The US health agency had earlier acknowledged that Pfizer’s shots could adversely affect the elderly
Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the House Commerce Committee chair, has called on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to “rapidly investigate” a potential link between Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine and strokes among elderly people. The CDC acknowledged the risk, but continues to recommend that everyone over six months of age receive booster shots.
The CDC announced on Friday that reports suggested a link between Pfizer’s bivalent booster shots and an uptick in strokes among adults over 65 who had received them. The agency said that it would investigate these reports, but claimed that it “is very unlikely” that there is a “true clinical risk,” and that everyone over the age of six months should take the vaccine regardless.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week authorized the use of these bivalent booster shots in infants over six months old, despite the fact that Pfizer never conducted human trials before bringing the shots to market.
The lack of transparency over the past three years has broken Americans’ trust in our public health agencies,” McMorris Rodgers said in a statement on Friday. “CDC and FDA have systems in place to monitor vaccine safety that have identified this preliminary signal,” she continued. “Now these agencies must rapidly investigate, in an open and transparent manner, whether or not the vaccine may have contributed to the reported strokes.”
McMorris Rodgers, a Republican, added that both the CDC and FDA will be called to testify before her committee “so we can begin the long road of helping to restore Americans’ trust in our public health agencies.”
More than two years have passed since the FDA first issued an emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s vaccine. Formal approval was granted in late 2021, but reports of adverse effects have since surfaced. The vaccine has been linked to an increased risk of cardiac arrest, particularly in young males, and a number of European countries have halted their booster programs in response to these concerns.
Furthermore, coronavirus vaccines have been found ineffective at stopping the transmission of Covid-19, despite Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla’s insistence in 2021 that his product was “100% effective in preventing Covid-19 cases.”
US President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday the upcoming start of ground strikes against drug cartel targets in Latin America.
He made the remarks during Christmas greetings to the military.
Trump said the United States was "now going after the land" in its fight against drug cartel targets, noting that drug trafficking by sea was down 96 percent.
The U.S. president also extended special congratulations to the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, currently deployed in the Caribbean.
BEIJING (Sputnik) - China has begun operating the world's first intelligent ultra-large oil tanker powered by methanol, the China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Monday.
The tanker, designed to transport crude oil, was successfully put into operation in the city of Dalian in China's northeastern coastal province of Liaoning, the report said. State-owned company Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co Ltd independently designed and built the vessel, it added.
The tanker is approximately 333 meters (1,092 feet) long and can carry around 2.1 million barrels of crude oil, the CCTV reported. Designed to produce low emissions and having intelligent control capabilities, the tanker will serve the route to the Middle East, among others, according to the report.
The vessel is powered by a dual-fuel methanol engine, which reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 92% compared to conventional fuel, the CCTV reported. It is equipped with an intelligent ship platform, an intelligent liquid cargo ...
A car bomb has killed a senior General Staff member, officials have confirmed
Source: The Investigative Committee
A Russian general has been killed in a car bomb blast in Moscow, the Investigative Committee has reported.
Officials identified the victim as Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of operational training at the General Staff. According to the statement, an explosive device had been planted beneath the vehicle he was traveling in, and detonated on Monday morning in the southern part of the Russian capital.
The blast also damaged several other vehicles and seriously injured Sarvarov’s driver, media reports stated.
Russian officials said one line of investigation is an assassination carried out by Ukrainian intelligence services, noting that Kiev has previously used explosive devices in targeted killings of officials and public figures.
Last December, a bomb hidden in an e-scooter killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, commander of Russia’s Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense ...