(2021-12-17). Scientists warn of looming catastrophe as Omicron spreads globally. wsws.org The most serious and principled scientists are issuing increasingly stark warnings of the coming tidal wave of infections, hospitalizations and deaths as winter approaches in the Northern Hemisphere.
(2021-12-17). COVID-19: Los países de bajos ingresos han administrado la mitad de dosis totales que las dosis de refuerzo administradas en las naciones ricas. cubadebate.cu Un año desde que se administraron las primeras vacunas COVID-19, muchas partes del mundo permanecen peligrosamente desprotegidas. La propagación de la variante Omicron del coronavirus ha significado que muchos países están intensificando sus campañas de refuerzo. El aumento ha sido tan rápido que el análisis de Sky News ha encontrado que el número de dosis de refuerzo administradas por persona en los países ricos es el doble del número total de todas las dosis de la vacuna COVID administradas en los países de bajos ingresos.
(2021-12-17). Boosters vital to mitigate impact of Omicron, but may lose some effectiveness. imperial.ac.uk Levels of neutralizing antibody to prevent Omicron infection reduced and vaccine efficacy against severe disease predicted to drop says new report.
(2021-12-17). COVID-19 infections in France explode to over 60,000 per day. wsws.org As the vaccine-resistant Omicron variant spreads across Europe, daily new cases in France are exploding, rising from 5,940 cases to over 60,000 in just one month.
(2021-12-17). Pennsylvania educators call for immediate closure of schools to stop the spread of COVID-19. wsws.org Our committee demands the immediate closure of all schools and non-essential workplaces as part of a massive public health measure to stop the spread of COVID-19 and the highly infectious Omicron variant.
(2021-12-17). Cornell University shuts down in the face of a massive surge of Omicron infections. wsws.org A massive surge of Omicron infections at Cornell University's Ithaca campus forced the university president to shut down and raise the threat level to "red."
(2021-12-17). Modelling suggests rapid spread of Omicron in England but same severity as Delta. imperial.ac.uk Omicron largely evades immunity from past infection or two vaccine doses according to Imperial's latest report.
(2021-12-17). Omicron case identified in New Zealand. wsws.org The Labour Party-led government claims that it is "very well-prepared" to keep Omicron out of New Zealand, when in reality it has ditched its elimination strategy and is allowing the Delta variant to spread nationwide.
(2021-12-17). Only a COVID-19 elimination strategy can protect educators, students, and their families from the Omicron tsunami! wsws.org The nearly two years of the pandemic have conclusively demonstrated that a science-based strategy that prioritizes saving workers' lives over corporate profits and investor wealth will only be imposed through the independent intervention of the working class.
(2021-12-17). Reports point to the rapid spread of cases in US auto plants amid an explosion of Omicron. wsws.org While official case numbers are for the most part being tightly guarded by management and the UAW, available information points to a continuing surge of COVID cases in auto plants.
(2021-12-17). 'Virus hunters' race against time in East China. ecns.cn Medical workers at Zhenhai District Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, have been devoted to the fight against COVID-19 since the first local case of a new surge was reported on Dec. 5, 2021.
(2021-12-17). Nurses protest in Tbilisi for better pay and working conditions. peoplesdispatch.org 
A group of nurses and trade union organizers staged a protest in front of Georgia's government headquarters in Tbilisi on December 10, calling for fairer pay and measures to ease the extreme workload they have faced for years. | "Nurses in Georgia are very low in the health system hierarchy, maybe just a bit ahead of orderlies," says Sopo Japaridze from Tbilisi-based trade union Solidarity Network. "Because of this, they don't really have a voice at work, few people consider them to be professionals like doctors are perceived to be professionals," she adds. | Although they do not enjoy the same position in the hi…
(2021-12-17). Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa. wsws.org Continuing strike wave of French transport workers over pay and conditions joined by waste collection workers and extracurricular school staff; national one-day strike across Italy against government's budget joined by teachers demanding more resources; strike by teachers across 100 Iranian cities over pay and conditions attacked by police; municipal and health workers strike in Free State, South Africa over pay and conditions…
(2021-12-17). Unions Demand Covid-19 Safety Measures for Health Workers Be Made Permanent. zcomm.org "OSHA must act swiftly to extend lifesaving protections for health care workers and to create new Covid-19 safety rules for all workers."brett wil…
(2021-12-17). Covid Testing Rackets and Flying Again. dissidentvoice.org The young boy of seven or so was kissing a toy doll affixed with an alarmed face. The doll, no doubt of full Chinese make, was fully tarted up, lips glossy, eyes wide, a blonde with curls. "Stop making out with her," cried his mother, sitting in the seat beside him with concern. "It's creepy." …
(2021-12-17). Indonesia's Economy Grew in 2021 Despite COVID-19, Will Accelerate in 2022. moderndiplomacy.eu The Indonesian economy continued to recover in 2021 despite moderating due to the COVID-19 Delta variant wave mid-year. The economy is estimated to have expanded 3.7 percent this year and is forecast to accelerate to 5.2 percent in 2022, the World Bank said on Thursday. The projection assumes that Indonesia will avoid another severe COVID-19 …
(2021-12-17). NYC opens first safe consumption sites. workers.org 
With fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses dramatically rising during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. needs a new strategy for countering this menace. In a number of cities, steps are underway to counteract this horrible loss of life. One is the foundation of safe consumption sites — places where addicted people . . . |
(2021-12-17). UK announces 88,000 COVID cases in 24 hours as daily record broken twice. wsws.org Wednesday saw the UK pass 11 million cases of COVID—only the fourth to country in the world to reach the tally. It has taken just three weeks for another million people to be infected.
