A Waking Times report said the WHO's webpage was updated on June 22 with the aforementioned edits. Prior to the update, it had remained unchanged since April 8 when the website was first archived. The headline "Children should not be vaccinated for the moment" was emphasized before its redaction. Aside from the emphasized headline, the earlier version of the page acknowledged that "there is not yet enough evidence on the use of vaccines against COVID-19 in children to make recommendations."
However, the June 22 update reflected a complete 180-degree turn from the WHO's initial stance. While the new guidance still acknowledged the need for "more evidence … on the use of the different COVID-19 vaccines in children," it concluded that the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine "is suitable for use by people aged 12 years and above."
The quiet revision contradicted earlier advice by the global health body's vaccine expert, who said that vaccinating children against COVID-19 is not an immediate priority. Dr. Kate O'Brien, the director of WHO's immunization, vaccines and biologicals department, remarked: "Children are at [a] very, very low risk of actually getting [COVID-19]."
O'Brien said during a social media session: "When we're in this really difficult place … where the supply of [COVID-19 vaccines] is insufficient for everybody around the world, immunizing kids is not a high priority right now." She added that vaccinating children against COVID-19 might be appropriate "in due course, when the supply increases much more substantially." (Related: Health experts raise concerns regarding COVID-19 vaccination for children.)
A number of users who pointed out the global health body's stealthy revision of its vaccine guidelines found themselves censored on social media website. Author Alex Berenson shared one instance of censorship experienced by a user who posted the WHO's revised vaccination guidelines for children.
Berenson tweeted on June 23 that a woman was censored on Facebook for simply posting a screenshot of the revised WHO webpage. Michelle Coriaty-Herbst received a message from Facebook saying that her content violated "community standards on spam." Berenson captioned the social media site's message to Herbst: "Can't make it up. Facebook is censoring the WHO recommendation that people under 18 not be vaccinated."
The censorship Herbst suffered at the hands of Facebook echoed a similar instance, this time involving the conservative news website National File. The news site saw itself being locked out of Twitter for a 12-hour period after it reported on a tweet about the death of a vaccinated 13-year-old. (Related: 13-year-old Michigan boy dies 3 days after second Pfizer COVID-19 jab.)
National File's lockout stemmed from its report about the death of Jacob Clynick after the boy received his second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Clynick's aunt Tami Burages posted about her nephew's death on Twitter, saying that Jacob did not have any known health problems and was not on any medication. She also mentioned that the initial autopsy results on Clynick showed an "enlarged heart … with some fluid surrounding it."
According to Twitter, the National File's account was locked for allegedly "spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19." A spokesperson for the social media site later confirmed that the move was done "in error" and that the account's functionality had been restored.
The news site's editor-in-chief Tom Pappert said in a statement: "We published a report containing direct quotes from a woman who … expressed concern about the death of her 13-year-old nephew … after he received the [Pfizer/BioNTech] COVID-19 vaccine. It is very unfortunate that Twitter would attempt to prevent this family from sharing its truth and its concerns about the [Pfizer/BioNTech] COVID-19 vaccine only days after [Clynick's] untimely and heartbreaking death."
Visit Vaccines.news to read more about the WHO's plan to inoculate children against COVID-19.
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