More deaths in a war trumps defeating a pandemic

Posted on 29/06/2022 by Michael

More deaths in a war trumps defeating a pandemic

In Britain the figures for covid infections keep on rising and falling. There’s little talk of hospitals being overwhelmed and no mention at all of deaths. Just over two years ago you were a minor celebrity if you caught covid now no one notices.

Although not strictly a disease of the winter the expectation (at least it is hoped there are some with the responsibility to deal with infections to have such expectations) the figures will again climb due to the sort of social mixing that takes place indoors when it gets cold. Whether it will be as catastrophic as in previous years remains to be seen. If it is not that will be more down to luck than any planning by the Government. Two and a half years since the disease was identified there is still no strategy (and if there is they are keeping it very quiet).

Not surprisingly the Buffoon is more concerned about his own miserable political future than managing the worst pandemic the world has had to face in a hundred years. (That’s, of course, if you ignore the disease of capitalism that has been killing people in their millions every year of its existence.)

As if the deaths from the pandemic were not bad enough he is more concerned with perpetuating the war in the Ukraine and increasing spending on ‘defence’, both of which necessarily lead to more and more death and destruction of populations and economies.

The situation when it comes to vaccines is not really any better now (worldwide) than it was 18 months ago.

The richer countries are now up to four vaccines for the most ‘vulnerable’ and will soon be vaccinating embryos in the womb yet in the vast majority of the ‘Global South’ hundreds of millions haven’t even seen a vaccine let alone gotten ‘full’ protection.

And that situation is fully down to the policies followed by the capitalists in the ‘west’.

They take a cavalier approach to the valuable vaccines and there are constant stories of a million doses here, a million does there having to be destroyed as they have gone out of date. (Whether such a short shelf life is actually necessary I have my doubts. Not being a scientist I don’t know the actual science behind such periods but it does seem like another way to pump more billions into the pockets of ‘Big Pharma’.)

Promises made with great acclaim at international meetings about these rich countries ‘donating’ vaccines to the poorer parts of the world’s population come to nought and once the limelight has been switched down those promises are rarely fulfilled.

But worst of all is the opposition of all the leaders of the capitalist countries to the (just temporary and only in this particular situation) relaxing of the patent laws that would allow for more countries to be able to produce, and thus satisfy, their own vaccine needs.

If reason is needed to demonstrate that the World Trade Organisation – to which all these patent laws relate – was a cartel of the rich to make them richer and to keep the poor in even deeper levels of destitution then what is being played out at this time should dispel all doubts.

Vaccine programme worldwide

What happened to the AstraZeneca vaccine? Now rare in rich countries, it’s still saving lives around the world.

Covid nasal sprays could offer advantages over traditional vaccines – a virologist explains how they work.

Future covid-19 booster shots will likely need fresh formulations as new coronavirus variants of concern continue to emerge.

Covid vaccines for children under five: what parents need to know.

Covid vaccines for children: uptake in the UK is slow – here’s why parents might be hesitant.

Over 82 Million U.S. covid vaccine doses have been discarded as pandemic funding stalls. (Article published 6 June 2022.)

This has been happening everywhere in the ‘west’. And has been going on since the vaccine was first stated to be distributed.

More than a million corona shots in the trash: The surpluses are large everywhere. [This from the Netherlands.]

Growing revolt among medical practitioners against vaccinating toddlers for covid. [From the US.]

Repeat covid

Covid reinfections could be more severe for some – but overall evidence doesn’t give us cause for concern.

The effects of covid

Girls’ mental health has been affected more than boys’ during the pandemic.

Covid variants

Fast and furious Omicron new variants defy explanation – and don’t bode well for the future either.

Covid trials

The inside story of Recovery: how the world’s largest COVID-19 trial transformed treatment – and what it could do for other diseases.

Long covid

Long covid: vaccination could reduce symptoms.

Care for 2 million Britons with long Covid ‘woefully inadequate’.

Long covid: female sex, older age and existing health problems increase risk.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and waste

£4 billion of unusable PPE bought in first year of pandemic will be burnt ‘to generate power’.

Those who benefited from the pandemic

‘Profiting from Pain’: Covid created a billionaire every 30 hours.

Poverty in Britain

From pandemic to cost of living crisis: low-income families in challenging times – Joseph Rowntree Trust – findings, full report. Uploaded to media

To ‘level up’, the UK needs a real jubilee: a mass write-off of debts.

How are people adapting post (first wave?) covid pandemic

Long social distancing: how young adults’ habits have changed since covid.

More on covid pandemic 2020-2?

