Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Bad Faith Fact Checking

In multiple attempts by “fact-checkers” to debunk the claim that Denmark effectively banned the Covid mRNA vaccines for those under 18 years of age without a doctor’s recommendation, a certain type of semantic tightrope walking has been employed. You see it’s not technically an outright ban we are told.

Here is the Reuters attempt to “debunk” the claim that Denmark has now shifted to restricting the distribution of the Covid vaccine prototypes, by quoting the Danish government’s update to vaccine policy which says exactly that [all boldface emphases that follow are mine]:
The reference to a ban is misleading. In June, the Danish government said it had completed its seasonal vaccination programme and had decided to make some changes to the upcoming autumn/winter season.
    “From 1 July, 2022, it will no longer be possible for children and youngsters under the age of 18 to receive the 1st jab, and from 1 September, 2022, it will no longer be possible to receive the 2nd jab,” the Danish Health Authority said. The change was because children and young people rarely suffer severe outcomes of the Omicron variant, it said.
    The authority said that some children with an increased risk would still be eligible for vaccination, after an assessment from a doctor….
    When contacted by Reuters, the Danish Health Authority pointed to further guidance on the autumn/winter seasonal plan for vaccination roll-outs and highlighted one quote that said: “Children and adolescents only very rarely have a serious course of illness due to COVID-19 with the Omicron variant, which is why the offer of primary vaccination for children between five and 17 years will not be a general offer, but can be given after a specific medical assessment”….
    VERDICT
    Missing context. Denmark has not introduced an outright ban on COVID-19 vaccines for children. While the rollout is being scaled back for the majority of children, vaccines will be available for those at higher risk of severe COVID-19.
And here is the Associated Press “fact checkers” attempting the same manipulation:
CLAIM: Denmark has banned COVID-19 vaccines for children.
    AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The Danish Health Authority will no longer recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for those under the age of 18, but it hasn’t placed an overall ban on the shots for that age group. Children and youths who are at risk of developing a severe case of COVID-19 can still receive the vaccine in Denmark if recommended by a doctor, the agency said….
    Denmark’s guidance around COVID-19 vaccines for the fall and winter for children is only being modified.
    The agency’s vaccine program states that since children and young people “very rarely become seriously ill” from the COVID-19 omicron variant, from July 1, those under the age of 18 will no longer receive the first dose. Starting Sept. 1, youths will no longer get the second dose although those who are at risk of developing serious illness can still get the vaccine after a medical assessment.
    “The Danish Health Authority does not currently plan on recommending vaccination to persons under the age of 18 as a group,” Lotte Bælum, a spokesperson for the agency, told The Associated Press in an email. “Children and young people who are at increased risk of a serious course of covid-19 will continue to have the option of vaccination after individual assessment.”
You may now commence eye-rolling.
    Whatever they want to call it––a ban, a modification, an adjustment, a change in recommendation, new restrictions––the prudent issue to address here would be why this modification is being made in the first place.
    Despite what “experts" have been saying about Covid-19 and the new Covid mRNA vaccines, the data now clearly show that Covid is not a threat to most young people; that the risk of myocarditis from vaccination is higher for young people, and even higher than the risk of myocarditis from Covid infection.
    To illustrate, here is a headline from The American Heart Association (of all places!) dated August 22, 2022:
COVID-19 infection poses higher risk for myocarditis than vaccines
Exactly what the “experts" have been telling us for over a year now. HOWEVER, then we get to paragraph 9!
The risk for myocarditis increased after receiving the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and after a first, second and booster dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. But the risk of myocarditis associated with the vaccine was lower than the risk associated with COVID-19 infection before or after vaccination – with one exception. Men under 40 who received a second dose of the Moderna vaccine had a higher risk of myocarditis following vaccination. The Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines are available in the U.S. [emphasis mine]
Talk about burying the lede. What is this but an inability to admit error and the compulsive urge to maintain a narrative? I knew groupthink was rampant within our legacy media circles and even among our elite “experts," but I didn't know it was this bad.
M. Danko
September 6, 2022
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