Daily Archives: January 21, 2021

2021-01-21: News Headlines

MEE and agencies (2021-01-21). Covid-19: Dubai suspends non-essential surgery, entertainment after surge in cases. middleeasteye.net Covid-19: Dubai suspends non-essential surgery, entertainment after surge in cases | The increase in infections in the UAE came after the emirate relaxed its entry requirements to boost tourism and save its economy | Thu, 01/21/2021 – 10: 28 | Dubai plans to vaccinate at least 50 per cent of its population using China's SinoPharm vaccine (AFP) | Dubai has suspended all non-essential surger…

imperial.ac.uk (2021-01-21). Vaccines may not signal immediate end to epidemic, researchers say. imperial.ac.uk The vaccine rollout may not signal an immediate end to the Covid-19 epidemic, according to latest modeling from Imperial's Covid-19 Response Team.

RT (2021-01-21). 'With lives at stake, politics must be forgotten': Sputnik V sponsor warns demonizing Russian vaccine distracts from saving people. rt.com Saving human lives amid the raging global pandemic is much more important than following political considerations, Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund that sponsored Sputnik V vaccine development, told RT. | "We are strongly against the politicization of the vaccine," said Dmitriev, adding that when it comes to health and the very life of many people, "one should forget about politics or any attempts to 'contain' Russia." | In its international dealings related to Russia's pioneering Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, RDIF is simply guided by the principle of helping those in need and is ready…

news.un (2021-01-21). COVID 'vaccine hoarding' putting Africa at risk: WHO. news.un.org Africa is in danger of being left behind in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines as countries in other regions strike bilateral deals, thus driving up prices, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Thursday.

Dr. Joseph Mercola (2021-01-21). Fauci Now Says COVID-19 Vaccine May Become Mandatory. globalresearch.ca Will the COVID-19 vaccine become mandatory? That's a question many are asking these days and, by the looks of it, the answer may well be yes — although as I'll explain later, I suspect the harms of the vaccine will …

news.un (2021-01-21). Fauci announces US intention to resume major role in global health. news.un.org The United States' top medical official said on Thursday that the US will now join the World Health Organization's global initiative to help poorer nations overcome COVID-19, in addition to a raft of new measures in support of access to universal healthcare, such as abortion services.

_____ (2021-01-21). Lord Ashcroft — Tory donors outsourcing firm lands £350m vaccination contract. truepublica.org.uk By Peter Geoghegan and Russel Scott: A healthcare company ultimately controlled by a leading Tory donor and former party chairman, Lord Ashcroft, has received a £350m contract as part of the government's COVID-19 vaccination roll-out, openDemocracy has learned. Last month the Department of Health and Social Care gave the lucrative contract to Medacs Healthcare plc. In recent …

Judith Deutsch (2021-01-21). Israel at the Current Global Juncture. socialistproject.ca How does Israel fit in with current global emergencies and unprecedented dangers, those being the worsening provision of food, water, shelter, and healthcare for the global population, the COVID-19 pandemic and warnings of worse to come, and climate-related calamities? Massive fatalities and immiseration are not inevitable, but the current human situation is shaped by forces …

mgrochowski (2021-01-21). Domestic Worker Organizing in Times of Crisis: Perspectives from the US and Latin America. dsausa.org Domestic workers have been hard hit by the global pandemic. Forced to choose between losing their jobs and livelihoods to protect their health or to continue to go to work while risking exposure to the virus in the homes they work in and in the public transportation they use to get to their workplaces, domestic…

John Rubino (2021-01-21). Why Hardly Anyone Trusts the Virus Experts. globalresearch.ca Early in the pandemic, "trust the science!" could actually be used in a debate without attracting derisive laughter. But as the flip-flops, mistakes and, yes, lies have accumulated, a consensus seems to be forming that the health care authorities are …

Knowledge Protects (2021-01-21). 30 Kinds Of Hunting, Fishing Deaths and Injuries. indybay.org Accidents and diseases resulting from killing animals, birds, fishes…

