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--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is seeking a grand jury to investigate COVID vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna. It turns out with both Pfizer and Moderna, we had a 1 in 800 risk of serious adverse events. What information is the governor seeking and what are the allegations being made against the pharmaceutical giants? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, December 15th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Several new studies suggest that the incidence of long COVID is much lower than originally thought. We speak to a doctor about the latest research. And more Twitter files have dropped detailing the circumstances leading up to the permanent ban of then-President Donald Trump. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. We'll see you next time.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: their precious metal specialists. That's wire to 989898 today.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is asking his state's Supreme Court to impanel a grand jury to investigate COVID vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna. His announcement comes as more medical experts are beginning to sound alarms about vaccine side effects. Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham attended the governor's COVID roundtable and spoke to him afterward. She joins us now to give us more details.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, a number of scientists and medical researchers were there participating, including people like Stanford professor of medicine Jay Bhattacharya and Harvard epidemiologist Martin Kulldorff. Both men have become pretty well known for opposing a lot of government COVID policies and warning that federal agencies like the FDA and CDC are deliberately underplaying the vaccine's side effects now.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Koldorf helped develop the statistical method the CDC uses to evaluate vaccine risks. And he said the agency has disregarded basic principles of public health when it comes to vaccines in particular. And he said they've been withholding data from independent researchers. Now, to that point, this was Dr. Joseph Freeman. He's an emergency room physician, and he described what he and an international team of researchers found when they started looking at Pfizer's own trial data.
--:-- Megan Basham: The first vaccine to go through, it was a 37% increase in the number of serious adverse events. That was never reported, not by the FDA, not by Pfizer. In fact, Pfizer says, I may get it verbatim wrong, but they said that the incidence of serious adverse events are similar in the vaccine and placebo group 37 increase is not similar It actually statistically significantly different So serious adverse effects means things like death hospitalization and long debilitating impact.
--:-- Megan Basham: And Freeman added that most vaccines have a one in a million risk of that kind of harm. So quite a difference from one in 800. Yeah. So Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Latipo said that his team's VAX studies found significant rates of cardiac death in young men in particular. DeSantis said that because federal agencies are suppressing this kind of research, Florida is now going to step in.
--:-- Megan Basham: He said he's launching a public health integrity committee. That's what he called it. And it's going to be tasked with researching things like vaccine-related harm and comparing those findings with the research that's being done in other countries. It's also going to challenge the guidance coming from the CDC, the FDA, and the NIH if necessary. One specific element of that, Lodipo's office is going to begin conducting what he called autopsy surveillance.
--:-- Megan Basham: So essentially what that is, is investigating sudden deaths immediately following vaccinations and boosters. Interesting. And so this investigation is specifically looking at whether data about side effects was suppressed. Correct. DeSantis basically said it's necessary to find out how risks associated with the vaccine were covered up or possibly ignored.
--:-- Megan Basham: And I will say that the most harrowing part of this event was hearing from some of the patients who described what they've gone through since being vaccinated. In particular, a retired police officer talked about experiencing muscle tremors, stroke-like symptoms, severe joint pain. And then a single mom, a health professional herself, had similar symptoms immediately after the vaccine.
--:-- Megan Basham: The governor told me after the symposium that these kinds of stories are why it's so important to him to get a grand jury to investigate. There's muscle behind these grand juries. And so they have the ability to do legal process to get some of the data that the researchers at our panel were talking about were very important. And so there's really a lot of opportunities here to get some accountability.
--:-- Megan Basham: Something else DeSantis and I discussed was the immense pressure that doctors and medical researchers have been under not to question the vaccines. Right. And I know polling from WPA intelligence just found that 37 percent of voters now say they regret getting vaccinated. So it's going to be interesting to see how those voters respond.
--:-- Megan Basham: Megan, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham. Coming up, new research has good news about long COVID. If you want to enjoy the holidays to the fullest, you'll need to get your best sleep every night. Bowling Branch sheets are made from the finest 100% organic cotton threads on Earth. They make a difference you can truly feel night after night. For a limited time, get 20% off your first set of sheets, plus free shipping, when you use promo code WIRE at BowlingBranch.com.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: New studies suggest that warnings about so-called long COVID might be overstated. Joining us to discuss is Johns Hopkins, Dr. Marty McCary. Dr. McCary, thanks for coming on.
--:-- Marty McCary: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: So you wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal in the past week about long COVID and how it's perhaps being overdiagnosed. First off, what are the symptoms of long COVID and how are they distinguished from just regular symptoms you might have after having COVID?
--:-- Marty McCary: Long COVID has some unique symptoms like loss of smell, and there's a brain fog that occurs in the first few weeks in some people. But the new studies that have come out that I summarized in the Wall Street Journal show how when people who had COVID were compared to those who had other infections like the flu non infections that they had similar rates of long symptoms a couple months out
--:-- Marty McCary: And in one study where they looked at all the biomarkers, that is every lab test you can possibly order on people with long COVID, they found that none of them were abnormal and the only predictor of long COVID was having anxiety before someone developed COVID.
--:-- Marty McCary: What are the confirmed symptoms of long COVID? Long COVID symptoms are primarily focused around malaise, weakness, and fatigue occurring at three months. I would just add GI symptoms have been present in some people, that is, that they have found that it's more difficult to tolerate food. Neurologically, there's also a domain where people feel pins and needles or weakness in their extremities.
