“Vaccination requirements should not be another issue that divides us,” President Joe Biden declared during a press conference on Oct. 14. Then he announced: “We have purchased enough vaccines for all children between the ages of five and 11.” That age group has yet to be approved to receive the COVID jabs, and already the president has built up a stockpile? What about following the science?
The Food and Drug Administration isn’t set to hear about the “safety” and “efficacy” of children's vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech drug companies until October 26. Nevertheless, Biden is gung-ho and ready to go, despite the likelihood this move will spawn more mandates – on children this time – which may spark a war between parents and the government. As Fox News medical contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier explained, “We don’t know if the data shows benefit v risk when it comes to this young age group.”
According to Saphier, it hasn’t been proven that this age group even needs the vaccine or what kind of harm it might cause. She said:
“Here’s the problem that I have, because we do see some of that division because you have comments such as that, essentially saying you bought all the doses for the five- to 11-year-olds, go out and get your children vaccinated as soon as it's approved and they’re eligible. Yet we haven’t heard from the scientists. We haven’t heard that it is what is necessary in the five- to 11-year-olds. Like we saw before when it came to the boosters and other things. Unfortunately, the White House comes out with some of these comments before there has been a final decision.”
The doctor went on to discuss the undue pressure such a statement from the commander-in-chief could be putting on those who are trying to determine the efficiency and necessity of such a vaccination:
“We don’t want bias when our scientists and experts are looking at the data and putting forth their recommendations just because President Biden or the White House had said that this is happening.”
Joe Biden
(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Is this a done deal then, since the president said so?
In Indiana, two young children, ages four and five, were mistakenly given the adult Pfizer vaccines, and both children are suffering side effects, including heart issues. Granted, the doses were stronger than if they had been made for children, but many parents are still worried.
The concern is the president’s skewed understanding of the scope of his authority. We’ve seen it when he threatened to take away governors’ powers if they didn’t enforce his vaccination mandates. We’ve seen it with how he got rid of former President Donald Trump’s policies for controlling illegal immigration, then refused to do anything to help the states suffering from those executive orders along the southern border. We’ve seen it with his vaccination demands that have tens of thousands of essential employees being fired or quitting. And we’ve seen it with his absolute certainty that the $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill will eventually pass.
Purchasing the COVID vaccine for kids before it’s even officially been approved raises the question: Are we following science, or is science following the president?
~ Read more from Kelli Ballard.