Children's Health Defense (2021-01-21). Vaccine Injury Reporting Systems 'Utterly Inadequate,' Independent Researchers Say. globalresearch.ca New peer-reviewed study of adverse events following MMRV vaccines highlights the urgent need for independent research on vaccine safety and the importance of informed consent and vaccine choice. | *** | As health officials strive to brush off as "

Steve Watson (2021-01-21). Barrage of New Countries and Airlines to Adopt Vaccine Passports. globalresearch.ca New York Times admits schemes could lead to "a dystopic system that would limit the rights of people who have been careful to avoid infection and are unable or unwilling to be vaccinated" | *** | Several more countries have indicated that …

news.un (2021-01-21). Guterres urges world to 'work together in solidarity' as US moves to rejoin WHO. news.un.org The United Nations Secretary-General on Wednesday welcomed the announcement by President Joe Biden that the United States will re-engage with the World Health Organization (WHO) and play a full role in advancing global health and health security.

John C. A. Manley (2021-01-21). Medical Doctor Warns that "Bacterial Pneumonias Are on the Rise" from Mask Wearing. globalresearch.ca Important article by John C. A Manley. First published in October 2020 | "A group is suing Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum and Tulsa Health Department Executive Director Bruce Dart, saying the city's mask mandate is harmful to healthy people," reports

Colin Todhunter (2021-01-21). Farmers' Protests Reflect Existential Crisis of Indian Agriculture. globalresearch.ca With over 800 million people, rural India is arguably the most interesting and complex place on the planet but is plagued by farmer suicides, child malnourishment, growing unemployment, increased informalisation, indebtedness and an overall collapse of agriculture. | Given that India …

MEE and agencies (2021-01-20). Covid-19: Turkey vaccinates more than one million people, says health ministry. middleeasteye.net Covid-19: Turkey vaccinates more than one million people, says health ministry | Turkey has now given a first shot of the coronavirus vaccine to more than one percent of the population | Wed, 01/20/2021 – 13: 17 | A healthcare worker checks the body temperature of an elderly woman at a nursing home in Ankara, on 19 January 2021, amid the Covid-19 pandemic (AFP) | More than one million peop…

Michael Day (2021-01-20). Italian Doctors Sanctioned for Raising Questions About COVID Vaccine. anti-empire.com An Italian doctors association has warned or disciplined 10 medics for promoting anti-vaccination propaganda and is considering sanctions against three others who are accused of downplaying the gravity of covid-19. | This comes amid growing concern that public scepticism over covid-19 vaccines could undermine Europe's fight against the coronavirus pandemic. | Antonio Magi, president of the Ordine dei Medici di Roma (Rome Doctors Guild), said that inquiries into 10 medics accused of unwarranted criticism of vaccinations had been completed, with punishments ranging from warnings to two month suspensions. The other…

Jackie Salo (2021-01-20). Israel's Fauci Says Pfizer Vaccine's First Dose Less Effective Than Drugmaker Indicated. anti-empire.com A single dose of Pfizer's vaccine may be less effective than the drugmaker had indicated, Israel's COVID-19 czar has warned. | Nachman Ash — Israel's equivalent of Dr. Anthony Fauci — said the protection offered by the first dose is "less effective than we had thought," "Many people have been infected between the first and second injections of the vaccine," Ash said, adding that the protective effect appears "lower than [the data] presen…

Scott Newman (2021-01-20). Dean Baker on Beating Inequality & COVID-19: Tackle Patent and Copyright Monopolies. theanalysis.news Intellectual property like pharmaceutical patents is one reason so many people face a long wait for COVID-19 vaccines says Dean Baker. GPEnewsdocs…

RT (2021-01-20). UK travel agency bashes 'disgusting' competitor over new policy making Covid-19 vaccination mandatory. rt.com A UK travel agency has publicly blasted a rival, Saga Holidays, after it announced a new policy requiring all customers to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Hundreds of others have joined in the condemnation. | Saga Holidays announced its mandatory vaccine policy in a statement on Wednesday, telling customers that they "must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 at least 14 days before travelling" through the company. | Accepting that the policy would be "disappointing" for many, the company said it wanted to ensure the "safest possible experience" for customers. | A message to all holiday customers. Please…

