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--:-- Georgia Howe: Good morning, I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, September 21st, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Pfizer announced Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine produced safe and robust results for children who are 5 to 11 years old. What do the test results mean for the push to vaccinate children and the future of vaccine mandates?
--:-- John Bickley: We'll discuss that and more on today's show. First, let's get to the news.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Biden administration's promise to achieve a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants was dealt a major blow this weekend. After an official advisor to the Senate said immigration reform could not be included in massive spending legislation.
--:-- John Bickley: We'll discuss the latest on the battle over the Democrats' social spending bill.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And multiple celebrities face intense backlash after pushing back on vaccine mandates. We'll look at who's speaking out and how they're handling the blowback.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This show is sponsored by Birch Gold Group. Inflation is destroying the dollar. Birch Gold Group can help protect your IRA or 401k with a precious metals IRA.
--:-- Ben Johnson: On Monday, Pfizer announced that a more limited dose of its COVID-19 vaccine produced robust results for 5 to 11-year-olds.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to tell us more about the results and their implications is Daily Wire reporter Ben Johnson.
--:-- Ben Johnson: So, currently, vaccines are approved for only children 12 years old and up. But is that about to change? It looks that way.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, say they got positive results when they gave the younger children one third of the adult dose of the vaccine, 10 micrograms instead of the usual 30.
--:-- Ben Johnson: They administered this in two stages, 21 days apart. They found children were fully vaccinated one month after receiving the last dose, and they produced similar levels of antibodies as vaccinated teens.
--:-- Ben Johnson: And what kind of side effects do they see? Well, it's important to say right up front that none of Pfizer's data has been peer-reviewed or even published yet.
--:-- Ben Johnson: So it's pretty early. It's pretty early. With that said, Pfizer says that the younger children they tested suffered no more severe side effects than teens or adults, mostly soreness, fatigue, or headaches.
--:-- Ben Johnson: The company says that it's found no cases of myocarditis, the heart inflammation that's been found as a side effect primarily in teenage boys.
--:-- Ben Johnson: But since myocarditis only occurs in about one out of every 5,000 vaccinated teenagers, and Pfizer only tested around 2,300 children in this data, they can't rule it out.
--:-- Ben Johnson: And do these Pfizer results necessarily mean that the FDA is going to approve it? Well, Pfizer says it will seek emergency authorization promptly, but first it has to submit its research to the FDA.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Once that happens, Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock has said the FDA could approve the vaccine in, quote, a matter of weeks.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Dr. Scott Gottlieb, her predecessor, who's now on Pfizer's board, said the vaccine could be ready by late October or November.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Now, COVID-19 is a lot more dangerous for the elderly and people with underlying medical conditions than it is for kids.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Right. What are the numbers right now for kids? Children have a smaller number of serious infections than adults.
--:-- Ben Johnson: According to the CDC, a total of 439 children under the age of 18 have died from COVID as of September 15th. That out of almost 5 million infections.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Only 280 children between the ages of 5 and 18 have died with the disease over the course of the pandemic.
--:-- Ben Johnson: The number of children being hospitalized with COVID rose over the summer, but it appears to be declining.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Children make up less than 2% of all COVID hospitalizations nationwide, and doctors point out that many of those hospitalizations come from co-infections where the child has another condition as well as COVID.
--:-- Ben Johnson: The nation's largest school district, LAUSD, it's Los Angeles Unified School District, already demands that all students age 12 and up be vaccinated in order to come to in-person schooling.
--:-- Ben Johnson: So with this announcement from Pfizer, are we expecting to see vaccine mandates for kids as young as five? We certainly could.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Dr. Anthony Fauci endorsed just such a mandate earlier this month. If you get the imprimatur about the safety and the strong benefit-risk ratio for the children, I believe that mandating vaccines for children to appear in school is a good idea.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Elementary school vaccine mandates are likely to follow vaccine authorization, at least in some parts of the country.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Now, is five as young as they're going to go, you think? No, infant testing is underway in some areas.
--:-- Ben Johnson: Pfizer and Moderna have announced that they currently are or plan to begin testing children as young as six months old by the end of the year.
--:-- Ben Johnson: That would make the U.S. something of an outlier. Most Western countries don't vaccinate anyone younger than 12, but at least two countries do.
