Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Tuesday responded to the Left’s latest attempts to vaccinate young children, blasting Sesame Street for patronizing parents and making the iconic muppet Elmo “aggressively advocate” for vaccinating young children with the Chinese coronavirus.
“Elmo got the COVID vaccine today, just like Elmo’s mommy and daddy!” a social media update from Elmo’s official Twitter account read. “Elmo’s daddy had a lot of questions, but Elmo’s doctor said the vaccine would help keep Elmo healthy, and all of Elmo’s friends and family too!”
Sesame Street also posted a clip of the conversation between Elmo and his father, the latter of whom turned toward the television to address parents, explaining to them that he, too, was skeptical about allowing his fictional son to get the vaccine.
“I had a lot of questions about Elmo getting the COVID vaccine. Was it safe? Was it the right decision? I talked to our pediatrician so I could make the right choice,” Elmo’s father said. “I learned that Elmo getting vaccinated is the best way to keep himself, our friends, neighbors, and everyone else healthy and enjoying the things they love.”
“It’s ok to have questions about COVID vaccines for your kids,” a voiceover states at the end of the clip, encouraging parents to speak to their pediatrician or healthcare provider.
“Thanks, @sesamestreet for saying parents are allowed to have questions!” Sen. Cruz sarcastically said in response to the clip.
“You then have @elmo aggressively advocate for vaccinating children UNDER 5. But you cite ZERO scientific evidence for this,” he added, linking to a June 8 press release detailing how Cruz, alongside Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and U.S. Reps. Bill Posey (R-FL) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX) “led a letter with 18 Members of Congress calling for answers from the Administrator of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) panel regarding Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) approval for the use of COVID-19 vaccines in children under the age of five”:
While federal health agencies ultimately approved Pfizer’s and Moderna’s coronavirus vaccines for children as young as five, The Florida Department of Health made waves after advising against it, citing a lack of evidence.
“Yes, we recommend against it. We are not going to have any programs where we’re trying to jab six-month-old babies with mRNA. That’s just the reality,” Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said earlier this month, triggering applause.
“I said from the beginning they’ll be able to do that. We don’t have the authority to prevent it. And quite frankly, if someone wants to make a different decision, I would just caution people look at the actual data in the clinical trial. It is the weakest possible data that you could possibly see — very small number of people. What the recommendation is from them doesn’t even track the outcomes,” he said, adding that people can “ask their pediatricians, they can ask their doctors what’s the evidence of protection against severe disease.”
“There was none in the clinical trial. … but for us … there is no proven benefit to … a baby with an mRNA,” he said. “So that’s why our recommendation is against it.”
“That’s different than prohibiting the use in Florida, which we don’t have the authority to do,” he added. “And quite frankly, you know, we’re confident people can make their own judgments.”
This is far from the first time Cruz has highlighted the agenda of Sesame Street, blasting the program for spreading more propaganda to children in November 2021 after Big Bird announced that he, too, got the jab.