_____ (2021-01-20). 'Subsidizing The Spread Of Covid'. popularresistance.org Nearly 200 corporate landlords received $320 million in federal pandemic-related assistance only to turn around and file more than 5,380 evictions between mid-March and mid-October of last year, recklessly displacing thousands of impoverished Americans in the midst of a public health and economic emergency. | That's according to Taxpayer Subsidized Evictions: Corporate Landlords Pocket Federal Sweetheart Deals, Subsidies, and Tax Breaks While Evicting Struggling Families, a newreport(pdf) published Tuesday by the Jobs With Justice Education Fund and the Private Equity Stakeholder Project.

_____ (2021-01-20). Biden Lifts Health Care Plan From Insurance Lobbyists. popularresistance.org President-elect Joe Biden's new COVID relief plan does not adopt existing Democratic legislation to expand government sponsored medical coverage nor does it propose a promised public health insurance option. Instead, it adopts proposals from health insurance lobbying groups' recent letter to lawmakers demanding lucrative new subsidies for insurance companies, at a moment when those corporations have recorded record profits as millions lose coverage and many face claims denials. | Biden's plan would shovel billions of dollars to private health insurers by providing subsidies for Americans to buy coverage through t…

Andrew Perez (2021-01-20). "Covid Relief Plan": Biden Lifts Health Care Plan from Insurance Lobbyists. globalresearch.ca President-elect Joe Biden's new COVID relief plan does not adopt existing Democratic legislation to expand government sponsored medical coverage nor does it propose a promised public health insurance option. Instead, it adopts proposals from health insurance lobbying groups' recent …

Staff (2021-01-20). NYC Cancels Thousands of Vaccine Appointments Due to Lack of Federal Supply. truthout.org On Wednesday, while New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a coronavirus press conference that the state would be running out of vaccines to administer in "Approx 22…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-20). Brazilians celebrate arrival of Venezuelan oxygen supplies to struggling Manaus. peoplesdispatch.org Following the collapse of the healthcare system in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, Venezuela has sent 130,000 liters of oxygen and a brigade of 107 doctors to help combat the pandemic…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-01-20). Brazilians celebrate arrival of Venezuelan oxygen to struggling Manaus. peoplesdispatch.org Following the collapse of the healthcare system in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, Venezuela has sent 130,000 liters of oxygen and a brigade of 107 doctors to help combat the pandemic…

news.un (2021-01-20). Healthy diets 'nearly impossible' for 1.9 billion in Asia-Pacific: UN report. news.un.org The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic and surging food prices have made it "nearly impossible" for almost two billion people in Asia and the Pacific to eat healthy diets, a new United Nations report revealed on Wednesday.

news.un (2021-01-20). Over 1.9 billion people in Asia-Pacific unable to afford a healthy diet: UN report. news.un.org The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic and surging food prices are keeping almost two billion people in Asia and the Pacific from healthy diets, United Nations agencies said on Wednesday.

commondreams (2021-01-20). President Biden Announces Plans to Set the U.S. on Course Toward a Greener, Healthier Future. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Jessica Corbett, staff writer (2021-01-20). Joining COVAX 'Not Enough': Biden Told to Compel Big Pharma to Share Vaccine Recipe With the World. commondreams.org "If the United States leads the way to expand production, we can overcome scarcity, rationing, and preventable death, suffering, and misery." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Shawgi Tell (2021-01-20). Vaccine Will Not Reverse Economic Problems. dissidentvoice.org No matter how many vaccines are rush-produced by large for-profit corporations with a long record of malpractice, vaccines will not reverse severe economic deterioration because the economic collapse, nationally and internationally, was not caused by any virus.1 The economic depression that is unfolding was a long time in the making and was accelerated and intensified …

