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May 13, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – America’s lockdown czar Dr. Anthony Fauci recommended that children as young as 12 years old avail themselves of the opportunity to receive one of the experimental gene therapy vaccines against COVID-19, telling CBS that, while he is unsure whether children should be forced, “we should be encouraging them.”

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Rochelle Walensky yesterday signed off on Pfizer’s experimental mRNA, abortion-tainted vaccine for use in children between ages 12 and 15, announcing that the “CDC now recommends that this vaccine be used among this population, and providers may begin vaccinating them right away.”

The decision to allow young children to be vaccinated with the experimental product – which only has Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration – was agreed upon unanimously by a supposedly independent advisory group to the CDC, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, following a report from Pfizer claiming 100 percent effectiveness of their jab in the 12–15 age bracket. Walensky added that the development was “another important step to getting out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and closer to normalcy.”

In an attempt to quell the fears of parents who may be looking at the growing list of serious side-effects reported after taking one of the available shots, Fauci claimed that the vaccine “safety profile is really quite firm and sound.” He also claimed that, as yet, “no long-term effects that anyone could notice” have come to light.

Given that the vaccine has only been administered over the last six months, this is not only unsurprising but entirely expected.

Further pressurizing children to take the jab, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director added an emotional dimension to their considerations, saying children “could inadvertently and innocently pass the infection on to someone else, perhaps another member of the family who is vulnerable and could get into trouble.” 

“You have the capability of protecting yourself as a young person, 12 to 15, but also knowing that you're not going to pass it on to someone else,” he encouraged. “You even want to call upon the young people to say, ‘I want to protect myself, but I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.’”

Fauci also suggested that children are at risk from COVID-19 despite their age: “We are starting to see younger people get into serious trouble, again at a very low rate, but serious trouble.” The vaccine, he instructed, is “highly efficacious … That's something that you shouldn't walk away from.”

Contrary to Fauci’s assertions, evidence demonstrates that neither do children pose any particular threat as vectors of the virus to their family members, nor are they particularly susceptible to the dangers presented by infection with COVID-19.

Dr. Mark Trozzi, an emergency physician of 25 years writing for Evidence not Fear, explained that “Children are safe from COVID-19 and do not pass it on to relatives, teachers or friends.”

In fact, a statistical analysis from Trozzi showed that children are at a far greater risk of dying in a car accident or being struck by lightning than they are of dying from the coronavirus.

Taking the Swedish example, where schools were not closed and children were not required to wear face masks, the nation recorded no deaths “among 1.8 million children” from COVID-19. Compared with other professions, teachers in Sweden had no increased risk of infection with the virus.

A study from the Kaiser Health Institute discovered that among parents of 12–15-year-olds, only around 30 percent said they will vaccinate their child as soon as it is an option. Twenty-six percent of those surveyed answered that they will “wait to see how it is working,” and 18 percent committed to vaccinating their child only if it is required by the child’s school. And 23 percent of parents in the survey said they would definitely not allow their child to be vaccinated.

In a bid to secure more ready uptake, Fauci cautioned against mandating vaccination for children. “You've got to be careful when you make the requirement of something,” he said, “that usually gets you into a lot of pushback — understandable pushback.” 

In addition, the NIAID director reiterated the CDC’s recent adjustment to its face mask guidance, offering vaccinated individuals the liberty of going mask-free in situations of outdoor gatherings, granted in small numbers: “If you were vaccinated, you don't have to wear a mask outside.” 

But even this small concession was sharply caveated by the country’s most prominent public health official, who added that “If you were going into a completely crowded situation where people are essentially falling all over each other, then you wear a mask. But any other time, if you're vaccinated and you're outside, put aside your mask. You don't have to wear it.”

Following the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) giving their assent to the use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in 12-15-year-olds, the agency is now considering whether to permit two- to 11-year-olds, a CNN report detailed.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla confirmed Tuesday that, since receiving EUA for some children, the company “expect to have definitive readouts and submit for an EUA (emergency use authorization) for two cohorts, including children age 2-5 years of age and 5-11 years of age, in September” for their experimental mRNA vaccine. Bourla later added that a submission will be made within “the fourth quarter of 2021” for authorization to inject children from six months to two years.