Dec. 20, 2021 - Epoch Times
17:58
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| Good evening. | |
| Three days ago, the vaccine advisory panel over at the FDA, they met, they debated, and then they ultimately voted against approving the vaccine booster shots to the general public. | |
| However, according to statements from the White House as well as from other government officials, it sounds like they might not listen to this advisory panel and they might roll out booster shots anyway. | |
| Meanwhile, Pfizer, the vaccine manufacturer, they just announced that they will be releasing the clinical data that they have been collecting on children between the ages of 6 months and 11 years old. | |
| This will be done in order to allow the FDA to look at this data and potentially authorize the vaccine for children. | |
| And then lastly, over in North Carolina, two judges, both of whom are Democrats, they have just struck down a state law requiring voters to show a photo ID because they claim that that requirement is actually racist. | |
| Let's go through it all together. | |
| This is your daily Facts Matter Update, and I'm your host, Roman, from the Epoch Times. | |
| And now let's begin today's discussion by talking about Pfizer. | |
| As we already mentioned in a previous episode, the FDA's vaccine advisory panel, they were set to vote on whether or not to approve booster shots for all Americans aged 16 and over, specifically booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine. | |
| And in fact, three days ago, which was last Friday, they indeed got together, debated, and they voted to not recommend Pfizer booster shots, at least to the general population. | |
| And the vote against these booster shots was fairly overwhelming. | |
| In fact, it was 16 to 3. | |
| 16 people voted against booster shots, while only three voted in favor. | |
| However, it is worth noting that while the panel voted against recommending booster shots to the general population, they had a separate vote for recommending booster shots to individuals who are over the age of 65, as well as for people who are at a higher risk for COVID. | |
| And in that second vote, they voted 18 to 0 in favor of recommending booster shots to both older people, as well as for those who are at greater risk. | |
| And so again, just for clarification, there were two separate votes by this advisory panel over at the FDA. | |
| One for the general population, everyone above the age of 16. | |
| And then the other vote was for people who are over the age of 65 or who are at a greater risk for COVID. | |
| And then in the first vote, they voted against recommending booster shots to the general population, while the second vote was in favor. | |
| Now, the fact that this advisory panel is not endorsing booster shots for the general population might throw a bit of a wrench into the Biden administration's plan to begin rolling out booster shots across the entire country starting on September the 20th. | |
| Which, if you look at your calendar, is in fact today. | |
| And so you might be asking yourself, why specifically did this FDA advisory panel vote against booster shots for the general population? | |
| Well, according to one of the FDA slides, one of their PowerPoint slides, it shows that the risk of COVID for a healthy 30-year-old is just 0.0004%, or basically 1 in 250,000. | |
| And so, given this very low risk, many members of the FDA's advisory panel, they are concerned about giving an additional shot to young people, because for one, they are at a low risk for COVID to begin with, and secondly, there is a very real risk of developing myocarditis, and that risk is increased for young people. | |
| for instance James Hildreth, who is a voting member on this FDA panel, he said that he has a serious concern of myocarditis in young people. | |
| Another advisor on that panel named Dr. | |
| Melinda Wharton, she echoed those very same concerns and said she would not feel comfortable with recommending booster shots to younger people due to the risk of myocarditis. | |
| And then another doctor named Brittany Kmush, she said that I honestly don't think there is enough good quality data at this point to make an informed decision. | |
| And so it appears that the experts over on this vaccine advisory panel, they are essentially weighing the two possibilities for young people. | |
| Whether getting a booster shot, which could potentially lead to myocarditis, is worth it, given the fact that their risk for COVID is so low to begin with. | |
| However, it's worth noting that this FDA advisory committee, the one that conducted this vote, does not equal the FDA. It is, after all, an advisory committee, which is filled with experts on the subject, but they are there to advise. | |
| Whether the FDA actually listens to their advice or not is a whole other matter. | |
| The FDA can choose to listen to them, or they can choose to not. | |
| And in fact, along that line, Dr. | |
| Peter Marks, who is one of the FDA's top vaccine officials, he said this after those votes were cast. | |
| We are not bound at FDA by your vote, just so you understand that. | |
| We can tweak this as need be. | |
| And furthermore, here is a statement from the White House which was released after these votes were cast. | |
| And oddly, notice how this statement doesn't really seem to take into consideration the fact that this advisory panel voted against Listen, quote, Furthermore, Dr. | |
| Francis Collins, who is the director of the Biden administration's National Institutes of Health, he likewise came out after this vote was cast, and he said that he believes that the Pfizer booster shot will be expanded despite the recommendation by the FDA panel. | |
| Here's specifically what he said during an interview over on Fox News. | |
| And so, it appears that a bit of a schism is developing between the officials who are pushing for vaccine boosters versus those who are advising against them. | |