Katie Alvord (2021-01-20). Is Wireless Technology an Environmental Health Risk? globalresearch.ca Early in 2012, I started having debilitating cognitive lapses, pressure headaches, nausea and worse when around wireless and electronic devices. | That winter and spring, I'd put in long hours, drafting an eco-themed novel, writing for a hyperlocal news blog and …

Staff (2021-01-19). U.S. Rep. Tlaib: "Israel Is a Racist State That Would Deny Palestinians Like My Grandmother a Vaccine" democracynow.org Israel has been hailed as having the world's most vaccinated population, but Palestinians are not included. Human Rights Watch and others have called on Israeli authorities to provide COVID-19 vaccines to the more than 4.5 million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. "Israel is a racist state," responds Congressmember Rashida Talib of Michigan, who is Palestinian American and one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress and says her Palestinian grandmother was denied access to a vaccine. "I hope my colleagues, I hope our country, sees what the Palestinians have been trying to tell us for a…

Staff (2021-01-19). Headlines for January 19, 2021. democracynow.org WHO Warns of "Catastrophic Moral Failure" as Wealthy Nations Hoard Vaccines, U.S. COVID-19 Death Toll Passes 400,000, New York Seeks Vaccines Directly from Pfizer After HHS Fails on Promise to Distribute Doses, FBI to Vet 25,000 National Guard Troops Deploying to Washington, D.C., for Inauguration, FBI Arrests More Far-Right Militia Leaders, White Supremacists Over Capitol Attack, New Yorker Footage Shows How Insurrectionists Breached Senate Chamber on Jan. 6, Senate to Begin Confirmation Hearings for Joe Biden Cabinet Nominees, Biden Executive Orders on Day 1 to Reverse Many of Trump's Most Contentious Actions,…

Jordan Schachtel (2021-01-19). Two Years to Stop the Spread: Australia to Shut Borders Until 2022 Despite Vaccine. anti-empire.com Australians and Kiwis are looking at the very real possibility of being shut off from the rest of the world for at least another year. | The two countries, often touted by the media and the "public health expert" class as a COVID-19 response success story (and In a conversation with the Australian Broadcasting Corpora…

teleSUR (2021-01-19). Nigeria To Tackle COVID-19 by Local Vaccine Production. telesurenglish.net Health Minister Osagie Ehanire on Monday revealed that the Nigerian government has released a US$25.3 million fund to support domestic vaccine production to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. | RELATED: | "While we are working to develop our own vaccines, Nigeria is exploring options for licensed production, in collaboration with recognized institutions. We are also exploring the option of local production of the vaccines," E…

WSWS (2021-01-19). The global COVID vaccination distribution debacle is mirrored in the US. wsws.org The global vaccination distribution has been characterized as a "catastrophic moral failure" by the WHO's director-general. Despite the US predominance in access to these life-saving vaccines, its national vaccine initiative has been a dismal disaster.

news.un (2021-01-19). UN agencies supporting mammoth India COVID-19 vaccine rollout. news.un.org India has begun what is the world's biggest COVID vaccination campaign so far, deploying hundreds of thousands of health workers, with the training and support of the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

Children's Health Defense (2021-01-19). China Health Experts Call for Suspension of COVID Vaccines as Norway Investigates 33 Deaths, Germany Probes 10 Deaths. globalresearch.ca Norway upped the number of deaths under investigation, from 23 last week to 33, while in Germany, health officials said they are investigating 10 deaths that occurred among elderly patients who received the COVID vaccine. | *** | China health experts say …

RT (2021-01-19). WHO panel 'discouraged & frankly disappointed' by global Covid-19 vaccine rollout plan. rt.com An independent WHO panel studying the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has criticized global vaccine rollout plans over inequalities that will see most of Africa missing out on receiving any jabs this year. | "The panel is discouraged and frankly disappointed by the unequal plans for vaccine rollout," panel co-chair Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the former Liberian president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, told an Executive Board meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO). | As things stand now, large-scale distribution of vaccines against the coronavirus won't begin in Africa until 2022 or even 2023, she pointed…

