EDITOR’S NOTE: Laura Bono, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) executive director, and Brian Hooker, CHD chief scientific officer, stood in this week for Mary Holland.

This week, Laura Bono, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) executive director, Polly Tommey, co-producer of “Vaxxed” and Brian Hooker, CHD chief scientific officer, cover the latest COVID headlines, including news that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could approve COVID vaccines for children ages 5-11 by this fall, and that the Pfizer vaccine could be given to babies as young as 6 months in the U.S. this winter.

Also on tap this week is news that Cuba will start administering COVID vaccinations to children as young as 2, and a story about how lawyers for youth and families are pushing back against a new policy that allows foster care and juvenile justice homes to give vaccines to 16- and 17-year-olds, despite parents’ objections.

Polly, Laura and Brian also discuss an article in The Defender noting that FDA officials said that based on their analysis of data submitted by Pfizer and BioNTech, they could not yet take a stance on whether to recommend COVID boosters for the general public.

Here are more of this week’s highlights:

  • Healthcare staff at UK schools can decide whether children get a COVID vaccine against the wishes of their parents, according to new government guidelines. “I hope this is a wake-up call to people in America,” said Laura. “Everyone has to rise up.”
  • Head teachers in the UK have been threatened with legal action if they take an active part in the COVID-vaccination program. One widely circulated letter from Lawyers for Liberty states that “if a parent communicates to you that their child will not be included in the vaccination program or does not provide consent, then that decision must be respected.”
  • The Italian government has approved a decree mandating all public and private sector workers to show proof of vaccination, a negative COVID test or recent recovery from infection.
  • 3,000 healthcare workers in France were suspended for not getting a COVID vaccination. “You think that could never happen here [in the United States]? It’s already happening here,” said Brian.
  • The team discussed religious exemptions. When people say they are motivated by conscience, employers and the government have no choice but to take their word for it. “I love this Bloomberg article,” said Laura. “Everyone needs to read it.”
  • Religious exemptions are becoming an issue for some. Angelina Payette and other students are being kicked out of educational institutions for declining the vaccination.
  • Experts say  the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)  is manipulating data and ignoring the long-standing science of natural immunity, despite mounting evidence supporting it over vaccine immunity. “This needs to be trumpeted far and wide,” said Brian.
  • The CDC estimates SARS-CoV-2 has infected more than 100 million Americans, and evidence is mounting that natural immunity is at least as protective as vaccination. Yet public health leadership says everyone needs the vaccine. “Another brilliant article,” said Polly.
  • Nina Pierpoint, M.D., Ph.D., analyzed studies published in August 2021 which she said prove the Delta variant is evading the available COVID vaccines, leading her to conclude herd immunity to COVID cannot be achieved through vaccination.
  • In an article in the Daily Mail, British politician Matt Hancock shares his strong opinion on “dangerous” and “blinkered” “anti-vaxxers.”
  • According to ABC News, experts say most adults, regardless of their health conditions, can and should get the COVID vaccine.
  • 125 employees from Indiana University Health were terminated after choosing not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. “These people need to be made positive examples of,” said Brian. “If you have been terminated, you are my hero.”
  • A champion show jumper, aged 22, may never ride a horse again after two massive clots formed on her lungs in a reaction to the Moderna COVID vaccine. The clots formed two weeks after she was jabbed and could have been triggered by the vaccine alongside five years on the combined contraceptive pill.
  • What if you could replace your shot with a salad? Researchers at the University of California-Riverside are creating a way to grow edible plants that carry the same medication as an mRNA vaccine. “This is absolutely scary,” said Laura.
  • The UK’s National Health Service  approved a new cholesterol-reducing “gene silencing” injection that will be provided to 300,000 people throughout the next three years. The new “gene silencing” therapeutic uses mRNA technology to reduce cholesterol levels.
  • Pesticide exposure during pregnancy has implications for the health of both mother and child. Studies indicate prenatal and early-life exposure to environmental toxicants increases susceptibility to diseases, from learning and developmental disabilities to cancer. “It is chilling,” said Brian. “It does show that pesticides are being transferred through the cord blood and through the placenta, and are causing fetal damage linked to neurodevelopmental disorders.”
  • According to a new national poll, 48% of Americans say they disapprove of President Biden’s push to mandate COVID vaccinations for up to 100 million American workers.
  • A City Journal opinion piece discussed the unconstitutional nature of Biden’s vaccine mandates.
  • Arizona became the first state to sue the Biden administration over COVID vaccine mandates. “This is why it’s so important to fight,” said Brian.
  • More than  39,000 readers flooded an ABC affiliate’s Facebook page with shocking “horror stories” of death and vaccine injury following a COVID-19 vaccination.
  • CHD filed an amended motion as a follow up to its lawsuit against the FDA for simultaneously approving and authorizing Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in a deceitful “bait and switch.”
  • The Northern District Court of New York granted a temporary restraining order against the state’s attempt to remove religious exemptions from COVID shot mandates for the state’s healthcare workers.
  • Double your impact! Make a donation to CHD by midnight Oct. 31, and a generous benefactor will match your donation — and all donations, up to $1 million.

Watch “This Week” with Mary + Polly: