"G7 Central Banks printed $9000 billion on behalf of Big Finance but skimped on $39 billion that would have vaccinated Humanity"

 

DiEM25's Yanis Varoufakis speaks on "vaccine internationalism" as an alternative...

"Needled" – My latest opinion column for Catalonia Today magazine

[Photo: Oriol Duran, Barcelona.]

You could call me one of the lucky ones; one of the chosen few.

A week ago, I had my second dose of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at Bellvitge Hospital in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat just outside Barcelona. 

This was the same medical centre that successfully operated on me to transplant a kidney 3 years ago, giving the reason for why I stood in line on a Friday evening with mainly 70 year old’s, some of whom undoubtedly have malfunctioning immune systems, as I do.

I’m in this category because since the campaign started in Catalonia on December 27 last year, at the time of writing, 1,572,518 residents had been given the first dose of the various vaccines. 

That represents just 20.36% of the total population. Of these, just over half a million people have also been administered the second dose (6.49% of the populace).  

Naturally, I don’t want to sound ungrateful. I don’t want to sound at all petty. I’m one of the biggest supporters of public health systems anywhere on this planet of marvels and mysteries. 

It just strikes me as disappointing that organisation from the EU, Spain and our government here wasn’t better. It disturbs me. 

You could say, in another meaning of the word, it needles me. 

There are even large numbers of school teachers (for example, my wife who’s in her mid-50s) who have not yet had their Covid protection maximised with a simple injection.

I accept that some causes for delays have been outside local authorities’ control. One case in point was the closure of the Eurotunnel in the English Channel just before Christmas. 

Reportedly, the main reason for the slow vaccine rollout speed in Catalonia was fridges (used to store doses) being trapped in Dover, one of England’s main ports.

Of course, that was 4 months ago now. And yes, I know there are plans to quicken the pace so that 70% of the population have been covered by the end of August. Plans don’t impress me. Well-coordinated action does.

There are other parts of the world that have done this task much more efficiently. Unsurprisingly maybe, places like Australia and New Zealand who’ve had relatively few cases of Covid have also already begun vaccination programs. 

Even that obscenely corrupt, malfunctioning corporation called the United Kingdom is looking pretty flash on this question.

While I’m all riled up, I’ll mention another related point. Now that it seems agreed that there’s going to be some kind of special travel “passport” for the pre-vaccinated elite like me in Europe, I have to ask about what’s going to happen to everyone else in the next few months leading into and through the summer?

What about the opportunity to travel across borders (is it even a human right?) Children, young people, many immigrant adults and all those not lucky enough to be immunised are clearly going to be discriminated against.

And here's another crucial error. I was arguing from the very start of scientific investigation into a vaccine that it should be centrally run by the World Health Organisation and an enhanced European Medicines Agency. 

The pandemic was, and still is, much too dangerous and long-lasting to be handled by local governments as prisoners of private interests who make medicine for profit.

Surely, one single contract should have been given to the most effective vaccine company and the patent for that vaccine should have been waved in the interests of global public health.

But I suppose that wouldn’t have been a financial shot in the arm for the pharma giants, would it?

[This article was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, May 2021.]

"Oxford vaccine is safe, according to second stage study data"

[ Rumyana Vakarelska]

"The vaccine builds immunity, but still does not protect against infection."

"We have some really good news; the so-called "British 'A' vaccine being developed by scientists at Oxford University is entering its third phase of testing," Rumyana Vakarelska, a journalist in London, told Horizon's "Before All" program. She works for an American financial information and analysis corporation and covers Covid-19 and the impact on business.

Her comment is that the latest phase of clinical trials of the experimental coronavirus vaccine, developed by the American National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and one of the major biotechnology companies, begins today in the United States. 

This is the first vaccine tested in the United States. The University of Oxford and one of the major pharmaceutical companies are also testing vaccines against Covid 19. This was announced last week from the rostrum of the British Parliament.

"The most important thing from the second stage of the study is that this vaccine is safe. It is likely to be implemented in early 2021 and the team's optimal plan is that most people can be vaccinated by April-May next year. "

In the third phase of testing the vaccine, there are also questions, the journalist believes.

"What is known so far is that the vaccine builds immunity, but still does not protect against infection. That is, if you get sick, you will get sick more easily and deaths will be reduced in the future. The vaccine will attack the virus and create antibodies and will create immunity. '

Rumyana Vakarelska explained that a gradual vaccination is expected , and the vaccine has so far been tested on the age group between 18 and 55. Testing has also begun on people between the ages of 59 and 65 and a second group for people over the age of 70.

The United Kingdom has ordered 100 million vaccines from the company, and the United States has ordered 400 million vaccines, although they are also developing a vaccine, Vakarelska explained.

When asked if there will be access to the vaccine at a good price, the journalism specified:

"The UK will do everything possible if the vaccine is completed successfully and in the third stage the transmission of the infection from person to person is prevented, the UK will help the vaccine reach everyone. The program for the UK provides for its distribution through GPs and will most likely be free. It is not yet known whether pharmacies will be available and available there. "

Vakarelska stressed that anti-epidemic measures, however, must not stop being observed, although we will be able to catch our breath if there is a vaccine.

"14 percent of people in the UK have said they will not get the vaccine, for the United States this percentage is 45 percent," said Vakarelska in connection with the anti-vaccine movements."

Original source from Bulgarian media BNR here.