The U.S. birth rate saw a slight <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fewer-babies-born-2022-teen-birth-rate-cdc-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decline</a> from 2021 to 2022 after a small uptick in births during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provisional report published Thursday. 
According to the Vital Statistics Rapid Release Program’s <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/vsrr028.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> of 99% of all birth certificates in 2022, there was a less than 1% decline in total births from 2021 to 2022, decreasing from 3,664,292 babies in 2021 to 3,661,220 in 2022. The data also noted that 2021 was the first year since 2014 that the U.S. birth rate had increased, while U.S. births dropped relatively significantly due to the pandemic, from 3,747,540 births in 2019 to 3,613,647 births in 2020.
The decline in birth rates is not an issue unique to the United States, as global fertility rates have declined by 50% in the past 70 years, with the U.S. at a 1.8 fertility rate — slightly <a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/charted-the-global-decline-of-fertility-rates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">below</a> the global average of 2.4. The nation&#8217;s fertility rate is still significantly better than many other developed countries such as Japan and Italy, with fertility rates at less than 1.25. 
The CDC report charted a continued rise in births from women in their early 40s and late 30s as well as a continued decline in teen births, which have declined a staggering 80% since 1991. Births among women aged 40-44 have not decreased since 1981, with 2020 being an exception due to COVID restrictions. This is a reflection of many families delaying having children. 
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2022 also marks the first year of the landmark Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Many experts initially predicted a spike in births, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-births-2022-pandemic-61da497183e03b80f236fa50720b26be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">estimating</a> that nearly 50% of pregnancies are unintentional, although this does not seem to be reflected in the CDC data, with further answers possible when the full report is released in several months.
Many conservatives contend that the decline in births is in part caused by the Western world losing touch with religious and cultural values, calling for a return to more traditional family structures.

Foot of newborn baby

U.S. Birth Rate In Decline Again As Post-COVID Rebound Subsides

Children

Focus on the Family

Health

U.S.

Florida Governor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sunny-hostin-slams-desantis-for-announcing-with-unpopular-elon-musk-her-own-producers-fact-check-her-on-the-air" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ron DeSantis</a> responded Thursday to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.&#8217;s <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/rfk-jr-says-ron-desantis-invited-him-to-breakfast-revealed-plan-to-burn-the-national-institutes-of-health-to-the-ground/ar-AA1b4pBl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claim</a> that he had advocated burning the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) &#8220;to the ground,&#8221; and he didn&#8217;t back down an inch.
DeSantis, who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/forget-the-internet-elon-musk-and-ron-desantis-broke-john-cusack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">officially announced his candidacy</a> for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday, made it clear that complete destruction of those particular institutions might be going too easy on them.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
MUST WATCH: Governor <a href="https://twitter.com/RonDeSantis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RonDeSantis</a> addresses reports that he said he hopes to “burn” the CDC and NIH “to the ground” <a href="https://t.co/aXwCNDHRJr">pic.twitter.com/aXwCNDHRJr</a>
&mdash; DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/DeSantisWarRoom/status/1661799202492481541?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“There was a report that — I had spoken with Bobby Kennedy Jr., and he had said that ‘the governor said that you know, that we need to burn to the ground the CDC’ and all these things,” DeSantis began.
“And I just want to be very clear, full disclosure,” DeSantis continued. “I was not that kind to CDC and NIH and any of those [agencies]. Just for the record, just so your viewers don’t think I’m going soft, but I can’t think of a more catastrophic response than how this country responded to COVID, particularly at the federal level.”
DeSantis went on to call out the CDC directly, along with former Coronavirus Task Force leader Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the FDA.
“And nothing has been done about it, to hold any of those folks accountable,” he said.
DeSantis, a longtime <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/if-i-had-my-druthers-ron-desantis-knows-exactly-what-hed-do-with-dr-anthony-fauci" target="_blank" rel="noopener">critic of Fauci</a> in particular, also took a swipe at former President Donald Trump and argued that by putting Fauci in charge, Trump bore some responsibility for the U.S. response to the pandemic.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
DeSantis on Trump Covid response: 
&quot;When he turned the country over to Fauci… that destroyed millions of people&#39;s lives.” <a href="https://t.co/wZipXzhJh9">pic.twitter.com/wZipXzhJh9</a>
&mdash; Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) <a href="https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1661805469177090048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“When he turned the country over to Fauci in March of 2020, that destroyed millions of people&#8217;s lives,” DeSantis said of Trump, saying that up to that point, he believed the former president had done a good job with regard to policy.
Once Fauci was allowed to influence policies such as shutting down schools and businesses, however, DeSantis argued that Florida had essentially stood alone in its efforts to keep things open.
&#8220;Florida, since COVID, has out-performed virtually any state in the country,&#8221; he said.