(2021-12-17). Mother threatened with jail and hefty fines for protecting her son from rampant COVID-19 infections in UK schools. wsws.org Sarah Paxman was called to a meeting at her son's primary school under police caution for refusing to send Stanley, who has a number of rare conditions, into school while no serious mitigation measures are in place.
(2021-12-17). Latin America Must Unite To Fight US Interference: Llorenti. telesurenglish.net In an interview to TeleSUR on Thursday, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples' Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) Secretary Sacha Llorenti pointed out that Latin American integration is essential to fight regional issues amid the COVID-19 pandemic. | RELATED: | "Only united, we will be able to fight recession, which has increased the capitalist system's social inequalities and the impact of the U…
(2021-12-17). Volkswagen to cut around 900 temporary jobs in Germany. wsws.org Volkswagen is cutting the positions of around 900 temporary workers in the midst of the current coronavirus wave. VW General Works Council Chairwoman Daniela Cavallo and VW brand board member Ralf Brandstà§tter announced this just four weeks before Christmas in an online workforce meeting.
(2021-12-17). Black Lives Matter: The Power Of Activism & Citizen Journalism. telesurenglish.net The year 2021 is drawing to a close, leaving untouched American structural racism, a legacy of the slave age that capitalism preserves to ensure the reproduction of social inequalities, which have been exacerbated by a pandemic that continues to hit workers in various ways. | RELATED: | In Minnesota, for example, the rate of coronavirus infection in citizens of African descent has remained between 25 and 30 percent…
(2021-12-16). Headlines for December 16, 2021. democracynow.org Unprecedented December Storms Hit Central U.S. as Biden Tours Kentucky Tornado Damage, U.K. and South Africa Set Coronavirus Records as Omicron Spreads Rapidly, Senate Approves Record $778 Billion Pentagon Budget, Build Back Better Act Stalls in Senate Again as Joe Manchin Rejects Expanded Child Tax Credit, Civil Rights Leaders Demand Senate Democrats Pass Federal Voting Rights Legislation, Democrats Call on Biden to Extend Student Loan Pause, Grant Debt Forgiveness, Syrian Conflict Has Stripped Civilians of Access to Healthcare, Created Humanitarian Disaster, Protesters Demand Mexico Decriminalize Immigration to…
(2021-12-16). Cuba Timely Isolates Four Imported Omicron Cases. telesurenglish.net On Thursday, Cuba's Tropical Medicine Institute Pedro Kouri (IPK) detected four Omicron COVID-19 strain cases in travelers who came from Africa and remain asymptomatic. | RELATED: | Two of the confirmed cases are Cubahidraulica Company workers who returned from South Africa and tested positive for COVID-19 while staying in mandatory quarantine. | The other cases correspond to an Ethiopian citizen and a Somalian to…
(2021-12-16). More Than 100 Firms Across the World Can Make the mRNA Vaccine If Tech Is Shared. truthout.org 
Image Credit: Facebook: Global Justice Now | As the coronavirus variant Omicron spreads across the world at an unprecedented rate, a group of vaccine experts has just released a list of over 100 companies in Africa, Asia and Latin America with the potential to produce mRNA vaccine. They say it is the one of the most viable solutions to fight vaccine inequity around the world and combat the spread of coronavirus variants, including Omicron. We speak to Achal Prabhala, one of the vaccine exper…
(2021-12-16). Omicron explodes in Australia as governments scrap nearly all safety measures. wsws.org As a result of truly criminal decisions taken by governments, Liberal-National and Labor Party alike, millions of people face infection within weeks.
