How Politics Corrupted Science: Dr. Vinay Prasad on COVID
For Fraction of Pentagon Budget, World Could Prevent 1.5 Million Covid Deaths
As World Confronts Omicron Variant, Top 8 Pfizer & Moderna Investors Make $10 Billion in a Week
How Bill Gates Impeded Global Access to Covid Vaccines
Bill Gates: The Billionaire Who Puts Vaccine Profiteering Above Human Life
Bank Blocks Donations Supporting Cuban Effort to Vaccinate World
WHO says: “Countries shouldn’t require proof of vaccination as international travel requirement”
“Pandemic, Inc.”: J. David McSwane on Chasing Capitalists & Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick (interview with book author)
"In “Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich
While We Got Sick,” ProPublica investigative reporter J. David McSwane
tracks pandemic federal relief funds and finds many contracts to acquire
critical supplies were wrapped up in unprecedented fraud schemes that
left the U.S. government with subpar and unusable equipment. He says an
array of contractors were “trying to take advantage of our national
emergency,” and calls the book “a blueprint of what not to do” during
the next pandemic."
The U.S. Billionaires Profiting the Most from the Pandemic
"(billionaires) in the United States have accumulated an additional
$1.7 trillion of net worth since the start of the pandemic two years
ago... The net worth gain of every U.S. billionaire combined over the last two
years could finance a majority of the ambitious plan (Build Back Better) without the
profiteers becoming any poorer in the process. The immense wealth
disparity is also evident when comparing the U.S.' 704 billionaires with
the 65 million households making up the bottom half of U.S. society in terms of income. The latter's combined net worth clocks in at around $3.4 trillion, that of the billionaire class adds up to $4.6 trillion."
Zero Covid And The POWER, INCENTIVES of the Chinese Regime | Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar
A discussion of whether capital or political power controls public policy in the US and China.
"On December 21st 2021, Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian asked the CDC to shorten the COVID isolation policy from 10 days to 5 days. On December 7 the CDC updated and revised their isolation and quarantine guidelines from 10 to 5 days.
Dr Fauci (speaking with CNN's Jim Acosta) "with the sheer number of cases we are having, and that we expect to continue with omicron, one of the things we want to be careful of is that we don't want to have so many people out. I mean obviously if you have symptoms you should stay home, but if you're asymptomatic and you're infected...we want to get these people back to jobs, particularly those with essential jobs that keep our society running smoothly."
AFTER 2 YEARS OF COVID, U.S. BILLIONAIRES ARE $1.7 TRILLION, OR 57%, RICHER
"Two years into the biggest national
health crisis in recent history, U.S. billionaires’ wealth continues to
soar above the misery: as of March 10, their collective wealth has shot
up by $1.7 trillion, or 57%, since the pandemic emergency was proclaimed
in mid-March 2020. Their total wealth reached $4.6 trillion, up from
$2.95 trillion on March 18, 2020, according to the latest report from
Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) based on Forbes data. The number of
U.S. billionaires increased by 15%, from 614 to 704. Data can be found
in the table below and here for all billionaires"
A Poor People’s Pandemic Report "Mapping the Intersections of Poverty, Race and COVID-19
April 2022"
"In the US, the pandemic was debilitating, resulting in an estimated 1.2
million increase of people living with disabilities, totaling one in
four adults living with disabilities in the US. All faced inaccessible
and inadequate healthcare resources during the pandemic, as well as
higher rates of unemployment, and over-representation in low-wage
positions (Roberts et al. 2022; CDC, 2020; Adler et al. 2021; Kinsella,
2022)."
"People over the age of 65 experienced the greatest loss of life, comprising 75% of COVID-19 deaths in the US - or -1 in 100 older Americans died, compared to 1 in 1,400 people under the age of 65 (Bosman et al. 2021). While the greatest number of deaths have been among non-Hispanic white people, the rates of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have been higher among people of color: American Indian or Alaska Natives are 3.1 times more likely to be hospitalized, Black or African Americans are 2.5 times more likely to be hospitalized and 1.7 times more likely to die, and Hispanic or Latino persons are 1.5 times more likely to get COVID and 2.3 times more likely to be hospitalized (CDC, 2022)."
'A Poor People's Pandemic': Poorest US Counties Suffered Twice the Covid Deaths of Richest
"A first-of-its-kind examination of the coronavirus pandemic's impact on low-income communities published
Monday shows that Covid-19 has been twice as deadly in poor counties as
in wealthy ones, a finding seen as a damning indictment of the U.S.
government's pandemic response."