Desantis Iowa

Ron DeSantis Responds To RFK Jr. Claim He’d Burn CDC/NIH ‘To The Ground’

Ron DeSantis Responds To RFK Jr. Claim He'd Burn CDC/NIH To The Ground

2024 Election

Elections

Politics

Republican Primary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Ron DeSantis

With schools busy teaching everything LGBTQ+ nowadays, children are more confused than ever, a new study finds.
Google searches about sexual orientation and gender identity have soared 1,300% since 2004, according to an <a href="https://www.culturalcurrents.institute/insights/lgbtq-identity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> from the Cultural Currents Institute.
The queries on the search engine include questions such as “Am I gay?&#8221; “Am I lesbian?&#8221; and “Am I trans?&#8221; Other searches include the term “nonbinary,&#8221; the analysis found.
&#8220;The evolution of social attitudes around sexual orientation and gender identity over the last two decades has been profound — surprising even some of the foremost political consultants and public affairs practitioners who observe opinion in the space,&#8221; the institute wrote in its report.
&#8220;This shift in public conversation and awareness has, for many, given rise to questions about their own sexual and gender identity. Google Trends data from 2004 to 2023 presents a unique opportunity to explore this evolution from a novel angle, revealing a staggering 1300% increase in specific searches that may indicate that a user is questioning their sexual identity,&#8221; researchers said.
The analysis found that Utah, Iowa, Indiana, West Virginia, and New Hampshire are the top states for the query &#8220;Am I gay?&#8221; Utah, Connecticut, Kentucky, Washington, and Colorado were the top states for &#8220;Am I lesbian?&#8221;
“The regional differences highlighted below are significant, offering a geographical landscape of self-questioning and discovery across America,” the analysis says. “Utah, a state with traditionally conservative social values, surprisingly tops three out of five search term categories. This might indicate a significant underlying questioning of identity among its internet users, possibly driven by the conflict between personal feelings and societal expectations.”
The analysis mirrors the findings of a survey released last month by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
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The survey’s findings suggest nearly one in five U.S. high school students either identify as something other than heterosexual or are questioning their sexual identity. &#8220;A majority of students self-identified as heterosexual (77.5%); 13.2% self-identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual; and 9.3% self-identified as other or questioning,&#8221; the CDC’s Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/su/su7103a1.htm?s_cid=su7103a1_w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Survey</a> of more than 7,900 high schoolers found.
That study echoes <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/supplemental-mmwr/students_by_sexual_identity.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">another</a> from the CDC in 2021, which found that roughly one in four high school students identifies as homosexual, bisexual, or is questioning their sexuality. The CDC&#8217;s annual report of 17,232 students also said about three-quarters of teens ages 14-18 claimed to be attracted only to the opposite sex.
Teens today are being inundated about sexuality, with narratives moving away from binary to a broad spectrum. That has left many confused about their own sexuality.
And it&#8217;s only going to get worse.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

LGBTQ+

‘Am I Gay?’: Google Searches On Sexuality Skyrocket 1,300% In 19 Years, Analysis Finds

'Am I Gay?’: Google Searches On Sexuality Skyrocket 1,300% In 19 Years, Analysis Finds

LGBTQ

Schools

Social Issues

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/candace" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Candace Owens</a> will question the narrative on childhood vaccinations in her new show “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/a-shot-in-the-dark" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Shot in the Dark</a>,” where she will discuss the medical establishment’s push to give children dozens of shots before they turn 18. 
In “A Shot in the Dark,” Owens takes a non-political approach and uses mainstream sources to inform parents about vaccine ingredients, schedules, and the listed potential side effects while asking basic questions that she says doctors often ignore. The show will be available on <a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus?utm_campaign=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=paid&amp;utm_source=googlesearch&amp;utm_content=na_subscriptions&amp;mid=g&amp;cid=dailywire&amp;xid=0&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw3ueiBhBmEiwA4BhspK-KAKdVqiX1kGPv2GF22RDn3hLI-i_gVONg5pqLWdniRagJqgJoCBoC330QAvD_BwE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DailyWire+</a>. The first three episodes will be free for everyone beginning on Thursday, and new episodes will release weekly, with the first three episodes also available on YouTube.     
“I am not going to try to convince you not to vaccinate your children,” Owens said. “That is not what I am being tasked with. It is not what is in my heart or soul to do. What I want to give you instead is information.”
Owens points out the conflicting claims regarding vaccine safety from the FDA and CDC, federal agencies that encourage parents to have vaccines administered to their newborns. In episode 1, Owens dives into the history of childhood vaccines, looking at how the number of vaccines and doses dramatically increased beginning in the mid-1980s after children first started receiving shots in the 1960s. She also questions the narrative that vaccines are making people healthier and shares her own traumatic story after receiving the Gardasil HPV vaccine. 
“The slur of calling somebody an anti-vaxxer has been tremendously effective throughout my lifetime, and I thought it was the crazy, crunchy people who wanted their children to die that didn&#8217;t vaccinate their children,” Owens said. “But … your life experiences transform you. And I had a life experience that transformed me in the form of me being vax injured.”
Episodes 2 and 3 focus on the Vitamin K shot, where Owens shows that it’s more than “just a vitamin,” and male infant circumcision, where she questions the idea that circumcising newborns is more sanitary.   
“I want to use CDC data,” she added. “I want to take a look at the FDA inserts when I talk about what can happen if you give your child a vaccine. These are things that the pediatrician does not supply you with, which should be astounding to you.”
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New episodes of “A Shot in the Dark” will release every Thursday, and will be available exclusively for <a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus?utm_campaign=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=paid&amp;utm_source=googlesearch&amp;utm_content=na_subscriptions&amp;mid=g&amp;cid=dailywire&amp;xid=0&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw3ueiBhBmEiwA4BhspK-KAKdVqiX1kGPv2GF22RDn3hLI-i_gVONg5pqLWdniRagJqgJoCBoC330QAvD_BwE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DailyWire+ members</a> after the third installment.