(2021-12-16). Sinovac booster shot shows 94% neutralization efficacy against Omicron: company. ecns.cn The latest study shows a third shot of Chinese biotech firm Sinovac's inactivated vaccine can more than double the vaccine's neutralizing antibody positive rate against the Omicron variant.
(2021-12-16). Pfizer CEO: Omicron Spreading Fast But Mild Isn't A Good Thing, Could Infect Billions, Lead to More Mutations. moguldom.com The omicron variant appears to be milder than previous strains but it is spreading faster and this could lead to more mutations in the future, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told The Wall Street Journal. Bourla said he expects the number of confirmed covid-19 cases to surge from dozens to millions over the next few weeks. …
(2021-12-16). Governments refuse to take action as Omicron variant surges throughout the world. wsws.org As the official death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic has exceeded 800,000 in the United States, public health officials are warning of a "tsunami" of COVID-19 cases in the coming weeks and months.
(2021-12-16). As Omicron Spreads, 100+ Firms in Africa, Asia & Latin America Can Make mRNA Vaccine If Tech Shared. democracynow.org 
As the coronavirus variant Omicron spreads across the world at an unprecedented rate, a group of vaccine experts has just released a list of over 100 companies in Africa, Asia and Latin America with the potential to produce mRNA vaccine. They say it is the one of the most viable solutions to fight vaccine inequity around the world and combat the spread of coronavirus variants, including Omicron. We speak to Achal Prabhala, one of the vaccine experts who compiled the list. If mRNA technology could be shared with the listed companies, "we could vaccinate the world in as close to six months from now," says Prabhala.
(2021-12-16). Omicron — latest research and expert views as UK cases hit all-time high. imperial.ac.uk Experts from Imperial are advancing understanding of the Omicron variant and how we can protect against it as the UK's booster rollout gathers speed.
(2021-12-16). Bombshell Document Dump on Pfizer Vaccine Data. globalresearch.ca What is contained in Pfizer's confidential report is detailed evidence on the impacts of the "vaccine" on mortality and morbidity. This data which emanates from the Horse's Mouth can be used to confront as well formulate legal procedures against Big Pharma, the governments, the WHO and the media.
(2021-12-16). Digital Surveillance — the Real Motive Behind Push to Vaccinate Kids. globalresearch.ca "The real purpose behind the historic, unprecedented push to vaccinate the very young, even against diseases like COVID that do not pose a threat to them, is to fold the current generation of children into the blossoming global digital identity …
(2021-12-16). "No Food Available": Afghanistan Faces Catastrophe as Donors Cut Humanitarian Aid to Taliban Gov't. democracynow.org 
Afghanistan under the new Taliban government faces a humanitarian catastrophe this winter as the United States and other donors have cut off financial aid. The United Nations warns nearly 23 million people in Afghanistan — or more than half the population — face potentially life-threatening food shortages, with nearly 9 million already on the brink of famine. In addition, people face lack of proper healthcare, unemployment and housing shortages. "The international aid organizations, for them, it's just another country … where they take pictures and make their careers out of it," says Pashtana Durran…
(2021-12-16). Key Body Demands Complete Ban on Glyphosate in India. dissidentvoice.org In October 2020, Pesticide Action Network India and PAN Asia Pacific released the report 'State of Glyphosate Use in India'. It concluded that the use of the world's most widely used herbicide is rampant. Despite this, it noted that its disturbing effects on the environment and the health of farmworkers and the public are not …
(2021-12-16). The issues in the Turkish health care workers national strike. wsws.org The Turkish Trotskyists support this strike movement and call on all workers and youth to draw the necessary lessons for the development of an independent political and social movement of the international working class.
(2021-12-16). West Coast hospitals severely stressed as winter surge begins. wsws.org The situation facing the health care system on the West Coast exposes the criminality of the Alliance of Health Care Unions, which rammed through a contract at Kaiser Permanente earlier this month.
