CORRECTION: 25 States Report New 'Cicada' COVID Variant; RFK's New Vaccine Side-Effect Tracker

If you happen to be a bit of an online treasure hunter, well, you're in luck. The FDA has just unveiled a brand new platform for tracking side effects. You see, if in the last several decades you wanted to go online and dive into the side effect data that's been reported to the FDA, you would have been met with a labyrinth of different systems. You had VAERS, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System for vaccine side effects. There was FAERS, the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System for drugs, cosmetics, food colorings, and so on. There was AERS, the Adverse Event Reporting System, which was specifically for animal drugs and animal foods. There was MAUD, the Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience System for medical devices. And then there were two others, one for human food and another for tobacco-related products. However, according to the new leadership over at the FDA, this setup was both outdated as well as too convoluted. Here is specifically what the new FDA Commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary, said on this particular matter, quote, The FDA's previous adverse event reporting systems were outdated and fragmented and made important data difficult to access. These clunky systems also wasted millions of taxpayer dollars and created blind spots in our post-market surveillance of products ranging from drugs and vaccines to cosmetics. We're fixing the problem through a major modernization initiative. Starting today, the FDA will have a single intuitive adverse event platform that will better serve agency scientists, researchers, and the public. He went on to say that on top of being convoluted, hard to search through, not transparent, and creating a bunch of blind spots, this setup was also expensive to maintain. The FDA Commissioner, he said that running these seven different databases cost the American taxpayers roughly $37 million a year. But this whole setup is no more. Starting in March of this year, the Adverse Event Monitoring System will be the new catch-all system for reporting any and all side effects from drugs to vaccines to cosmetics, and then eventually by May of this year to also include things like tobacco products as well as human food. Now, a lot of the cost of running so many different systems, it had to do with the sheer amount of manpower involved. But AI moving forward will take a lot of that workload, which the new FDA Commissioner says will not only make the whole thing more transparent, but it'll also save $120 million to the taxpayers over the next five years. Quote, the platform is designed to provide better data through changes such as standardized reporting protocols. Artificial intelligence is being used for some of the data digitization and other work. And on the topic of artificial intelligence, here was a quote from the FDA's chief AI officer. Quote, consolidating the FDA's adverse event systems and converting to real-time publication was challenging, but made possible by a highly aggressive schedule. The team executed with perfection and delivered the biggest technical transformation in agency history. This is the new FDA. If you yourself want to access the new system, all you have to do is go onto Google and search AEMS, and it'll be the first link there. Also, just for your convenience, I will throw a direct link to that new system. You can find it down in the description box below. And all I ask in return is that if you appreciate the convenience as well as the general content, please do smash those like and subscribe buttons as well so that this video can reach ever more people via the YouTube algorithm. Thank you so much for that. All right, just to pause here for a super quick moment, I'd like to introduce our sponsor and my own personal gold dealer, American Hartford Gold. 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Your metals can be shipped directly to your doorstep or you can transfer your current retirement account to a tax-advantaged gold IRA. And the best part is that right now, American Hartford Gold is offering an exclusive buy one, get one deal for my viewers. When you call them and mention my name, Roman, for every one ounce of gold that you purchase, you can get one ounce of free silver. And so take advantage of this special offer. Either call 866-242-2352 or simply text Roman to 65532. That's again, 866-242-2352 or text Roman to 65532. I'll also throw their information. It'll be down in the description box below. And now switching gears just a little bit, let's talk about viruses. You know that feeling when you send your kids to daycare and they invariably come back with some cold or flu or some virus. Well, it looks like a lot of kids are coming back with a new virus. That's because the human metanemovirus, otherwise known as HMPV, is spreading across the U.S. right now. Its symptoms are pretty much identical to that of the common cold, including things like a cough, fever, sore throat, as well as nasal and chest congestion. However, it's worth noting that it is a different virus from influenza. And interestingly, this new virus does