Candace Owens/A Shot in the Dark

Candace Examines Mainstream Narrative On Childhood Vaccines In New Show ‘A Shot In The Dark’

Candace Owens

Vaccines

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/dr-rochelle-walensky" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rochelle Walensky</a>, the director of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cdc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, is slated to leave the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/health" target="_blank" rel="noopener">public health</a> agency at the end of next month.
The official assumed office on the day President <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/biden-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joe Biden</a> was inaugurated and played a central role in the administration’s response to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/covid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">COVID</a>, which involved the continued nationwide rollout of vaccines and a controversial <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/vaccine-mandate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">requirement</a> that federal workers receive the inoculation. She previously served as chief of the infectious diseases division at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School.
“The end of the COVID-19 public health emergency marks a tremendous transition for our country, for public health, and in my tenure as CDC Director,” Walensky said in a Friday <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2023/p0505-walensky.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>. “I took on this role, at your request, with the goal of leaving behind the dark days of the pandemic and moving CDC, and public health, forward into a much better and more trusted place.”
Walensky will cease her official duties on June 30. Biden lauded her work at the public health agency in a separate <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/05/05/statement-from-president-biden-on-dr-rochelle-walensky/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> from the White House.
“As Director of the CDC, she led a complex organization on the frontlines of a once-in-a-generation pandemic with honesty and integrity. She marshalled our finest scientists and public health experts to turn the tide on the urgent crises we’ve faced,” the commander-in-chief said. “Dr. Walensky leaves CDC a stronger institution, better positioned to confront health threats and protect Americans. We have all benefited from her service and dedication to public health, and I wish her the best in her next chapter.”
Beyond the federal vaccine mandate, which was officially <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/05/01/the-biden-administration-will-end-covid-19-vaccination-requirements-for-federal-employees-contractors-international-travelers-head-start-educators-and-cms-certified-facilities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nixed</a> earlier this week, the Biden administration attempted to impose vaccine requirements on private employers through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, an emergency order which the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/one-year-after-supreme-court-struck-down-covid-vax-mandate-freedom-flourishes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">overturned</a> last year after The Daily Wire filed a federal lawsuit.
Walensky meanwhile garnered controversy for providing teachers union officials “unprecedented access” to view and shape COVID response guidelines, a privilege that the unions leveraged to implement a “trigger” provision that would cause schools to automatically close should COVID test positivity rates reach certain thresholds, according to a <a href="https://republicans-oversight.house.gov/release/investigation-reveals-bidens-cdc-bypassed-scientific-norms-to-allow-teachers-union-to-re-write-official-guidance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.
Kelly Tratner, the senior director for health issues at the American Federation of Teachers, suggested the “trigger” provision to Walensky in an email that she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-administration-gave-teachers-union-unprecedented-access-to-shape-national-covid-19-guidelines-report-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forwarded</a> to a fellow CDC administrator. The suggestion was included in a guidance published on the following day.
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Walensky <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ben-shapiro-warns-cdc-has-a-bigger-motive-behind-its-shake-up" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admitted</a> last year that the CDC made mistakes in its COVID response and called for a “reset” that would include staffing changes and faster data releases. She contended that the agency should create a “new office to promote equity in healthcare” and develop a “more nimble workforce that can quickly respond to public health crises.”
Critics of the federal response to COVID assert that inconsistent guidance from senior officials eroded trust in the government’s public health agencies. Anthony Fauci, who retired from his longtime role as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the end of last year, earned a special degree of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/fauci-unmasked" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticism</a> for his various recommendations regarding business closures, face masks, and vaccine boosters.

