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.”
Volker Turk has warned that efforts to advance reparatory justice are facing resistance in “certain quarters,” and urged countries to back Africa’s push.
Reparatory justice for historical crimes, including colonialism, enslavement, and the trade in enslaved Africans, is crucial to dismantling systemic racism, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said.
Speaking at the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent on Tuesday, Turk linked present-day discrimination against people from the continent to the enduring legacy of colonialism and enslavement.
”Racism and dehumanizing rhetoric continue to permeate public institutions, communities, and online platforms,” he said, according to the UN Press Service. Turk noted that “digital technologies, including AI, are reproducing and amplifying existing biases against people of African descent.”
The remarks come weeks after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest...
The US VP had to defend President Trump’s Gaza policy at a rally on a Georgia college campus.
US Vice President J.D. Vance was forced to defend Washington’s policy in Gaza after he was booed and heckled at a key MAGA event on Wednesday.
Co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is a conservative student group that has long been seen as a strong support base of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement but is now showing apparent cracks.
Less than 15 minutes into a TPUSA event at the University of Georgia on Wednesday, Vance was interrupted by hecklers over US policy in Gaza, with one audience member shouting, “Jesus Christ does not support genocide!” As he attempted to respond, others shouted, “You’re killing children!” and “You’re bombing children!”
Vance replied by referring to Trump’s achievements as president, including securing a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, something he said the previous administration of Joe Biden failed to do.
“I ...
Sergey Shoigu has cautioned Finland and the Baltic states against allowing Kiev to use their airspace for attacks on Russia.
Russia would have the right to retaliate if Finland and the Baltic states are deliberately allowing Ukrainian drones to pass through their airspace, Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said on Thursday.
“Recently, there has been an increase in Ukrainian drone strikes against Russia via Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia,” Shoigu told journalists. “As a result, civilians are suffering and significant damage is being caused to civilian infrastructure.”
Either Western air defenses are proving ineffective, or these four countries “deliberately provide their airspace, thereby becoming open accomplices in aggression against Russia,” he added. In the latter case, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter, the security chief stressed.
In recent weeks, Kiev has intensified drone strikes on ...