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Ukraine – what you’re not told

Covid – a thing of the past, or just biding its time?

Posted on 19/05/2022 by Michael

More on covid pandemic 2020-2?

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Ukraine – what you’re not told

Covid – a thing of the past, or just biding its time?

Considering the pandemic dominated all and every aspect of life worldwide for the best part of two years you wouldn’t know that in Britain towards the end of May 2022. All restrictions have been abolished in all parts of the sceptred isle and the ‘new normal’ is very much like the old normal, i.e., how it was before March 2020.

So as far as the majority of the population – as well as the politicians who have so ineffectively managed the pandemic from the very start – the pandemic is a thing of the past, or so they hope.

Whether that is the case remains to be seen. Although covid doesn’t seem to really fit in with viruses the likes of influenza – that seem to like the winter months – it is still around in the spring/summer months even though infection and related numbers are down.

Even if the summer is a time of respite (not guaranteed) what are the prospects for the future?

Have lessons been learnt from the past two years? Almost certainly not. The quick arrival of an effective (although not foolproof) vaccine pulled most governments out of the mire into which they had dug themselves. But after two years there was never even the hint of a strategy that could be followed in the event of this, or another virus, coming back to cause havoc.

Even the lesson that it was the poorest in society who would be more adversely effected by any pandemic (surprise, surprise) and which could end up being the epicentre of a future outbreak have not been given any assistance which could prevent such a circumstance arising. The fact that the links provided in these posts – from the very beginning more than two years ago – make reference to poverty in Britain, and continue to do so, only goes to show that that particular lesson has not been learnt, or even worse, just ignored.

If there was to be a further outbreak in the winter then all indications are that the poorest people in society would be even less likely to stay at home if they were to catch the virus. They were in the past two years and will be (in the future) left with a choice of being ‘responsible’ or suffering real economic hardships.

The situation in the rest of the world is, in many respects, even more dire. Increases in food prices were causing problems even before the war in the Ukraine. That war didn’t cause the problem – that’s at the feet of capitalism – but it hasn’t made matters any better and the longer it goes on the worse its consequences will be. The number of countries that have been forced, through capitalist and imperialist policies over decades, to move away from any sort of food self-sufficiency means that hundreds of millions of people are reliant on food from other parts of the world, many of those countries also producing less – not least due to the consequences of the climate emergency.

Added to that the most powerful countries in the world (the US, the UK and the other European ‘powers’) have categorically refused to make any moves to relax patent rights so that various countries in what is now commonly known as the ‘global south’ can produce their own vaccines – and run out local programmes that are vital if the pandemic is to be brought under control. The short-sited thirst for even more profits by ‘Big Pharma’ is more important than the health of the world, even though by doing so this policy is placing those in the so-called ‘metropolitan’ countries in danger as well.

So, as they say, the world is facing a ‘perfect storm’ towards the end of this year. For their own imperialist interests the richer countries are spending billions on trying to humble Russia – whatever the consequences for their own populations (who have more constructive uses for such huge amounts of money) or the long-suffering of the ‘global south’.

But the erstwhile most powerful imperialists in the ‘west’ might have bitten off more than they can chew.

Already we are seeing signs of a realignment of forces worldwide. The hegemony of the US in particular, and the past influence of the other European countries (plus Japan and Australia), is being challenged. The vast majority of the world is starting to turn their backs (long overdue) on Europe/USA centrism. They are starting to see that their interest don’t rest with the old ‘colonial masters’. They have always betrayed their ex-colonies and seem incapable of doing any different. (Thoughts about this are explored in many of the links related to what we are not being told about the war in the Ukraine.)

On the assumption that the world is to survive this particular pandemic the outlook for the future could be very different from what it was considered to be at the end of 2019. Who would have though that such a small thing as a virus would have such an devastating effect on the supposed ‘sophisticated’ world in which we live?

But then, as has been said in these posts since March of 2020, the world – or at least those who are presently in control of it – haven’t really learnt anything more than was general knowledge at the time of the Black Death that spread through Asia and Europe almost seven hundred years ago.

Vaccination programme in Britain

My five-year-old is now eligible for a covid vaccine – should I get them immunised?

Covid vaccines: why second boosters are being offered to vulnerable people in the UK – but not young and healthy people yet.

The Valneva covid vaccine has been approved for use in the UK.

Investors lose vote to share covid vaccine know-how.

Testing for covid

Rising infections, no more free tests: how ‘living with covid’ could affect case numbers in England.

Immunity?

Herd immunity now seems impossible. Welcome to the age of Covid reinfection.

Haven’t had covid yet? It could be more than just luck.