not have any vaccines or known treatments. Quote, HMPV can cause upper and lower respiratory illness in people of all ages, especially in young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems. Symptoms commonly associated with HMPV include cough, fever, nasal congestion and shortness of breath. In some people, these symptoms may progress to bronchitis or pneumonia. The symptoms of HMPV can be similar to symptoms from other viruses that cause upper and lower respiratory infections. There is no vaccine or treatment that can prevent HMPV infection, meaning that you basically just have to suffer through it and make sure you stay hydrated, get some rest and eat chicken soup. And what's interesting is that according to the CDC's national surveillance system, the one that tracks these viruses, HMPV is really currently on the rise. By the end of March, in nationwide tests that were positive for respiratory viruses, 6.3 percent of them were positive for HMPV, which is lower than influenza, but notably it's higher than COVID-19, roughly three times higher. They also found that HMPV, it peaks later sometime around April, meaning in the next month or so, as influenza cases go down, HMPV cases will likely make up a larger proportion of the people who are sick. A couple of other things worth noting here. According to data from wastewaterscan.org, which tracks pathogens in American wastewater, the region of North California seems to be getting hit hardest by this new virus. Regardless though, the symptoms are mild and if the virus does get too bad, like for somebody with a weakened immune system or a young kid, hospitals can provide oxygen, an IV for hydration and a bed to rest on, but not my shells given the fact that at the moment there is no real antiviral treatment for HMPV. Although there was actually a paper just published in Nature magazine, you can see it up on your screen, it was published in February of 2026 outlining the work that's being done on developing a monoclonal antibody treatment for HMPV. Regardless though, the mortality rate for most people is similar to the flu, so no real reason for alarm. Just a heads up, that fever that your kid and you might be going through, it might not be the flu, it might be a new novel type of virus. Moving along though, speaking of new types of viruses, there is a new variant of COVID that has recently emerged across 25 different states. And as is the usual case with these new variants, this one was given a new interesting name. It's called the Cicada variant. Quote, a COVID-19 variant is buzzing back to life after years of flying under the radar. Nicknamed Cicada for its long hibernation period and noisy return, the strain is now fueling a steady rise in cases around the globe, including in the US. Now aside from this cool name, the official name for this new variant is BA.3.2 and it's an offshoot of the Omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2. It was first detected over in South Africa in November of 2024, but it did not begin circulating more widely until September of last year, 2025, after which it's now been spotted in 23 different countries and the proportion of this virus is growing as well. For instance, according to this report here from the CDC, you can see that the Cicada variant now accounts for upwards of 30% of cases in some parts of Europe. And then specifically in regards to here in the US, quote, the variant first appeared in the US in a traveler passing through San Francisco International Airport from the Netherlands in June of 2025. But it wasn't until January of this year that BA.3.2 showed up in a clinical sample from a US patient. As of February 11, Cicada had been detected in four US travelers and five patients, as well as airline and wastewater samples across 25 states, including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. But before we go ahead and shut down all of society once again, it should be worth noting that here in the US, at least this new Cicada variant accounts for very little, something like 1% of all COVID cases. The concern with it, though, is the large number of mutations that are present on the spike protein. Quote, the strain carries roughly 70 to 75 mutations in its spike protein, the part of the virus that helps it enter human cells, giving it what experts call immune escape characteristics. That means it could partially dodge protection from vaccines or prior infections, potentially making it easier to spread. And therefore, this is what's known as a VOI, which is a variant of interest for the people who study these things. They're basically monitoring the situation. And if anything comes of it, if any reports come out, I will give you an update on this channel right here. But you will only see that update if you're subscribed. So again, if you haven't already, smash that subscribe button so you will get all the updates as they become available. Also, all my research links regarding both the new COVID variant as well as HMPV virus, they'll all be down in the description box below if you're the type of person that likes to dig into the weeds. And then until next time, I'm your host, Roman from The Epoch Times. Stay informed. And most importantly, stay free.