The Conservative Party in the UK wants the police to make even greater use of facial recognition technology. For example, the police should always check images of suspects against facial recognition systems whenever there is footage or a photograph from any CCTV camera, mobile phone or doorbell camera; in other words, the police should be obliged to use facial recognition in every relevant case. According to a spokesperson for the Home Office, the government has already invested heavily in facial recognition systems and the current measures “are already turning the tide on crime”.
There is a very good case to be made that contracting measles is in itself very good for a child, it teaches their how to deal with fevers for example. I was very ill with measles and spent two weeks in an isolation hospital when I was Sick it was a horrible time, but still I am glad I had measles and would be disappointed had I been vaccinated against it.