Rochelle Walensky

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky Announces Departure From Public Health Agency

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky To Leave The Agency

Biden Administration

COVID

Dr. Rochelle Walensky

Vaccine Mandate

Nearly 60 years after scientists tried and disastrously failed to develop a vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the Food and Drug Administration has approved the first-ever <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pfizer-seeks-fda-approval-of-first-vaccine-to-protect-infants-by-injecting-pregnant-mothers-late-stage-trial-failed-to-meet-one-of-two-goals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RSV shot</a>.
On Wednesday, the FDA gave a thumbs-up to Arexvy, the RSV vaccine developed by British pharmaceutical company GSK, which is intended for those 60 years old and up. The vaccine is a single shot and could be available for seniors as soon as the fall, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/03/health/first-rsv-vaccine-approved/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
“Today’s approval of the first RSV vaccine is an important public health achievement to prevent a disease which can be life-threatening and reflects the FDA’s continued commitment to facilitating the development of safe and effective vaccines for use in the United States,” <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv-vaccine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
RSV attacks the lungs and breathing passages, and can cause pneumonia and bronchitis in older adults, according to the FDA. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that up to 10,000 people aged 65 and older in the U.S. die after contracting RSV each year.
“Older adults, in particular those with underlying health conditions, such as heart or lung disease or weakened immune systems, are at high risk for severe disease caused by RSV,” Marks said.
RSV also poses a higher risk to infants with between 100-300 babies dying in the U.S. from the virus each year. Along with the new RSV shot for older adults, the FDA is also currently considering granting approval to a first-of-its-kind Pfizer vaccine that is administered to expectant mothers during the second half of their pregnancy to protect infants against RSV.
According to the late-stage <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pfizer-seeks-fda-approval-of-first-vaccine-to-protect-infants-by-injecting-pregnant-mothers-late-stage-trial-failed-to-meet-one-of-two-goals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trial data</a>, Pfizer’s experimental vaccine was 82% effective in preventing severe cases of the potentially deadly virus in infants 90 days after birth, but that dropped to 69% efficacy in preventing severe infections up to 180 days after a baby is born. The Pfizer shot also failed to meet its second goal of reducing non-severe illness in newborns, Reuters reported.
The FDA’s approval of the GSK vaccine comes after nearly six decades of attempts at developing a shot for RSV.
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The first try at producing an RSV vaccine in the late 1960s ended in disaster when two children died and many were hospitalized with severe RSV after taking the experimental vaccines, according to CNN. During the trial, 80% of the vaccinated children were hospitalized compared to only 5% who got the placebo. The tragedy forced researchers to put a pause on developing an RSV vaccine.
After eight years of study, researchers at Johns Hopkins University revealed <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-rsv-shot/research-shows-why-1960s-rsv-shot-sickened-children-idUSTRE4BM4SH20081223" target="_blank" rel="noopener">findings</a> in 2008 that showed the late 1960s RSV vaccine trial failed because children’s antibodies were not binding to the inactivated virus strongly enough, Reuters reported. The antibodies, instead, were pulling the dead virus with them, causing the immune system to respond with a massive attack.
Now, scientists have high hopes for the rollout of RSV vaccines. An international study on the GSK vaccine looked at 25,000 people 65 and older and found that one dose of the vaccine was nearly 83% effective at preventing lung infections that stem from RSV, the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/rsv-vaccine-respiratory-virus-60a8b859c692a593b652f68ff25738be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The trial data also showed that the risk of severe infections was reduced by 94%.
Pfizer also has a vaccine for older adults similar to Arexvy that the FDA is currently considering approval for.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus

FDA Approves First-Ever RSV Vax Nearly 60 Years After Disastrous Experimental Shot