| And based on those statements that we just went through, from the White House, From the director of the NIH, as well as from Dr. | |
| Peter Marks, which go against the recommendation of that FDA panel, well, it appears that we are starting to see this debate come to the surface of the national conversation, and we'll just have to wait and see what the government ultimately decides to do. | |
| If you'd like to read more about this advisory panel's vote about their decision, I'll throw the link to that article into the description box below this video, and all I ask in return is that you take a quick moment to smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm. | |
| However, while we're discussing the vaccine approval process, let's spend another moment discussing young children. | |
| Just yesterday, Dr. | |
| Dr. Fauci said that the FDA will likely make a decision very soon regarding whether or not to recommend the COVID vaccine for children under the age of 12. | |
| Here's specifically what he said during an interview with ABC News just yesterday. | |
| Sometime in the next few weeks, as we get into October, we'll be able to see the vaccines for children get enough data to be presented for safety and immunogenicity. | |
| Free reference, by the way, at this very moment, as of today, there are no vaccines which are approved for children under the age of 12. | |
| However, according to the CEO of Pfizer, not only are they going to be releasing the trial data on kids between the ages of 5 to 11 very soon, but shortly afterwards they will also release the clinical data that they have been collecting on children between the ages of 6 months to 5 years old. | |
| Here's what the FDA vaccine regulator, who is again Dr. | |
| Peter Marks, here's what he said on this front. | |
| Currently, there are still trials ongoing, and so the agency has to wait for the company to submit the data for those trials. | |
| We certainly want to make sure that we get it right. | |
| However, just as we mentioned in regards to the booster shots, we'll have to see whether the risk of developing myocarditis, which is again increased for younger people, whether that overshadows their risk for developing COVID. If you'd like to read more about these vaccines for kids, specifically kids below the age of 12 years old, I'll throw the links to several articles about it into the description box below this video for you to check out. | |
| And now, let's move on over to North Carolina where two judges have just struck down a law which requires voters in the state to show a photo ID in order to vote. | |
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| And now let's move on over to North Carolina. | |
| Three days ago, a pair of North Carolina judges, both of whom, by the way, are Democrats, they struck down a new law which required voters in the state to show a photo ID in order to vote. | |
| And they did that because they claimed that this law was racist. | |
| Specifically, the judges said that the measure was Now, to give you a bit of background on this specific case, the law in question is called Senate Bill 824. | |
| And back in 2018, which is now three years ago, However, almost instantaneously, five people filed a lawsuit against the state, alleging that this new law was intentionally racially discriminatory. | |
| Here's what they wrote as a part of their lawsuit. | |
| The bill unconstitutionally and unjustifiably burdens the right to vote of plaintiffs and similarly situated registered qualified North Carolina voters who lack acceptable photo ID when they go to the polls and are subject to a complex process to vote. | |
| And since this lawsuit was filed, so basically for the past three years now, this case has been making its way through the court system and eventually it arrived before a three-judge panel. | |
| And just a few days ago, that panel decided that this law was in fact both racist, No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws. | |
| Nor shall any person be subjected to discrimination by the state because of race, color, religion, or national origin. | |
| The two Democrat judges then went on to say that the defendants in this lawsuit, who were the Republican lawmakers, they failed to show that racial discrimination was not a substantial motivating factor when they drafted this legislation. | |
| They also said that they can have secure elections without the use of photo IDs. | |
| Here's specifically what they said as a part of their ruling. | |
| Other, less restrictive voter ID laws would have sufficed to achieve the legitimate non-racial purposes of implementing the constitutional amendment requiring voter ID, deterring fraud, or enhancing voter confidence. | |
| However, the third judge on that panel, who was a Republican, he did not agree. | |
| and he instead issued a dissenting opinion which said this in part, Presenting some form of identification is a task we must perform quite frequently in everyday life. | |
| Adding more familiarity to the process of casting a vote increases the level of certainty in the electoral process, and doing so by requiring the presentation of photographic identification ensures each person offering to vote is who they proclaim to be, thereby increasing confidence in the outcome of each election. | |
| Interestingly, he further added that according to the evidence that they were shown, no registered voters in the state will be precluded from voting by the identification requirements in this law. | |
| Regardless, the two Democrat judges on the panel did not agree with him. | |
| Now, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, who represented the plaintiffs in this case, they were thrilled with this decision. | |
| Here's what they said in a statement after this ruling. | |