Long term effects of the virus

Severe covid is equivalent to 20 years of ageing.

The pandemic in the world

Covid in Afghanistan: low vaccine coverage and a crumbling health system could trigger a humanitarian crisis.

Why the current surge in cases is a problem for some countries but not others.

The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is beholden to corporations and lost our trust. We need to start our own – the People’s CDC. The view form the USA.

We created the ‘Pandemicene’.

Covid-19 fourth wave: Delhi sees 40% jump in infections.

World death toll

World’s true pandemic death toll nearly 15 million.

Why India’s real covid death toll may never be known.

Covid variants

Omicron XE is spreading in the UK – a virologist explains what we know about this hybrid variant.

Poverty in Britain

Public not as concerned and sympathetic towards homelessness as 12 months ago.

Rishi Sunak accused of not doing enough for poorest households.

600,000 will be pulled into poverty as a result of Chancellor’s inaction – of which around a quarter are children.

Poverty in Northern Ireland 2022, is a study recently published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Full report.

Pushed to the Edge: Poverty, Food Banks and Mental Health, the full report.

‘You have to take it back to the bricks’: Reforming emergency support to reduce demand for food banks. Child Poverty Action Group report and executive summary.

The truth about the impact of UC cuts, Centrepoint report.

Nearly half of Scots have struggled with housing costs.

Cost of living crisis: Value of UK unemployment benefits see biggest fall in 50 years.

Food banks provide almost 200,000 parcels to people across Scotland in past year.

Growing gap in healthy life expectancy between poorest and richest in England.

Main out-of-work benefit sees its biggest drop in value in fifty years.

More than 2 million adults in UK cannot afford to eat every day.

Watchdog urged to step in as UK’s poorest turn off energy supply.

Universal credit deductions of up to 25% pushing people into poverty.

Further 250,000 UK households face destitution in 2023.

Poverty worldwide

A food crisis was brewing even before the Ukraine war – but taking these three steps could help the most vulnerable.

800 million, not 8.2 million; Africa’s covid toll 97 times higher than reported.

Collateral damage – worldwide

Covid closures still affecting 400 million pupils.

Measles: global increase in cases likely driven by covid pandemic.

Returning to ‘normal’

Disabled people are being left out of covid recovery.

Discharging hospital patients to care homes ‘unlawful’.

More on covid pandemic 2020-2?

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Ukraine – what you’re not told

The war on covid replaced by the war on Russia

Posted on 24/03/2022 by Michael

More on covid pandemic 2020-2?

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Ukraine – what you’re not told

The war on covid replaced by the war on Russia

If you live in Britain now the covid pandemic is over. The fact that infections are still high, and fluctuating widely in various parts of the country, the fact that there are still deaths (although the exact figures are not publicised as much as a couple of years ago) and there’s still a fear that it will have a serious effect upon certain sections of the population as the fourth jab is now being offered to a not inconsiderable number of people

But pandemic related issues still exist apart from the level of infections and deaths – as can be seen below. And the issue of poverty in the UK (which played its part in the trajectory of the pandemic since March 2020) is still not being adequately addressed – as it will never be under the capitalist system.

At the same time it’s convenient for the Buffoon and his government (and for the governments in many countries in the ‘west’) that there’s now a war going on to distract attention from anything that isn’t directly related to the Ukraine.

The Buffoon will argue that to bring up any discussion about the breaking of national rules in Downing Street on numerous occasions in the last couple of years is unimportant and a distraction from the war ‘where people are dying in their thousands’. But the untrustworthiness of the Buffoon is important when we consider that he is stoking the fires of war by the sending of serious levels of lethal weaponry to keep the Ukrainians fighting – for the benefit of the NATO and the capitalist governments of the ‘west’. For whose benefit is he sending those weapons? His disregard for the well being of the British population indicates that he will have little regard to the lives of Ukrainians and that he is playing (as many of the other ‘world leaders) a geopolitical game where the Ukrainians are merely the disposable pawns. (More on the hypocrisy of the ‘west’.)

And the Buffoons true level of concern for other people can be seen by the way in which the British Government has been one of the biggest supporters of ‘Big Pharma’ and refusing to support the relaxing of Intellectual Property (IP) rights on vaccines so that they can be produced in many more places in the world. This total disregard for the well being of the poorest in the world – whilst at the same time offering (i.e., buying support within a section of the British population) a fourth vaccination to those who don’t really need it – is no surprise and only goes to demonstrate, if it was still needed, that these people consider only themselves ad the class they represent.