Disease

World

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/teachers-unions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Federation of Teachers</a> President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/randi-weingarten" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Randi Weingarten</a> contended that her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/unions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">union</a> neither extended the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/school-lockdowns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lockdowns</a> which shuttered government schools for several months nor improperly helped the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cdc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CDC</a> draft their pandemic response policies.
Weingarten, who is scheduled to testify on Wednesday before members of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic about her organization’s conduct amid the pandemic, said in prepared <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Prepared-Statement-of-AFT-President-Randi-Weingarten.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remarks</a> that the entire hearing is based on a “faulty” and “patently false” assertion that the union wielded its influence with Democrats to keep schools closed even after data indicated that young children were at <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/only-2-of-childrens-deaths-were-from-covid-and-school-closures-didnt-reduce-the-number" target="_blank" rel="noopener">minimal</a> risk from COVID.
“Even before COVID-19, we knew that kids learn best in person, and that remote, hybrid and simultaneous instruction are not adequate substitutes,” she told lawmakers. “Being in school is essential to children’s academic, social and emotional well-being. We know this not as a matter for study or the grist for a congressional investigation. We know this because we live it every day.”
Weingarten claimed that the AFT “acted quickly” to implement “science-based measures needed to resume in-person schooling safely.” The union, however, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/five-cities-where-teachers-unions-are-keeping-schools-shutdown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">threatened</a> a strike days ahead of a planned reopening of District of Columbia Public Schools in February 2021, even as Weingarten insisted that her organization was “not trying to stand in the way of reopening.” As late as July 2021, Weingarten <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-claims-schools-reopened-in-spite-of-republicans-here-are-several-videos-of-democrats-defending-closed-schools" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remained</a> cagey on school lockdowns and insisted that increasing vaccination rates was necessary to “keep kids safe” and “keep our members safe.”
She instead blamed former President Donald Trump, former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, suggesting that those officials were responsible for school closures in her Wednesday remarks because they did not implement the health measures the AFT deemed necessary.
“We knew that the safety protocols we advocated for were not an obstacle to reopening schools, as some officials claimed at the time,” she continued. “Health and safety protocols were the pathway for students and staff to get back to school and stay in school and to create trust throughout the school community.”
Weingarten additionally claimed that polls now show parents believe “schools acted appropriately in pivoting to remote and hybrid learning and back to in-person learning.” The school lockdowns, however, drove unprecedented learning loss among children who attended government schools: average reading scores <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nations-report-card-indicates-worst-decline-in-math-and-reading-scores-in-decades" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plummeted</a> five points and average mathematics scores dropped seven points among 9-year-olds who took the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Parents have since responded to disruptions in the nation’s education system, which also included the spread of radical gender theory and other Left-wing ideologies, over the past three years by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/is-the-right-to-homeschooling-under-attack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">homeschooling</a> their children at record levels, a phenomenon which Weingarten <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/extremist-scheme-teachers-union-boss-blasts-education-reforms-homeschooling" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> an “extremist scheme” to “erode trust in public schools by stoking fear and division.”
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The AFT also provoked controversy after House Republicans <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-administration-gave-teachers-union-unprecedented-access-to-shape-national-covid-19-guidelines-report-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> that the CDC offered Weingarten and other union officials “unprecedented access” to view and shape pandemic response guidelines, a privilege that the officials reportedly used to implement a “trigger” provision that would cause schools to automatically close should COVID test positivity rates reach certain thresholds. Weingarten claimed on Wednesday that the involvement of the AFT in crafting public health policies was “completely fitting and proper” since the CDC should be expected to “consult with education groups.”
“Not surprisingly, the CDC would want to consult with the leadership of the country’s largest teachers union to consider our insights, expertise and suggestions on a strategy that would directly affect our membership in matters of life and death,” she asserted. “AFT leadership was keenly aware of the hopes and fears of our members, whose trust and acceptance were necessary for the success of any operational strategy.”

Randi Weingarten

Teacher Union Boss Randi Weingarten Denies Group Delayed School Openings Or Wrongly Meddled With CDC Guidelines

Teacher Union Boss Denies Group Delayed School Openings Or Meddled With CDC Guidelines

Education

School Lockdowns

Teachers Unions

Unions

The Norfolk Southern 100-car train derailment and subsequent toxic chemical fallout in East Palestine, Ohio, caused nearly half of the U.S. government investigators to experience symptoms of illness while studying the health impacts, authorities said.
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/31/health/ohio-train-derailment-cdc-team-symptoms/index.html">CNN</a> last week that seven of the 15-member crew, which included members of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, began feeling symptoms while surveying town residents&#8217; homes near the contaminated areas.
&#8220;Symptoms resolved for most team members later the same afternoon, and everyone resumed work on survey data collection within 24 hours,&#8221; a CDC spokesperson told the network. &#8220;Impacted team members have not reported ongoing health effects.&#8221;
Local and state authorities previously evacuated all residents within one mile of the February 3 derailment and started a controlled burn of substances on the vehicle. Five of those train cars emitted vinyl chloride, a human carcinogen used to manufacture PVC, and formed massive plumes of black smoke visible throughout eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Residents have since raised the alarm over health symptoms they experienced after the controlled burn.
Before working from their hotels, some group members began experiencing sore throats, headaches, coughing, and nausea, which mirrored the symptoms reported by many of the town&#8217;s residents near the derailment site.
Federal officials did not disclose what caused investigators to experience such symptoms.
Two contractors from the Environmental Protection Agency out of 100 personnel working on the derailment also reported health symptoms after working in areas where the chemicals created strong odors.
The Ohio Department of Health published the results of <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/OHIOGOVERNOR/bulletins/34c4146?reqfrom=share">surveys</a> conducted at its East Palestine Health Assessment Clinic, plus door-to-door visits by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, four weeks after the chemical catastrophe permeated the town&#8217;s atmosphere.
The results showed more than half of the 168 After Chemical Exposure (ACE) community surveys reported headaches, anxiety, coughing, fatigue, and irritated skin after the derailment. However, the surveys did not indicate if the residents were exposed to harmful levels of chemicals or what caused their symptoms.
EPA officials, along with the Justice Department, announced a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/doj-epa-unveil-lawsuit-against-norfolk-southern-over-east-palestine-train-crash">lawsuit</a> on Friday against Norfolk Southern, seeking &#8220;penalties and injunctive relief for the unlawful discharge of pollutants, oil, and hazardous substances&#8221; under the Clean Water Act, as well as &#8220;declaratory judgment on liability for past and future costs&#8221; related to the incident under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.
The complaint from the EPA and Justice Department said materials released from the train cars, such as vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, Ethylhexyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, isobutylene, and benzene residue, have been &#8220;associated variously&#8221; with impaired fetal development, organ damage, cancers, and other health conditions with a sufficiently high degree of exposure. Yet, state and federal officials have repeatedly claimed that the air and water supplies in East Palestine are safe for residents.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw testified before Congress earlier this month regarding the derailment but made no specific promises regarding the firm&#8217;s commitment to handling economic and health fallout into the future.
Ben Zeisloft contributed to this report.

