The Highwire with Del Bigtree - SPECIAL OLYMPICS DROPS VAX MANDATE

Episode Date: June 19, 2022

The Special Olympics dropped their COVID-19 vaccine mandate after FL Governor Ron Desantis threatened millions in fines for violating state laws with the mandatory policy.#SpecialOlympics #RonDesantis #MedicalFreedomBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-highwire-with-del-bigtree--3620606/support.

When I first got involved with the vaccine conversation back in 2016, my film Vax was just coming out. And right at that time, there was this law SB 277 in California that was seeking to forcibly vaccinate essentially every child going to elementary or private school. I'm sure most of you now know about this. And this attempt was made all across the country in every state to try and remove the exemptions, the ability to exempt out of the vaccine program with your children. Now, the argument that was always made was that, well, the reason we have to force this vaccine on all the healthy children is because of those children, those immune-suppressed children, or those with illnesses or disabilities that keep them from being able to get the vaccine. By vaccinating all the healthy children, we protect. We create a cocoon or community immunity or herd immunity would hear all of those terms. Now, we were all saying from the very beginning that this was just a, a, a community.

sort of a lie or a tactic to try and just give pharma power over our children, essentially, the government of the United States. But I want to say this. If you really wanted to question it, what would really make you question it is if you saw the very people that were writing the articles and pushing the laws trying to forcibly vaccinate the healthy children in order to protect that immune suppressed group, what would really blow that apart was if you saw them actually target that very group of susceptible individuals that should be protected from having be vaccinated. At least that's what I would say would blow up this entire conversation for me. Now, what would happen if you saw them do exactly that? To go right after the very group of

susceptible children. What would you do? Well, we know what Ronda Santis would do as of this week. Governor Ronda Santis has threatened to cut $27 million in funding from the Special Olympics. That's because they had a COVID vaccine mandate for the athletes and guests attending their upcoming competition. The State Department of Health sent a letter to the organization arguing the requirement that athletes show proof of vaccination violated state law. We've never seen something wielded like this vaccine to try to marginalize disfavored people, to try to deny people full freedom and full rights. Governor DeSantis, he blasted the games for making athletes wait this long to find out if they could even play. To go after Special Olympians who all they wanted to do is compete was not consistent with Florida law.

And it's not the right thing to do. Let them compete. This was actually an issue that we were aware of. We've been talking to several families that rode into the high wires saying, one of the things that my special needs child really lives for is the Special Olympics. They've been training. They're on track. They've been accepted.

And now they're being told they're not going to be allowed to compete unless they get a vaccination. Many of these parents saying that vaccination is why our child is in the Special Olympics having been vaccinated before. And now we can't go there. We can't support our child's dream. This was crazy. Well, this is how it all sort of broke down. We can look at this Twitter. Florida said the vaccine rule conflicted with state law and disqualified Special Olympics athletes from competing based on their vaccine status.

State said they heard from athletes and families of athletes who complained. Here's the letter the state sent. This is the letter, Angela Chiaquolo, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary to Timothy Shriver, Special Olympics International. This letter is noticed that the Special Olympics International, SOI, is assessed a 27.5 million fine for 5,500 violations of Section 381, Florida statutes, after the Department of Health Department made repeated attempts to avoid imposing fines. against this charitable organization to ensure the 22 USA Special Olympics could be held in Florida without requiring proof of vaccination from delegates. Department found that SOI required proof certifying COVID-19 vaccination from 5,500 individuals to gain access to entry upon and or service from the 22 U.S. Special Olympics Games in violation of Florida law. Pretty healthy stakes there, obviously.

I mean, this is the Special Olympics. It's a big organization. It has done a lot of good. But in this point, it was really hurting people's lives, especially those children. Well, let's see how this all turned out. As the headlines read, Special Olympics drops COVID-19 vaccine mandate after Florida plans millions in fines. Governor Ronda Santos ensures all athletes can play, announces Special Olympic Games drops vaccine mandate.

huge victory there in Florida. We are not a political organization here, but anytime someone does what's right, I don't care if you're a president, a senator, a congressman, or a governor, Ron DeSantis, you got this one right. Thank you for taking care of those families that have been calling our company here and asking what we could do about it. You wielded the power that was necessary at the right time and the right place, and it is really a breath of fresh air every once in a while when something in politics goes the right way. And I just want to make this point to the Shriver family and the Kennedy families that are out there. So many of you've been attacking your own family member, Robert Kennedy Jr. for speaking out about the harms and dangers of

vaccination. You've written articles against him. And I know he has too much class to take this moment to say I told you so, but I don't. And I want to say this to the entire Kennedy and Shriver family. What does it feel like to actually be on the wrong side of the vaccine discussion? Get used to it. We're winning.