The fact that this refusal to act in a manner to vaccinate as many people as possible throughout the world will almost certainly lead to new variants appearing – whether they will be relatively ‘benign’ (as they have been recently with Omicron) or true killer variants will have to be seen.

Finally, another Ukrainian war aspect that might come into play is the fact that the Ukraine had a low level of vaccination prior to the outbreak of hostilities. The trauma caused by the war and the leaving of their homes means that the refugees will be even less able to deal (physically and psychologically) with the virus if they come into contact with it on their journey west. Although Ukrainian refugees are being treated in a different way to that of previous waves in the last ten years or so there will be many who will attempt to get west by routes that are unregulated. Unless there is an effective testing regime in place (which hasn’t really been evident in Britain in the last two years), as well as the adequate provision, distribution and use of vaccines then the ‘wave’ of Ukrainian refugees could be introducing another wave of covid.

Vaccination programme in Britain …

Uptake of children’s covid vaccines is low in the UK – and their slow, confused approval is to blame.

Spring booster offered to elderly and vulnerable in England.

…. and worldwide

Covid vaccines not linked to deaths, major US study finds.

Top economists and Oxfam leader demand truly just covid IP (Intellectual Property) waiver.

Covid vaccines: WTO (World Trade Organisation) compromise over India and South Africa’s proposal is disappointing.

Treatment other than vaccines

Molnupiravir: why are there potential safety issues around this covid antiviral?

The pandemic worldwide

The changing political geography of covid-19 – during the fourth wave of the pandemic, death rates in the most pro-Trump counties were about four times what they were in the most pro-Biden counties.

Global covid-19 death toll ‘may be three times higher than official figures’.

The pandemic’s true death toll.

Covid variants

What are the Covid variants and do vaccines still work?

Deltacron: what scientists know so far about this new hybrid coronavirus.

‘Long covid’

Even mild cases of covid-19 can leave a mark on the brain, such as reductions in gray matter.

Lessons of the pandemic – two years on

‘We suppressed our scientific imagination’: four experts examine the big successes and failures of the covid response so far.

The hard lessons we learned – and didn’t – from two years in Pandemic School

Two years into the pandemic, which of our newly formed habits are here to stay?

Two years on, what has covid-19 taught us? A human rights-centered way forward.

Two years on, complacency still plagues global covid-19 response.

Did the covid lockdowns work? Here’s what we know two years on.

Testing

No PCR, no problem: how covid can be diagnosed with X-rays.

Zoe Covid-tracking app loses government funding.

Testing sewage has helped track covid – soon it could reveal much more about the UK’s health.

Transmissibility

Why we shouldn’t worry about covid spilling back from animals into human populations.

Susceptibility

Risk of severe disease could be in your blood.

Why do some people never get covid?

‘Collateral damage’

How the pandemic has affected periods.

The NHS backlog recovery plan and the outlook for waiting lists.

Covid has intensified gender inequalities. Researchers find women hit harder by negative social and economic impacts of the pandemic than men.

Universities after covid: as lecture theatres reopen, some pandemic teaching methods should live on.

Five things the UK must prioritise in its pandemic recovery plan.

Fraud, corruption and the pandemic

Government’s anti-fraud efforts was like Dad’s Army operation.

Audit Scotland: Watchdog concern over where £5 billion covid funds went.

Covid bailouts helped politically connected businesses more than others.

Will economic inactivity be another unwelcome side-effect of the pandemic?

Poverty in Britain

Housing associations stepping up support for tenants struggling with energy costs.

Not strictly about poverty but any changes that are made to deal with the climate emergency, if they are not well thought out, will have consequences and the poorest in society will bear the brunt of the problems. ‘Shrinking footprints; the impacts of the net zero transition on households and consumption’ is a report produced by the Resolution Foundation.

In February the Institute of Fiscal Studies produce a report in the changes to social care charges, Does the cap fit? Analysing the government’s proposed amendment to the English social care charging system. And the Full Report.

Sweeping changes to student loans to hit tomorrow’s lower-earning graduates.

Living standards for UK households set for greatest fall since 1970s.

Government failing to ensure a decent life for older people as pensioner poverty spirals. Full Report – The State of Ageing – 2022

The Trussel Trust (which operates the biggest number of food banks in the UK) has produced a report on hunger in one of the richest countries in the world. The full report, the executive summary, the technical annex.

Poverty in later life: How people in older age move in and out of poverty, and what should be done to reduce it. Full report by Independent Age.

A more caring society after the pandemic?

Did the pandemic drive a desire for more generous welfare? New research suggests not.

More on covid pandemic 2020-2?

View of the world

Ukraine – what you’re not told