US-TRANSPORT-ACCIDENT-FIRE

Half Of U.S. Investigators Fell Ill While Studying East Palestine Train Derailment: Report

Half Of U.S. Investigators Fell Ill Studying East Palestine Train Derailment: Report

Disasters

East Palestine

Norfolk Southern

Ohio Train Disaster

So I was reading the transcript from former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield&#8217;s testimony from earlier this month before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (yes, this is what I do in my spare time).
And I gotta&#8217; say, I missed something kinda&#8217; big. The headlines that came that day from the ex-CDC Chief focused on Dr. Anthony Fauci, who Redfield said &#8220;sidelined&#8221; anyone who dared question him on the origin of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.
But the doctor also said something fascinating about the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, where scientists were reportedly doing gain-of-function work on coronaviruses — partly funded by U.S. taxpayers at the behest of Fauci.
&#8220;In September of 2019, three things happened in that lab,&#8221; Redfield said in the hearing. &#8220;One is they deleted the sequences. Was highly irregular. Researchers don&#8217;t usually like to do that. Second thing they did was they changed the command and control at the lab from the civilian control to the military control. Highly unusual — and I&#8217;ve been involved in dual-use labs when I was in the military.&#8221;
&#8220;And the third thing they did, which I think is really telling, is they let a contractor redo the ventilation system in that laboratory. So I think, clearly, there was strong evidence that there was a significant event that happened in that laboratory in September,&#8221; the doctor said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Dr. Robert Redfield, the former CDC Director, talks about three suspicious events that took place at the Wuhan lab in September 2019:
&quot;In Sept. 2019, three things happened in that lab. One is they deleted the sequences. Highly irregular, researchers don&#39;t like to do that. The… <a href="https://t.co/nIT5b96AbE">pic.twitter.com/nIT5b96AbE</a>
&mdash; kanekoa.substack.com (@KanekoaTheGreat) <a href="https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/1633499775734788096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 8, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
That&#8217;s not at all what Fauci said. For years, the nation&#8217;s top immunologist asserted that the virus appeared naturally, mutating from animals to infect humans.
In April 2020, Fauci cited a study that found the virus’s mutations are “consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.”
“There was a study recently,” Fauci told reporters on April 17, 2020, when asked if it was possible that virus came from a Chinese lab, “where a group of highly qualified evolutionary virologists looked at the sequences … in bats as they evolve and the mutations that it took to get to the point where it is now is totally consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.
“So, the paper will be available. I don’t have the authors right now, but we can make it available to you,&#8221; Fauci said.
But then, earlier this month, emails revealed by House Republicans showed a completely different story.
The emails showed Fauci &#8220;prompted&#8221; that very study to disprove the theory that the virus leaked from the lab in Wuhan, China. In fact, he had final approval of the scientific paper he had commissioned.
That paper, entitled “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2,” was delivered to Fauci for final approval before it was published in Nature Medicine on February 17, 2020.
The paper &#8220;was written four days after Fauci, and his NIH boss Francis Collins, held a call with the four authors to discuss reports that COVID-19 may have leaked from the Wuhan lab and &#8216;may have been intentionally genetically manipulated,'&#8221; the Post wrote.
The House Oversight subcommittee examining COVID released emails earlier this month that show the paper’s co-author, Dr. Kristian Andersen, said Fauci &#8220;prompted&#8221; him to write the paper with the specific goal to “disprove” the lab-leak theory, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fauci-knew-new-emails-show-he-prompted-paper-to-shoot-down-wuhan-lab-leak-theory-of-covid-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
During the House Select Subcommittee this month, Redfield also said Fauci actively sought to exclude or silence anyone who failed to embrace his chosen narrative. He claimed Fauci intentionally excluded him from conversations because he refused to fall in line.
“This was an a priori decision that there’s one point of view that we’re going to put out there, and anyone who doesn’t agree with it is going to be sidelined. And as I say, I was only the CDC director, and I was sidelined,” Redfield said.
Wait for the next shoe to fall. It all still doesn&#8217;t add up.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