| This ruling is a testament to the overwhelming evidence, including compelling stories of disenfranchisement from voters themselves, which highlighted how the state's Republican-controlled legislature undeniably implemented this legislation to maintain its power by targeting voters of color. | |
| On the flip side, however, the lawyer who was representing the Republican lawmakers, he said that this was just another example of judges legislating from the bench. | |
| And he further added that he will be appealing this decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. | |
| Here's what he said. | |
| Once again, liberal judges have defied the will of North Carolinians on election integrity. | |
| This fight is far from over. | |
| We look forward to appealing this partisan ruling on behalf of the people of North Carolina. | |
| If you'd like to read more about these photo ID laws over in North Carolina, I'll throw a link to that article into the description box below this video for you to check out. | |
| And again, all I ask in return is that you take a quick second, if you haven't already, to smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm. | |
| And now, since we're on the topic of having to show your papers in order to engage with society, let's move on over to Indiana. | |
| Four days ago, Indiana University Health, which is the biggest hospital system in the state, they announced that 125 of their staff members are no longer employed because they refuse to comply with the vaccine mandate. | |
| Here's specifically what the hospital system said as a part of a statement. | |
| Indiana University Health has put the safety and well-being of patients and team members first, We're good to go. | |
| Now, while that statement didn't specify whether these workers quit or whether they were fired, a representative for the hospital, he said that the employees who refused to get the shot, they resigned. | |
| Furthermore, according to that same spokesperson, these departing employees will actually not have too big of an impact on the hospital's operations. | |
| Here's specifically what he said. | |
| Most of the employees who chose not to be vaccinated worked part-time, less than part-time, or have not worked for a number of months and will have a minimal effect on staffing. | |
| Now, what's interesting to note is that this type of situation is not only affecting hospitals. | |
| For instance, over in Massachusetts, they had to deploy the National Guard in order to take kids to school. | |
| That's because they are facing a shortage of bus drivers. | |
| That's right. | |
| There are so few bus drivers in several counties of Massachusetts that the governor had to mobilize the National Guard in order to get kids to school, in order to drive them to school. | |
| Here's what the governor of Massachusetts said as a part of a statement. | |
| As with any school transportation worker, All activated guard personnel will complete vehicle training to ensure the safety of children and families. | |
| Throughout the mission, the guard will comply with all health and safety measures. | |
| Furthermore, the CEO of the school bus company, which actually drives the kids to and fro, he described the situation very succinctly. | |
| I've been doing this for 33 years and I haven't seen anything like this. | |
| And frankly, I would expect many more situations to play out like this across the entire country and in many different industries, given the fact that vaccine mandates are going into effect nationwide. | |
| So when you couple the hiring crunch that America was already facing, and now you add to that the fact that many companies are now disqualifying 40% of the workforce for not being vaccinated, well, let's see if Massachusetts will be the only state needing the National Guard to drive their kids to and from school. | |
| If you'd like to read more about what's happening over with the school buses, I'll throw a link to that into the description box below this video for you to check out. | |
| Now lastly, since you've finished watching this episode, I would highly recommend that you go over to Epic TV and check out episode 4 of the Dark Origins of Communism series, Which details the rise of global tyranny. | |
| Here's a trailer for that awesome episode. | |
| Communists established power in Russia. | |
| After Mussolini, Adolf Hitler then appeared in Germany with the idea of National Socialism. | |
| Just as Lenin targeted wealthy farmers and the Chinese Communist Party's Mao Zedong targeted landlords, Hitler also targeted a single group of people for his state system to struggle against, the Jews. | |
| To say that Nazism, Fascism and Leninism have nothing to do with Socialism or Communism is simply untrue. | |
| The Antifa organization isn't about targeting real fascism as it claims. | |
| Rather, it's a strategy for a power grab. | |
| With anti-fascist action, the communists pushed the people into a Nazi system that was still under the socialist ideas that were sweeping the world. | |
| If you want to check out that full episode, as well as all the other awesome content over on Epic TV, you can do so by clicking on that link that's going to be right there at the very top of the description box. | |
| Hope you check it out. | |
| Hope you check out not only that series, but also all the other awesome programs that we publish over on Epic TV. And join us on this journey of exploring this beautiful, beautiful world through honest journalism that's based in truth and tradition. | |
| Now lastly, if you haven't already, smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm. | |
| Subscribe to this YouTube channel if you haven't already in order to get this type of honest news content delivered directly into your YouTube feed while YouTube still allows it. | |
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| I publish spicy memes as well as behind-the-scenes research. | |
| And then until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epic Times. |
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