Ali Khan (2021-01-19). U.S. Needs to Quickly Ramp Up Vaccinations. zcomm.org Please Help ZNet Source: Democracy Now! As the United States breaks all records for coronavirus cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns another 92,000 could die in the next three weeks as complaints grow over the slow distribution of COVID vaccines. Across the country, hospitals are overflowing, and ICU beds are in short

teleSUR (2021-01-19). IATA Creates Universal Health Passport for International Travel. telesurenglish.net The initiative will be implemented as of this upcoming March 2021 under the IATA Travel Pass's official name and consists of an application for mobile devices in which passengers can store and administer test certificates for COVID-19 or the vaccine against the disease. | This way, physical documents can be avoided, which provides more security and efficiency and explains the entity in a statement. | RELATED: | It will also allo…

news.un (2021-01-19). Independent panel finds critical early failings in COVID-19 response. news.un.org The global system for pandemic alert and response is "not fit for purpose", highlighting the need for a new framework in the wake of COVID-19, experts appointed by the World Health Organization (WHO) said in an interim report presented on Tuesday.

RT (2021-01-19). Germany extends Covid-19 lockdown, makes masks compulsory amid fears of new virus strains. rt.com Chancellor Angela Merkel and Germany's 16 state leaders have agreed to extend the country's current lockdown until the middle of February in response to the spread of Covid-19 and the appearance of new variants. | Confirming the extension on Tuesday evening, Merkel said the country's efforts to control Covid-19 were being threatened by a spreading new mutation in the virus, and she called for a common European approach in tackling the strain. | Schools, non-essential retail, restaurants, bars and cafes are all closed under Germany's current restrictions. | Among a raft of new health measures also agreed upon i…

WSWS (2021-01-19). Surge in COVID-19 on UK's Isle of Wight overwhelms health care infrastructure. wsws.org Stephen Parker, medical director of the island's National Health Service Trust, warned, "If the NHS is going to be overwhelmed, it is going to be in the next two to four weeks."

Editor (2021-01-19). Patching up capitalism during COVID. workers.org On Jan. 21, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first recognized case of COVID-19 in the U.S. One year later, over 400,000 people in the country are dead from the virus — the equivalent of wiping out the entire population of Cleveland, Ohio, or Tampa, Fla. . . . |

Staff (2021-01-19). Flint Residents Still Sick as Former Michigan Gov. Faces "Willful Neglect" Charges in Water Scandal. democracynow.org Former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and eight other former officials were charged last Thursday in a sweeping criminal investigation into the Flint water crisis. Snyder faces two charges of willful neglect of duty, a misdemeanor. In 2014, Flint's unelected emergency manager, appointed by then-Governor Snyder, switched the city's water supply to the Flint River as a cost-saving measure. The move has been linked to at least 12 deaths from an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease and widespread lead poisoning in residents, including children, in the majority-Black city. "It is really important that many of those electe…

Marko Marjanoviƒá (2021-01-19). Mass Call Up of Unarmed Troops Needed to Battle Terrorists During a Plague That Necessitates Everyone Stays at Home. anti-empire.com Oh look, The Powers That Be couldn't get real people to turn out for Biden so they're planting flags so it wouldn't look so. No no, that can't be right. That's way too cynical of me. Surely there are hundreds of thousands of people who would love to attend the inauguration but sadly the establishment must turn them away because there is a deadly invisible virus out there, that nonetheless did not preclude them from calling up 20,000 federalized National Guard soldiers that have nowhere to sleep but on top of each other. But that was necessary because of the grave "domestic terrorist" threat from the unpopular "an…

RT (2021-01-19). Scientists closer to finding motor neurone disease cure after discovering how to repair damaged nerve cells — study. rt.com Researchers in Scotland say they have made a breakthrough in finding potential cures to motor neurone disease (MND) following their work on repairing the nerve damage caused by the degenerative illness. | In their