Wuhan Lab

Ex-CDC Head Finally Says What We’ve All Known Forever About The Source Of COVID-19

Ex-CDC Head Finally Says What We've All Known Forever About The Source Of COVID-19

Robert Redfield

Wuhan Institute of Virology

Three people have died and four people have had eyeballs removed after using eyedrops linked to a drug-resistant bacterial disease.
This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an update in the wake of four eyedrops recalled by their manufacturers, two of which have been directly linked to Pseudomonas aeruginosa: EzriCare Artificial Tears and Delsam Pharma’s Artificial Tears. Eight other cases of vision loss have been reported.
The CDC issued a <a href="https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/2023/han00485.asp?ACSTrackingID=USCDC_511-DM98842&amp;ACSTrackingLabel=HAN%20485%20-%20General%20Public&amp;deliveryName=USCDC_511-DM98842" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recommendation</a> to health care providers on February 1, saying, “Immediately discontinue using EzriCare Artificial Tears pending additional guidance from CDC and FDA. Advise patients who used EzriCare Artificial Tears to monitor for signs and symptoms of infection. Perform culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing when clinically indicated.”
The same day, EzriCare <a href="https://ezricare-info.com/">issued a statement</a> that they had “first received notice of the CDC&#8217;s ongoing investigation into a multistate cluster of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections on January 20, 2023. As of today, we are not aware of any testing that definitively links the Pseudomonas aeruginosa outbreak to EzriCare Artificial Tears. Nonetheless, we immediately took action to stop any further distribution or sale of EzriCare Artificial Tears.”
“If it is truly bacterial, a direct eye exam will determine it, since there are certain clinical features we can see that would suggest bacteria and the degree of infection,” Phoenix’s Mayo Clinic ophthalmologist Dave Patel explained to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/03/23/eyedrop-recall-2023-pseudomonas-aeruginosa-infection/?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=wp_main&amp;utm_source=twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Washington Post</a>.
As of March 14, 2023, the CDC <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/hai/outbreaks/crpa-artificial-tears.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">identified</a> 68 patients suffering from VIM-GES-CRPA, a rare strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, between May 2022 and February 2023, in 16 states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.
“Patients should stop using EzriCare or Delsam Pharma’s Artificial Tears pending additional information and guidance from CDC and FDA,” the CDC warned. “Patients who have used EzriCare or Delsam Pharma’s artificial tears and who have signs or symptoms of an eye infection should seek medical care immediately.”
Symptoms for concern include, according to the CDC:
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li>Yellow, green, or clear discharge from the eye</li>
<li>Eye pain or discomfort</li>
<li>Redness of the eye or eyelid</li>
<li>Feeling of something in your eye (foreign body sensation)</li>
<li>Increased sensitivity to light</li>
<li>Blurry vision</li>
</ul>
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Elizabeth Connick, professor of medicine and immunobiology at the University of Arizona, said of Pseudomonas aeruginosa that it “secretes proteins that can destroy the clear tissue at the front of the eye — the cornea — and allows it to invade the eye. It can impair vision or even blind someone.”
Robert T. Schooley, professor of medicine at the University of California at San Diego, said that when eye drops become contaminated, “the concentration of bacteria — or viruses, or fungi — in the product can be extremely high and overwhelm local immune responses, even when people are not overtly immune compromised.”

CVS Pharmacy, eye care products display

CDC Issues Alert After 3 People Die, 4 Have Eyeballs Removed After Using Eyedrops

Bacteria

Eyedrops

Former CDC Director <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/former-cdc-director-says-american-tax-dollars-funded-research-at-wuhan-lab-that-created-covid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Robert Redfield</a> said on Wednesday that Dr. Anthony Fauci actively sought to exclude or silence anyone who failed to embrace his chosen narrative on the <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/see-it-jim-jordan-goes-on-tear-against-dr-anthony-fauci-over-covid-origins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pandemic&#8217;s origins</a>.
During a hearing before the House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Redfield claimed that Fauci — who served as the head of former President Donald Trump&#8217;s Coronavirus Response Team before taking on the role of chief medical adviser in President Joe Biden&#8217;s White House — had intentionally excluded him from conversations because he refused to fall in line.
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.c-span.org/video/standalone/?c5060834/user-clip-oversight-chair-james-comer-fauci-collins-got-caught-hands-cookie-jar" width="512" height="330" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
&#8220;This was an a priori decision that there’s one point of view that we’re going to put out there, and anyone who doesn’t agree with it is going to be sidelined. And as I say, I was only the CDC director, and I was sidelined,&#8221; Redfield asserted during the hearing.
The former CDC director, a virologist himself, said that he was vocal even in January of 2020 about his suspicions that the novel coronavirus had likely originated in a lab. &#8220;I think I made it very clear in January [2020] to all of them why we had to aggressively pursue this. And I let them know as a virologist that I didn’t see that this was anything like SARS or MERS. … And they knew that was how I was thinking,&#8221; he explained — and he said that it was not long afterward that Fauci began working to exclude him from the conversation.
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Redfield went on to detail a conference call that took place on February 2, 2020 — one that included both Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins, then head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and that he was not invited to join and did not learn about until a Freedom of Information Act request resulted in the publication of emails pertaining to the call.
&#8220;I didn’t know there was a February 1 conference call until the Freedom of Information came out with the emails, and I was quite upset, as the CDC director, that I was excluded from those discussions,&#8221; Redfield said.
Congressman James Comer (R-KY) pressed Redfield for details, asking, &#8220;Why would they do this?&#8221;
&#8220;Because I had a different point of view. And I was told that they had made a decision that they would keep this confidential until they came up with a single narrative — which I will argue is antithetical to science,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;Science never selects a single narrative. We foster — as my colleagues just said — we foster debate. And we’re confident that with debate, science will eventually get to the truth.&#8221;

