Tucker Carlson slammed the government for putting young people at risk by pushing them to get vaccinated against the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) even as reports of the vaccine's potential link to a certain type of heart inflammation emerged.
The Fox News pundit noted that Israeli health officials released a report showing that vaccinated young people, particularly young men, were developing myocarditis at extremely high rates.
Myocarditis is condition that involves inflammation of the heart muscle. Symptoms can include fever and fatigue, as well as shortness of breath and a very specific type of chest pain. Patients tend to say their chest hurts more when they lean forward. The pain tends to subside when they lean back.
Israel's Ministry of Health identified over 200 cases in men between 16 and 30 years old, with a vast majority of those happening at the younger end of that range. That equates to a risk of between 1 in 3,000 and 1 in 6,000 of suffering from inflammation of muscles that line the heart wall. Researchers determined that the incidence of myocarditis in vaccinated young men was 25 times the usual rate.
"This is a serious development for us in the United States. If statistical trends observed in Israel hold here, as many as 150,000 young Americans will develop a potentially fatal heart disorder because of the COVID vaccine," Carlson said. "That's not alarmism or some kind of anti-vaxxer conspiracy theory. It's real."
At that rate, Carlson said, healthy young people are more likely to be harmed by the vaccine than by COVID itself. That scenario, he said, "would be the definition of a preventable disaster."
Colleges and universities invite disaster by requiring students to be vaccinated
Instead of preventing disaster, some are inviting it – at least in Carlson's point of view.
Many American colleges and universities have already announced they'll require proof of vaccination before they allow students to return to campus. Virginia's state university system recently announced that vaccine exemptions "will not be granted based on a philosophical, moral or conscientious objection."
"In other words, your conscience is irrelevant. Personal autonomy means nothing. It is no longer your body, it is no longer your choice. When it comes to the vaccine, there is no escape," Carlson said.
There are close to 20 million college students in the U.S. and Carlson fears that most of them "will have no choice but to take a drug other government have concluded is dangerous for them to take."
"You wonder, watching this, how it could happen in a free country. It's hard to believe it is happening. As a medical decision, it's reckless. What are the long-term effects of forcing these drugs on millions of young people, many of whom don't need it? We don't know the answer," Carlson said. "We don't know what the long-term effects are. Anyone who claims to know is lying. At this point, there's literally no way to tell."
Immunization Safety Office Deputy Director Dr. Tom Shimabukuro of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said during a presentation to a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory group on Thursday, June 10, that there have been 226 confirmed cases of myocarditis after vaccination among Americans younger than 30, and that 250 more cases are under investigation.
Normally, fewer than 100 such cases would be expected for people below 30.
Across all ages, 789 cases of myocarditis have been reported after getting the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines – most commonly after the second dose. Cases predominantly have been seen in males, and the median age for a case of myocarditis following the second dose is 24. (Related: Heart inflammation in COVID-19 vaccine recipients seen across the US.)
Further investigation is needed to confirm whether the vaccination was the cause of the heart problem. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), CDC's vaccine advisory committee that develops recommendations on how to use vaccines to control diseases in the U.S., will hold an emergency meeting on June 18 to discuss the issue.
Ages 12 to 24 account for more than half of myocarditis cases reported to CDC
The FDA expanded Pfizer's emergency use authorization to include children as young as 12, even though the pharmaceutical company's own clinical trials of the vaccine showed disturbing effects on young people.
Pfizer gave the vaccines to one group of children between ages 12 and 15 while another group got a placebo. Among children who received just the first dose of the vaccine, rates of serious symptoms were higher across the board – including symptoms consistent with myocarditis.
Those between ages 12 and 24 accounted for more than half of the myocarditis cases in people below 30, despite representing just a fraction of people who have received the vaccines. "We clearly have an imbalance there," Shimabukuro said.
Carlson took notice of Shimabukuro's remarks. "'Imbalance' is one way to put it. 'Potential emergency' is another way," Carlson said.
The New York Times reported that COVID-19 vaccines may be available in the fall for American children as young as six months. Pfizer announced on Tuesday, June 8, that it will begin testing the vaccine in infants in the next few weeks.
"As a scientific question, none of this is necessary," Carlson said. "Studies in medical journals around the world have shown that COVID is not a grave threat to children and that young people don't play a significant role in spreading COVID. But that hasn't stopped the Biden Administration."
Carlson hinted that President Joe Biden does not care about scientific studies. "Joe Biden doesn't want to wait," he said. "Biden promised universal vaccination, whether we need it or not, and he plans to get it done."
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