Two-month-old Juan Nicolás
“Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14
On February 17, 2026, PBS New reported, “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced recently it will not review Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine despite late-stage trials showing it was safe and effective.” Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, noted, “This sent chills up the spines of all of us in public health and the vaccine world because it’s so arbitrary.” While an overwhelming majority of the FDA staff favored proceeding with the review, one member, Vinay Prasad, the chief medical and scientific officer and director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, killed the review. Even The Wall Street Journalobjected, in an editorial titled “Vinay Prasad’s Vaccine Kill Shot: Does the White House know the harm he’s doing to public health?” Yes, yes it does. Dr. Osterholm described the harm, “Children are going to die in this country needlessly, more and more are going to die because of what’s happening here”.
While the refusal to review was reversed on February 18, the reasons given were not that the government wanted to avoid the prospect of children dying in this country needlessly. They don’t.
On February 18, 2026, the same day the FDA reversed its decision, the San Antonio Current reported, “Two-month-old ICE detainee Juan Nicolás deported while sick with bronchitis”. Two-month-old Juan Nicolás was being held in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center. Two days earlier, the San Antonio Current reported that two-month-old Juan Nicolás was “choking on his own vomit… and having respiratory issues”. At that point, Juan Nicolás had spent a month, or half of his life, in detention. According to U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro, “His life is in danger.”
On February 17, the San Antonio Current reported that Juan Nicolás was “rushed to the hospital”, where he was diagnosed with bronchitis. Despite that diagnosis, Juan Nicolás was released and rushed back to Dilley.
Juan Nicolás will not die needlessly in this country … because, the following day, he was deported, rushed out of the country. U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro, explained, “After a discussion with their attorney, I have confirmed that Juan, his 16-month old sister, his mom and his dad have been deported. According to their attorney, the family was deported with only the money that they had in their commissary—a total of $190.” According to Univision reporter Lidia Terrazas, the family was “practically abandoned” in Mexico. Problem solved.
Children are going to die in this country needlessly, more and more are going to die because of what’s happening here.
(By Dan Moshenberg)
(Photo Credit: San Antonio Current / Instagram / Lidia Terrazas)