House Select Subcommittee On The Coronavirus Pandemic Investigates The Origins Of COVID-19

‘Antithetical To Science’: Ex-CDC Chief Says Fauci ‘Sidelined’ Anyone Who Dared Question Him On COVID

Ex-CDC Chief Robert Redfield Says Fauci Intentionally 'Sidelined' Anyone Who Dared Question Him On COVID

Anthony Fauci

Former U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Robert Redfield said Wednesday that American tax dollars funded gain of function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology that created COVID.
Speaking to the House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Redfield doubled down on his history of disputing the collective narrative that COVID transmitted from a bat to a human and further testified that scientific research indicates that one of the most infectious viruses that impacted nearly seven million lives globally likely leaked from the Chinese Communist Party run-lab in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
After members of the subcommittee raised concerns about the origins of COVID, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) questioned the likelihood of American tax dollars funding the gain of function research that created the virus.
&#8220;I think it did,&#8221; Redfield said. &#8220;Not only from [National Institute of Health] but from the State Department, USAID, and from [Department of Defense].&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Dr. Robert Redfield: &quot;There&#39;s No Doubt That NIH Funded Gain-of-Function Research&quot;
Ms. Malliotakis: &quot;Is it likely that American tax dollars funded the gain-of-function research that created this virus?&quot;
Dr. Redfield: &quot;I think it did — not only from NIH but from the State… <a href="https://t.co/zLrT8CjFCZ">https://t.co/zLrT8CjFCZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/OqsTsb1hFg">pic.twitter.com/OqsTsb1hFg</a>
&mdash; The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) <a href="https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1633491748893728768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 8, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
House Republicans scheduled the hearing after U.S. Energy Department officials revised a document that judged with &#8220;low confidence&#8221; that the virus had leaked from a Chinese laboratory.
New classified intelligence recently provided to the White House and key members of Congress showed Energy Department officials shifted their assessment of the pandemic&#8217;s origins in an updated 2021 report by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines&#8217;s office.
The updated classified report also affirms the view that COVID did not stem from a biological weapons program. A lack of a definitive animal source has led researchers and U.S. officials to suspect a leak from Wuhan&#8217;s assemblage of laboratories.
The subcommittee also pushed a new memo Sunday claiming new evidence suggests National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci &#8220;prompted the drafting&#8221; of &#8220;Proximal Origin&#8221; to disprove the lab leak theory, which Redfield dismissed as an &#8220;inaccurate paper&#8221; created to rally behind a constructed narrative the virus&#8217; genesis emerged from a wet market in Wuhan.
The evidence reviewed by the GOP-led Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic members shows Fauci and at least 12 other scientists, including former National Institute of Health director Dr. Francis Collins, were first warned the virus possibly leaked from a lab in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on a conference call during the early days of the pandemic.
Redfield said he believes Fauci and Collins intentionally excluded him from conference calls with other health officials to discuss the virus&#8217;s origins.
&#8220;I was quite upset as the CDC director that I was excluded in those discussions,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Why would they do this? Because I had a different point of view, and I was told they made a decision that they would keep this confidential.&#8221;
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Fauci dismissed Redfield&#8217;s accusation to Politico as &#8220;completely untrue.&#8221;
&#8220;No one excluded anyone,&#8221; he told POLITICO after the hearing, which he did not attend. &#8220;And the idea of saying that he was not wanted there because he had a different opinion … there were several people on the call who had the opinion that it might have been an engineered virus.&#8221;
Former President Donald Trump appointed Dr. Redfield as the CDC director in 2018 until stepping down from the position in 2021 when President Joe Biden ushered in a new administration.

Former CDC Director Says American Tax Dollars Funded Research At Wuhan Lab That Created COVID

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