TEXT JOIN TO 77022

Et Tu, Big Bird? 

They are coming for the 5-to-11-year-olds.

That should be the realization of any critical thinker—with the FDA expanding its Emergency Use Authorization approval of the Pfizer “BioNTech” vaccine for children ages 5-to-11 and the launch of a propaganda campaign clearly aimed at those children—as well as the parents of that age group.

“Sesame Street’s” Big Bird came out last week to publicly push and propagandize for the vaccine.

“I got the Covid-19 vaccine today! My wing is feeling a little sore, but it’ll give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy,” the puppet tweeted. “Ms @EricaRHill (CNN) even said I’ve been getting vaccines since I was a little bird. I had no idea!”

It wasn’t just the bird. Elmo also got into the cringeworthy act, tweeting, it must be presumed, to parents as much as to children: “Elmo was so happy to talk to @DrsanjayGupta (CNN) at the town hall today! Elmo learned that Elmo’s friends can get the Covid-19 vaccine now, and soon Elmo can too!”

Actress and devout leftist Alyssa Milano—who once tweeted Joe Biden was clearly the right man for the job when it came to leaving Afghanistan and recently described giving birth as being “very reminiscent of being sexually assaulted”—posted a poll coinciding with the expanded vaccine approval.

Will you be vaccinating your 5-11 children: Never, when it’s mandated, Right Away”—she posed. 173,429 people took the poll92% said never, 6% right away and 2% when the government made them.

Surely not the results Milano was anticipating.

Now, there are people who are excited to vaccinate their low-risk child—the 6 percent in Milano’s poll who are leaping at the idea of giving their child the Pfizer shot.

As horrifying as that may be, we should concede that fear and propaganda have overwhelmed many. I have encountered them in the comments and in posts from some of my friends on social media.

“I can’t wait until Izzy is able to get her shots,” I read on a Facebook post in August about vaccination.

“I can’t wait until my kids can get their vaccine as well,” the friend responded. 

This, for a group which is statistically in line with the annual flu when it comes to death or risk thereof after catching COVID-19.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control lists 576 deaths involving COVID-19 in children 0-to-17-years-old between January 2020 and November 3, 2021.

During the same time period, a total of 60,811 deaths were recorded in the same age group.

Deaths involving COVID-19 accounted for 0.009 percent of all deaths under the age of 18or slightly less than 1 percent during the 22 months of the pandemic. 

Generally, flu season in the United States is thought to be a period of three to six months.

During these shorter time periods—the CDC lists the following deaths from the 2015-16 through 2019-20 flu seasons in children 0-to-17-years-old: 268, 251, 526, 372, and 486.

The Emergency Use Authorization and implementation of vaccine mandates could go down in history with the “Authorization for Use of Military Force” after 9/11 asa totally unnecessary sacrifice of civil liberties.

Once again—it appears the danger is swinging the pendulum too far in the opposite direction.

There are hills worth dying on or getting canceled over and things worth losing your job or a potential client over or even potentially offending a family member or a close friend.

The medical freedom of individuals—especially when it comes to children who are at little to no risk from this disease—and the right of the parents to have a say so in the decision making process when it comes to their child’s health is that hill.  

I ran into one of the members of the local school board where I live in Medina, Ohio at the coffee shop about a week before his campaign for reelection came to an end—losing to the pro-mask candidates he was running against.

I thanked him for the relatively thankless job of sticking his neck out and fighting for kids to be in school and unmasked if they chose.

We talked about the potential of mandating COVID-19 vaccines for school age children.

“If the risk for my kid of this [COVID] is almost zero and the risk of this [vaccine]) might be super small but it’s not zero—why would I choose that?”

However rare, there are examples of terrible reactions to the Pfizer vaccine.

In Ohio, there is the case of 12-year-old Maddie De Garay whose mother attributes her near-death experience and long road to recovery to her participation in the Pfizer vaccine trial.

If Big Bird, Joe Biden, Alyssa Milano, Elmo or any other puppet wants to weigh in on your child’s medical future—certainly a parent’s voice should carry as much or more weight than theirs.

Medical freedom is an issue that blurs party lines and demographics as individuals like Kyrie Irving and Nicki Minaj find themselves on the same page as Aaron Rodgers.

The debate is about having the fundamental choice of what you put into your or your child’s body.

U.S. Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) recently shared a quote from G. K. Chesterton that is appropriate in the fight that goes on now:

Sound historians know that most tyrannies have been possible because men moved too late. It is often essential to resist tyranny before it exists. It is no answer to say, with a distant optimism, that the scheme is only in the air. A blow from a hatchet can only be parried while it is in the air.

The hatchet aimed at individual freedom and bodily autonomy is in more than the air—it has already struck several blows.

The time to parry it is now—before it is too late.

Get the news corporate media won't tell you.

Get caught up on today's must read stores!

By submitting your information, you agree to receive exclusive AG+ content, including special promotions, and agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms. By providing your phone number and checking the box to opt in, you are consenting to receive recurring SMS/MMS messages, including automated texts, to that number from my short code. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help, STOP to end. SMS opt-in will not be sold, rented, or shared.

About Matt Keener

Matt Keener is a writer and small business owner from Ohio. His work has also been featured at The Federalist, American Spectator, American Thinker, RealClearPolitics, and WND. You can find him on Twitter @keenermb and on Truth Social @mattkeener.

Photo: Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Capital Concerts, Inc.