--:-- Ben Johnson: The People's Republic of China has begun offering its COVID-19 vaccine, Sinopharm, to children beginning at age three.
--:-- Ben Johnson: And last week, Cuba started vaccinating infants as young as two years old.
--:-- Ben Johnson: So China and Cuba. Yeah. Well, Ben, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Ben Johnson of The Daily Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Coming up, a Democrat plan to provide a pathway to citizenship hits a setback in the Senate.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Over the weekend, the Biden administration was dealt a major blow, as their plan to include sweeping immigration reform as part of a spending bill was rejected by an official advisor to the United States Senate.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to discuss this is Daily Wire's Ian Howarth.
--:-- Ian Howarth: So Ian, a Democratic plan to work big immigration changes into their social spending bill was effectively struck down.
--:-- Ian Howarth: What happened exactly? It was reported late on Sunday evening that the Senate parliamentarian has indicated the Democrats can't include a so-called pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants in their latest multi-trillion dollar spending bill.
--:-- Ian Howarth: This is a major step backwards for the Biden administration, given that this immigration policy was a key pillar of President Biden's campaign.
--:-- Ian Howarth: And not only that, behind the scenes, two Democrats are proving to be another wrench in the Biden administration's plans.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia has become one of the most powerful Democrats in D.C. because of his comparatively moderate position in a split Senate, and he wants to delay voting on the $3.5 trillion bill until 2022.
--:-- Ian Howarth: And then there's Senator Kirsten Sinema of Arizona, who is reportedly opposed to the bill, but is being less outspoken than Senator Manchin.
--:-- Ian Howarth: So what was the reaction to this news? Well, it was pretty mixed.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell released a statement saying that, quote, Democrats will not be able to stuff their most radical amnesty proposals into the reckless taxing and spending spree they assembling behind closed doors.
--:-- Ian Howarth: But then there are some Democratic Party figures who oppose the decision.
--:-- Ian Howarth: For example, Representative Elan Omar tweeted quote This ruling by the parliamentarian is only a recommendation. Senator Schumer and the White House can and should ignore it.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Can you tell us a little bit more about this ruling and what it actually means going forward?
--:-- Ian Howarth: Sure. So the parliamentarian of the United States Senate is an official advisor to the Senate on the interpretation of the body's standing rules and parliamentary procedure.
--:-- Ian Howarth: They serve at the pleasure of the Senate majority leader, with Elizabeth McDonough holding the position since 2012 after being appointed by Harry Reid.
--:-- Ian Howarth: We should note that this is an advisory position and the presiding officer can overrule this advice, but doing so would be extremely unusual.
--:-- Ian Howarth: And one important role of the parliamentarian, which is relevant to this story, is being able to decide what can and can't be done under the Senate reconciliation process, set up to speed up the passage of budget-related legislation by allowing them to be approved by a simple majority rather than the 60 votes needed to end debate and block a filibuster.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Okay, so to sum up, the Democrats were hoping to jam a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants into this bill and pass it via the budget reconciliation process.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Exactly. But with the parliamentarian saying that, quote, policy changes of this proposal far outweigh the budgetary impact, it's clear that their hopes have been scuppered.
--:-- Ian Howarth: And that's before we even consider Senators Manchin and Sinema on the simple majority vote.
--:-- Ian Howarth: And as Senator Ted Cruz mentioned, this will likely mean that these two Democratic Party senators will be pushed to fall in line with the Biden administration's agenda.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Do they get Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to go along? I can tell you Chuck Schumer is putting a world of hurt and pressure on the two of them.
--:-- Ian Howarth: I hope they stand their ground, that they have demonstrated some real courage so far standing up to the crazies in their party.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Lots of pressure on those two.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Ian, thanks for unpacking all that for us.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Daily Wire's Ian Howarth.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Many of the world's biggest stars have expressed support for COVID vaccine mandates, including Howard Stern, Sean Penn, and Stephen Colbert.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But recently, a few celebrities have bucked the trend.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to tell us which Hollywood stars have expressed concerns about vaccine mandates and how that ties in with the larger cultural divide is Daily Wire entertainment reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Megan, this was huge news over the weekend, and probably the biggest star to question vaccine mandates was the rapper Nicki Minaj.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Give us the latest on that.
