(FREE) PAINE IN THE MORNING: 12 things you need to know this Monday – February 14, 2022

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‘They will not silence me’: Doctor who raised alarm about Omicron says she was pressured by international politicians and scientists to not say it is ‘mild’ – The South African doctor who was one of the first people to raise the alarm about the Omicron variant claims she was pressured by politicians and scientists “not to publicly state that it was a mild illness,” and to instead say the strain is “serious.”

Dr. Angelique Coetzee — who serves as the chairwoman of the South African Medical Association — was one of the first to identify the Omicron variant. – READ MORE

Pfizer To Postpone Seeking Emergency Use COVID-19 Vaccine Approval For Children Younger Than 5 – Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant behind one of the three main COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. in partnership with BioNtech, announced Friday that they will be postponing their official request of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of the COVID-19 vaccine for children ages six months through 4 years of age. It had previously been reported Pfizer would be making their request by the end of February.

According to Axios, “The companies said they ‘will wait for the three-dose data’ because they ‘believe it may provide a higher level of protection in this age group.’” – READ MORE

Despite Ontario Court Order, GiveSendGo Promises Donations Will Flow To Freedom Convoy – GiveSendGo, the Christian crowdsourcing company, is pushing back against an Ontario court that issued a ruling earlier Thursday evening that effectively froze access to monetary donations to truckers and other Canadians participating in the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa, Canada, and elsewhere, through a government order.

GiveSendGo tweeted Thursday evening that Canada has “absolutely zero jurisdiction” over how they dispense their funds and that all donations on GiveSendGo.com, including the Freedom Convoy, will go to their intended charities. – READ MORE

‘This Could Cost Him His Job’: Truckers, Mandates Absolutely Crushing Trudeau, Poll Shows – The latest Maru poll, conducted from February 9-10, shows that only 16% of Canadians would vote for the prime minister based on the last two weeks, Edmonton Journal reported Saturday.

Moreover, 44% of respondents said that Trudeau’s latest statements on protesters against vaccine mandates, primarily the Freedom Convoy, have “inflamed” the situation, while 53% said the leader “looked weak in the face of threats to the country.” – READ MORE

EU health agency to investigate whether mRNA vaccines affect women’s menstrual cycles – European regulators are investigating reports of heavy menstrual bleeding and the absence of menstruation in women who have received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.

The European Medicines Agency’s safety committee said Friday it is reviewing reports that the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna are disrupting women’s menstrual cycles, Reuters reported. – READ MORE

New York middle school play praises COVID vaccines, says unvaxxed kids won’t have friends – A New York City public school put on a holiday show in which 5th-8th graders sang “It’s safe to vax and if your friends don’t vax then they ain’t no friends of mine,” according to a mother who attended and shared her recordings with Just the News.

While the singing is hard to understand, the visual elements make clear the children at the Upper West Side’s M.S. 243 Center School are being taught to celebrate COVID-19 vaccines and single out unvaccinated peers – READ MORE

Joe Biden Forces Children to Wear Masks on Buses as States Lift Restrictions – President Joe Biden’s federal mask mandates are still forcing children to wear masks on buses, despite the fact that several blue states this month announced plans to lift state-sanctioned mask mandates in schools.

Several governors this week announced plans to drop mask mandates for children in schools. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D), for example, is ending mask mandates for school children in March, as is Delaware Gov. John Carney (D). Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) is also lifting the state’s school mask mandate, announcing on Wednesday it will not extend beyond February 28. – READ MORE

Biden Tells Americans They ‘Should Have Peace of Mind’ As Price Increases Surge to 40-Year High – As inflation continues to rise unabated, President Joe Biden insists that Americans should have “peace of mind.”

During an event in Virginia on Thursday, Biden said, “The fact is that we’re in a situation now where, you know, you should have peace of mind.” – READ MORE

A severely backlogged IRS with ‘limited resources’ temporarily halts a slew of tax-return notices – The IRS says it’s going to stop mailing out more than a dozen notices to taxpayers as it keeps trying to reduce paperwork and consternation amid the current tax season, and a backlog of unprocessed returns from last year.

These temporarily halted letters include balance due notices, automated collection notices and unfiled tax return notices, the IRS said Wednesday. – READ MORE

$58 billion bailout looming for politically motivated Postal Service – A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers are considering giving the politically-troubled and financially-insolvent United States Postal Service (USPS) a $58 billion taxpayer and Medicare bailout, unless House and Senate conservatives step in and stop this from happening.

For those who haven’t been keeping tabs on the Postal Service, the agency has recently focused on politically-motivated activity instead of adhering to its mission of delivering mail to the American people in a cost-effective, efficient, and timely manner. – READ MORE

“We’re At End Days Here” – US Faces Rampant Shortages Of 116 Different Pharmaceutical Drugs – Global supplies of pharmaceutical drugs are getting tighter and tighter, and this has very serious implications for 2022 and beyond. If you depend upon a certain pharmaceutical drug in order to stay alive, I would recommend doing whatever you can to make sure that you have as much of that drug stockpiled as possible, because a day may come when you are unable to get any more for an extended period of time. Much of our drug production has been outsourced to China, and our relations with China are not going so well right now. In fact, the moment that China invades Taiwan we are going to have a major league national crisis on our hands. – READ MORE

Psychological Damage From Pandemic Lockdowns “Could Last A Generation”, Professionals Warn – At this point, the fact that the COVID pandemic has spurred an unprecedented mental health crisis shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody. We have reported on the enormous impact on Americans’ mental health repeatedly, both here and here.

Aside from the obvious physical impacts of the pandemic, mental health professionals have told CNBC that many people have continued to struggle with the immense emotional and societal changes even as some of the restrictions on business and movement have started to ease. Because of this, many fear that the psychological impact from the pandemic could last a generation. – READ MORE