--:-- Marty McCary: We think the immune system may cross over and interact with the nerves in someone's peripheral nervous system. So that's the universe of what we refer to as long COVID. And what percent of people end up getting long COVID? The CDC did a very sloppy study using billing codes and found that they claim 20% of people after COVID have some long-haul symptoms. But the UK did a much better study and found that it was only 3%.
--:-- Marty McCary: Now, how do you explain the difference between the CDC saying it's 20% of people and the UK saying it's 3% of people? Well, they are overcapturing fatigue and weakness, and that's what's attributed to be this massive disparity.
--:-- Marty McCary: Now, last month, the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner tweeted that preliminary epidemiological findings point to the distinct possibility that the bivalent vaccines and antivirals reduce the risk of long COVID. What research was he referring to? There was no research that we know of. So many of us were taken back.
--:-- Marty McCary: One, that the top regulator at the FDA is essentially advertising a pharmaceutical product. And number two, that there was no data to make the suggestion that it could reduce long COVID.
--:-- Marty McCary: Now, is there anything people can do if they are experiencing lingering COVID symptoms, especially the brain fog, I think for a lot of people is the one that really gets them down. Is there anything they can do to hasten improvement?
--:-- Marty McCary: I encourage people to stay active, to stay healthy, to eat well, to avoid the isolation that we've seen over the last two and a half years, and to try to stay positive, surrounding yourself with a good community of people.
--:-- Marty McCary: Thanks so much for coming on.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: That was Johns Hopkins, Dr. Marty McCary. New Twitter files dropped this week reveal that the company moved to permanently ban then-sitting President Donald Trump over tweets employees acknowledged did not violate the platform's terms of service. Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestes-Giacomo. Amanda, what details have emerged this week?
--:-- Amanda Prestes-Giacomo: Journalist Barry Weiss published screenshots Monday of internal messages at the company showing employees acknowledging that Trump did not violate the platform's policies, but was banned anyway after internal pressures. Basically, it looks like the company worked backwards to find justification for the ban employees demanded.
--:-- Amanda Prestes-Giacomo: Do we know which specific tweet or tweets sparked the discussion to ban Trump? Well, we know the calls intensified for the ban immediately in the wake of the Capitol breach on January 6th. But there was one tweet posted by Trump on January 8th, two days later, that was heavily discussed internally by Twitter employees and executives
--:-- Amanda Prestes-Giacomo: That tweet from Trump reads as follows quote The 75 million great American patriots who voted for me America first and make America great again will have a giant voice long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape, or form.
--:-- Amanda Prestes-Giacomo: And now we are seeing the internal discussions about that particular tweet. What did the pushback look like, and who made the decision to nonetheless ban Trump? That tweet, specifically Trump's mention of American patriots, was parsed in about a million different ways. But employees started off by acknowledging that nothing in the tweet was in violation.
--:-- Amanda Prestes-Giacomo: One employee admitted that it was pretty clear Trump was saying these American patriots were the people who voted for him, not a reference to insurrectionists. Others said they just didn't see the incitement angle. And in one standout comment, an employee who said they were from China warned that they, quote, deeply understand how censorship can destroy the public conversation.
--:-- Amanda Prestes-Giacomo: So the tweet was passed along to Twitter's safety team. They, too, decide the tweet is not in violation. As some internal pressures grew, it escalated further. And here's where the plan to ban Trump gets posited by Vijay Ghaly. She was Twitter's head of legal policy and trust before being fired by Musk.
--:-- Amanda Prestes-Giacomo: Gotti asked if the tweet in question could be, quote, coded incitement to further violence. So Trump was speaking in code. Then, soon after, Twitter's so-called scaled enforcement team echoed Gotti, suggesting Trump's reference to American patriots is code for rioters.
--:-- Amanda Prestes-Giacomo: This gets escalated one more time to a 30-minute all-staff meeting hosted by Twitter's then-CEO Jack Dorsey and Gotti to discuss Trump, who at the time was not banned. Employees seem to really lose it here and further engage in so-called employee advocacy to get Trump banned.
--:-- Amanda Prestes-Giacomo: Yul Roth, Twitter's then head of trust and safety, wrote that Twitter employees are quoting the banality of evil, suggesting that people implementing Twitter policies are, quote, like Nazis following orders.
--:-- Amanda Prestes-Giacomo: Keep in mind, the Washington Post earlier that same day had published a letter from 300 Twitter employees to Jack Dorsey calling for Trump's ban. And about an hour after Ross' messages, Twitter announces, voila, Trump is permanently banned, citing the risk of further incitement of violence.
--:-- Amanda Prestes-Giacomo: Okay, so they created justification for the ban sort of after the fact. Right. So what's been the response to these latest Twitter files? Dorsey in a blog post published Tuesday emphasized the importance of free speech and actually took responsibility for the mess Musk inherited.
--:-- Amanda Prestes-Giacomo: The tech billionaire went on to say he thought companies in general have become too powerful and this became most clear to him with the suspension of Trump. Then we have Musk himself amplifying the Twitter files, summing up this drop as follows, quote, Under pressure from hundreds of activist employees, Twitter deplatforms Trump, a sitting U.S. president, even though they themselves acknowledge he didn't violate the rules.
--:-- Amanda Prestes-Giacomo: Now, Musk, who lifted the Trump ban in November, he stated that his goal with these Twitter files is to open up transparency at the platform. It'll be interesting to see if there's any action taken.
--:-- Amanda Prestes-Giacomo: Amanda, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire reporter, Amanda Presta-Giacomo. That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
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