(2021-12-16). President Arce Grants Loans To the Añez Regime's Victims. telesurenglish.net On Wednesday, Bolivian President Luis Arce created a trust worth US$1 million that provides loans to the 2019 Senkata and Sacaba massacre's victims and their relatives. | RELATED: | "The beneficiaries, who must be registered by the Justice and Health Ministries, will receive 10-year loans with an annual interest rate of 0.5 percent," Justice Minister Ivan Lima explained, adding that the Productive Develop…
(2021-12-16). Health workers hang up their lab coats in protest. peoplesdispatch.org More than 300 health workers in Konjic in the south of Bosnia and Herzegovina decided to hang up their lab coats at the entrance of Konjic General Hospital on 15 December, in protest against a financial crisis that the town's health institutions have been struggling with for months on end. Nurses, doctors, and other health workers warned the authorities that this was their last warning before they quit en masse, a move that would cause the collapse of health services in the area. | The protest is the latest in a series of workers' actions since late November this year. Until now, workers have engaged in striking…
(2021-12-16). Hawaiians demand justice after pollution of water source from navy facility. peoplesdispatch.org On December 10, the Hawaii Department of Health announced that the Navy found gasoline and diesel-range hydrocarbons in the Red Hill shaft. For eight decades, the Navy has stored upwards of 200 million gallons of fuel only about 100 feet above an underground aquifer…
(2021-12-16). 'The Truth of COVID-19 — The India Statement': Citizens and Experts Call for a Halt to COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout in India. globalresearch.ca The mass rollout of COVID-19 vaccines should be halted immediately. These experimental vaccines pose serious dangers. That is the message contained in a statement from concerned citizens soon to be forwarded to India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. | The statement's signatories …
(2021-12-16). Iranian vaccines to be exported to other countries soon: FM. en.mehrnews.com Hungary agreed to accept the visa of Iranian citizens vaccinated with Iranian-made vaccines, the Iranian Foreign Minister said, adding that in the near future, Iranian vaccines will be exported to other countries.
(2021-12-16). Latest VAERS estimate: 388,000 Americans killed by the COVID vaccines. globalresearch.ca An independent derivation of the VAERS URF using the CMS death data leads to a URF of 44.64 which then leads to a 388K excess death estimate. | My …
(2021-12-16). China-Africa friendship continues to flourish on vaccine, trade, renewable energy. mronline.org 
China-Africa friendship is expected to continue to flourish as cooperation is further deepened in various areas after the ongoing 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Dakar, Senegal.
(2021-12-16). Austria Vaccine Tyranny: Strategy Session #39 With Robert Bridge. strategic-culture.org Internationally published journalist Robert Bridge explains some of the big problems he sees in the break-down of civil society in Austria. New mandates pose a big problem, and threaten to entirely eliminate important lessons learned in the 20th century about coercion and freedom.
(2021-12-16). Video: Graphene Hydroxide in the mRNA Vaccine Vial: Assassination of Dr. Andreas Noack. globalresearch.ca ** | First published on …
(2021-12-16). Why Cuba Does Not Have an Anti-Vaccine Movement. libya360.wordpress.com Marc Vandepitte, Toon Danhieux Increasingly, large sectors of the European population, and in the US to a lesser extent, openly express their distrust towards their government's policies to combat COVID-19. The reaction of the traditional policy is one of panic and is characterized by paternalism and repression: general obligation to vaccinate and restricting freedom of…
(2021-12-16). South Africa Keeps Restrictions Low As COVID-19 Cases Rise. telesurenglish.net On Thursday, the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) has retained lockdown restrictions at "adjusted level 1," which is the lowest of a five-tier system of restrictions. | RELATED: | "It makes sense to keep lockdown at this level as hospitals are not overwhelmed at this stage. We need to tighten lockdown measures when hospitalization admissions and ICU are higher," said Angelique Coetzee, chairperson of the Sout…
(2021-12-16). COVID-19 experts from Imperial and Singapore share lessons from pandemic. imperial.ac.uk Scientists from the UK and Singapore have come together to discuss their research during the COVID-19 pandemic at an online symposium.
(2021-12-16). Fake Science, Invalid Data: There is No Such Thing as a "Confirmed Covid-19 Case". There is No Pandemic. globalresearch.ca Approximately 260 million people Worldwide have been categorized as "confirmed Covid-19 cases". The alleged pandemic is said to have resulted in more than 5 million Covid-19 related deaths. Both sets of figures: morbidity and mortality are invalid.