HeyJaredThe Defender
The Defender is Children’s Health Defense’s online news site. We report on the toxic exposures driving today's epidemic of childhood disease and how agency capture has led government agencies to protect corporate profits at the expense of public health.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 15
- Latest publication
- Oct 1, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Sep 23, 2026
Latest issues
‘Feeling the Heat’?: Pharma Spent Record $456.9 Million Last Year on Lobbying — With No Signs of Slowing Down (opens the original)
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The pharmaceutical and health industry spent $456.9 million on lobbying expenses in 2025, according to OpenSecrets. According to STAT, it was the largest-ever single-year increase in lobbying spending. Leslie Manookian, president of the Health Freedom Defense Fund, suggested the industry may feel threatened by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presence in the nation’s top health post and the health freedom movement’s growing momentum.<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.c
Five Years After Reddit’s Crackdown on COVID ‘Misinformation,’ Questions Remain: Who Decides What Health Speech Is Allowed Online? (opens the original)
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In August 2021, moderators of popular subreddits released a statement demanding that the company remove what they called dangerous medical disinformation around COVID-19 vaccines. Now, new research and growing pharmaceutical advertising on the platform are renewing questions about Reddit’s control of medical and vaccine discussions.<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ZoVU!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-m
COVID Vaccines for Kids Now Available Through CDC Program That Serves Low-Income Children (opens the original)
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State health departments can now purchase this season’s COVID-19 vaccines for low-income children through the CDC’s Vaccines for Children Program. Vaccine advocates had complained about a delay — but families and pediatricians concerned about vaccine safety criticized the decision. “The days of just injecting everyone without considering the individual landscape of each child’s biologic terrain should come to a final curtain,” said Dr. Michelle Perro.<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img"
Vaccinated Kids Have Significantly Higher Odds of Developing Multiple Chronic Health Conditions (opens the original)
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“Children were 60% more likely to suffer recurrent respiratory disease with at least double the risk of recurrent ear and strep infections,” said Children’s Health Defense Chief Scientific Officer Brian Hooker, co-author of a new preprint study published last week. “In general, the risk increased in the vaccinated group based on increasing number of vaccines.”<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8p8r!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/h
He Sought Help for a Broken Leg That Wouldn’t Heal. The Hospital Treated Him for COVID — Then Declared Him Brain Dead (opens the original)
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In 2020, Andy Hodge broke his leg in a work-related accident. The accident, subsequent surgeries and hospitalizations, and a positive COVID-19 PCR test set off a cascade of events that his sister, Ellie Hodge Hayse, says led to his death on March 2, 2021. Ellie alleges doctors and hospital staff ignored her brother’s complaints about his leg, and instead subjected him to COVID-19 hospital protocols.<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RrnJ!,f
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