Excess mortality during the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19)
Calling Me a Hero Only Makes You Feel Better
Wisconsin sees at least seven cases of COVID-19 as a result of in-person voting amid pandemic
After Two Years of Covid, Report Finds Pandemic Made Far Deadlier by 'Greed'
"While effective vaccines provide hope, their rollout has tipped, from a
natural desire to protect citizens, into nationalism, greed, and
self-interest," reads Oxfam's report, compiled on behalf of the People's
Vaccine Alliance. "Large numbers of people in low-income countries face
the virus unprotected and millions of people would still be alive today
if they had had access to a vaccine. Big pharmaceutical corporations
have been given free rein to prioritize profits ahead of vaccine
equality."
"The richest 10 men doubled their fortunes during the pandemic and a new
billionaire is being created every 26 hours," the report notes. "Of
those new billionaires, 40 of them have made their billions profiting
from vaccines, treatments, tests, and [personal protective equipment]."
Here is the OXFAM report
PANDEMIC OF GREED A wake-up call for vaccine equity at a grim milestone
EU Chief Defends Vaccine Patents as 'Precious' as South Africa Demands Waiver
"We are talking about the lives of millions, hundreds of millions, of
people rather than the profitability of the few companies," he
continued. "It is not acceptable that Africa is consistently at the back
of the queue in relation to access to medicines. While we appreciate
the donations, they are never a sustainable way or mechanism to build
resilience. Help to empower us, let us tackle obstacles together."
'A Game-Changer': Defying Big Pharma, WHO Expands Vaccine Tech Sharing
"This is a game-changer," Dearden said in a statement. "The pharmaceutical system is being remade from the ground up by lower- and middle-income countries. These countries have seen the damage that reliance on the profit-hungry big pharmaceutical corporations has done."
"While some countries have barely received
any Covid-19 vaccines, rich nations are throwing millions of doses in
the bin, and the three big corporations producing mRNA vaccines are
raking in $1,000 a second in profit," he added. "It's time to end this
obscenity."
Model-based estimates of deaths averted and cost per life saved by scaling-up mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in low and lower-middle income countries in the COVID-19 Omicron variant era
"Findings Global scale up of vaccination to provide two
doses of mRNA vaccine to everyone in LIC/LMIC would cost $35.5 billion
and avert 1.3 million deaths from COVID-19, at a cost of $26,900 per
death averted. Scaling up vaccination to provide three doses of mRNA
vaccine to everyone in LIC/LMIC would cost $61.2 billion and avert 1.5
million deaths from COVID-19 at a cost of $40,800 per death averted.
Lower estimated infection fatality ratios, higher cost-per-dose, and
lower vaccine effectiveness or uptake lead to higher cost-per-death
averted estimates in the analysis."
FDA asks federal judge for 55 years to complete FOIA request for Pfizer vaccine information
"The Food and Drug Administration is asking a federal court to allow it
to take nearly 55 years to release data on Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to
the public.
PHMPT also made a request for expedited processing of its FOIA submission, arguing there is a "compelling need" for the FDA to speedily release Pfizer vaccine data "because a lack of transparency erodes the confidence the medical and scientific community and the public have in the conclusions reached by the FDA."
"During a time when COVID-19 vaccine mandates are being implemented over the objection of those that have questions about the data and information supporting the safety and efficacy of the Pfizer Vaccine, and individuals with these questions are being expelled from employment, school, transportation, and the military, the public has an urgent and immediate need to have access to this data," PHMPT said in its FOIA request."
"It took the FDA precisely 108 days from when Pfizer started producing the records for licensure (on May 7, 2021) to when the FDA licensed the Pfizer vaccine (on August 23, 2021). Taking the FDA at its word, it conducted an intense, robust, thorough, and complete review and analysis of those documents in order to assure that the Pfizer vaccine was safe and effective for licensure," he wrote."Lessons We’ve Learned — Covid-19 and the Undocumented Latinx Community
"After years of anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy, the fear and mistrust in this community was understandable, painful, and palpable.
Speaking with patients, we learned that transmission was fueled by
poverty and economic necessity. Patients were grateful that Maryland’s
stay-at-home orders didn’t apply to their jobs in construction,
landscaping, cleaning, and cooking. Ineligible for unemployment benefits
and with barely any savings, undocumented immigrants couldn’t afford to
stay home, even if their jobs entailed traveling in vans with sick
people or working without masks in crowded settings. Many people working
under informal arrangements and without government protections
continued to work while sick, fearing being fired.
Housing instability was so prevalent that we began routinely asking people whether they lived in a basement.
Another patient, who was using a high-flow nasal cannula and was on the verge of requiring intubation, asked to leave so he could work and send money to his family in Guatemala.
essential workers need occupational protections, higher wages, and access to care. People who take risks to keep society functioning shouldn’t struggle to pay rent or medical bills when they get sick. State and local officials should work with employers and hold them accountable for protecting workers and providing adequate paid medical leave."