--:-- Megan Basham: Right, so just in case there's anyone who didn't actually follow the story last week, Minaj tweeted that she didn't go to the Met Gala because event organizers had implemented a vaccine mandate.
--:-- Megan Basham: At that point, MSNBC's Joy Reid and late night host Jimmy Kimmel and a few other celebs slammed her comments as harmful.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Minaj shot back with a few choice words. I'm not going to repeat here.
--:-- Megan Basham: But essentially she said she's still researching and people shouldn't be bullied into getting the shot.
--:-- Megan Basham: At one point, she claimed the White House invited her for a visit to assuage her concerns.
--:-- Megan Basham: The White House says they only offered her a call.
--:-- Megan Basham: The whole thing has gotten pretty messy and gossipy.
--:-- Megan Basham: But I think at the end of the day, something Minaj said in an Instagram post a few days ago, summarized why this story really does have bigger implications than your typical tabloid story.
--:-- Megan Basham: Here's what she said. 80% of the artists that y'all following right now feel like I feel about the vaccine and are too afraid to speak on it.
--:-- Megan Basham: If they assassinate me and assassinate my character and make me look crazy or stupid, guess what? No one else will ever ask questions again.
--:-- Megan Basham: It's disgusting that a person can speak about just questions or thoughts they're having about something that they're going to have to put in their body.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, Joy Reid in particular really slammed her for this, but Nicki Minaj actually isn't alone in raising red flags about mandates.
--:-- Megan Basham: No, she's not. Some of the other stars who expressed some similar concerns, Eric Clapton, comedian and Saturday Night Live alum, Jim Brewer.
--:-- Megan Basham: And then just over the weekend, supermodel Downton Cruz put out a statement against mandates.
--:-- Megan Basham: She said, I will not be forced to take the shot. I will not be forced to prove my health to participate in society.
--:-- Megan Basham: I will not accept exclusion of people based on their medical status. Freedom of speech is a right worth fighting for.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, when people attacked her for saying this, another supermodel, really kind of the biggest supermodel, Tom Brady's wife, Giselle Bündchen, came to her defense.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, you know, it seems like Nicki Minaj may have actually inspired a few other stars to speak out.
--:-- Megan Basham: And they have really big fan bases.
--:-- Megan Basham: She has something like 158 million followers on Instagram and 23 million followers on Twitter.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, you know, not small.
--:-- Megan Basham: And a lot of the criticism of Minaj seemed to be calling her anti-vax, but that's not actually an accurate characterization of what she was saying.
--:-- Megan Basham: The main message of her video was that people should be able to freely ask questions about the things they're being asked to put in their body, and they shouldn't be bullied into taking things until they feel informed.
--:-- Megan Basham: At one point, she claimed that the fear people feel about expressing the wrong opinion makes it feel like we're living in communist China.
--:-- Megan Basham: Do you think she's going to stick to her guns on this?
--:-- Megan Basham: Yes, I definitely do.
--:-- Megan Basham: I'd say she's actually becoming more defiant.
--:-- Megan Basham: She's done things like share a clip of Fox News host Tucker Carlson talking about her.
--:-- Megan Basham: And in that same Instagram video, she said on the subject of mandates, don't tell me I can't agree with a Republican.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah, it's interesting. The whole vaccine mandate push is really creating some strange bedfellows.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah, it definitely is.
--:-- Megan Basham: So be interesting to see where it goes.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for bringing us the story, Megan.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yep. Always happy to do it.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire entertainment reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Other stories we're tracking this week.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Elon Musk has committed $50 million to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital as part of a larger fundraising effort associated with the Inspiration4's launch.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The fundraiser is on track to meet its $200 million donation goal.
--:-- Georgia Howe: St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, treats childhood cancer free of charge.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The U.S. is continuing to fly Haitian migrants who amassed at the southern border in Texas back to their home country.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Around 14,000 migrants were huddled under a bridge in the border town of Del Rio.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Several flights a day have been scheduled this week to remove the migrants.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Tomorrow, we'll speak to Texas Governor Greg Abbott about the ongoing crisis.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you liked this episode and are interested in hearing more, subscribe to Morning Wire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening, and give us a five-star review.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you like this podcast, get the Morning Wire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox when you join at dailywire.com slash subscribe.
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