Monthly Archives: January 2021

2021-01-10: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these 'POSTEES' on social media! (Copy the text of the postee below, then paste it on social media and the story images will also appear.)

COVID Has Underscored the Need for Safe Drinking Water. But Not Everyone Has It
Staff | truthout.org | 2021-01-10
When the COVID-19 outbreak swept across the U.S., toilet paper, hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes flew off store shelves. But shopping carts have also been full of something that most Americans get supplied straight to their home: water. Shoppers emptied store shelves of bottled water while stockpiling during the initial months of the pandemic. Even Amazon ran out of most brands…
truthout.org/articles/covid-has-undersco…

Israelis resume corruption protests against Netanyahu amid third Covid-19 lockdown
MEE and agencies | middleeasteye.net | 2021-01-10
Israelis resume corruption protests against Netanyahu amid third Covid-19 lockdown | Protests taking place as trial approaches and with race on to deliver vaccine ahead of March election | MEE and agencies | Sun, 01/10/2021 – 14: 22 | Prime minister has centred focus on vaccination programme ahead of latest nationwide vote (Reuters) | Thousands of Israelis have restarted protests against Prime Minister Benja…
www.middleeasteye.net/news/thousands-res…

Public health expert warns that the UK needs a clear coronavirus strategy beyond the vaccine
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2021-01-10
The response to coronavirus (Covid-19) across the UK should be more proactive, a public health expert has warned. | Professor Devi Sridhar said there's currently "no clear strategy" in the UK other than "reactive lockdowns". Prof Sridhar is chairwoman of public health at Edinburgh University and an adviser to the Scottish government. | Each devolved administration is responsible for how it handles coronavirus. But all four are currently in lockdown following a spike in cases and deaths in the past six weeks. The spike has been caused, at least partially, by a new, more transmissible strain of the virus. | "Th…
thecanary.co/discovery/news-discovery/2021/01/10/public-health-expert-warns-that-the-uk-needs-a-clear-coronavirus-strategy-beyond-the-vaccine/

The Coming Battle Over Vaccines
Editor | scheerpost.com | 2021-01-10
Matt Allworth / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0] By Jill Richardson / OtherWords With the new COVID-19 vaccine available, Dr. Anthony Fauci says Americans can begin to achieve herd immunity by next summer. Herd immunity occurs when so many people are immune to the virus that it can't spread, because an infected person won't have anyone left to spread it to. Yet as of November, four in ten Americans said they… | Source…
scheerpost.com/2021/01/10/the-coming-bat…

UN chief highlights need for climate action, pandemic response, in commemorating 75th anniversary of the General Assembly
news.un.org | 2021-01-10
In his first major speech of the year, the UN Secretary-General underlined the need for global cooperation to address today's challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2021/01/1…

Why Modi govt. looked the other way on giving cash relief during pandemic
Prabhat Patnaik | peoplesdispatch.org | 2021-01-10
Timidity vis-à -vis international finance capital, callousness toward people, and cynicism in manipulating the electorate and legislators, have made the Modi government one of the most ultra-Right governments in the world…
peoplesdispatch.org/2021/01/10/why-modi-…

Communist youth mobilize across Italy demanding safety in schools
Peoples Dispatch | peoplesdispatch.org | 2021-01-10
On Thursday, January 7, Communist Youth Front (FGC) organized demonstrations in several cities across Italy demanding safer classrooms. Schools across Italy were supposed to be reopened on that day but the government postponed the reopening to Monday. The FGC organized protests in the cities of Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin, Florence, Perugia, Catania, Padova, Salerno, Taranto, Cosenza, Gorizia and Ascoli. The protesters said that since the beginning of the pandemic, nothing substantial has been done to ensure safety in schools and respect for students' rights during online lessons. | FGC also gave a call for a nati…
peoplesdispatch.org/2021/01/10/communist…

Gavin Newsom's New Year's Gift: 14 new fracking permits, delayed public health regulations
Dan Bacher | indybay.org | 2021-01-10
California Gavin Newsom has come under fire from environmentalists and the public over the fracking and other oil drilling permits that CalGEM issued in 2020 for Aera Energy and other oil companies.
indybay.org/newsitems/2021/01/09/1883930…

Newsom's 2021 Budget Doesn't Address Fossil-Fueled Public Health & Climate Crises
Dan Bacher | indybay.org | 2021-01-10
The response to the budget by environmental, climate and environmental justice groups was mixed. The Sierra Club praised the funding of incentives to replace fossil fuel vehicles with electric vehicles, while the Last Chance Coalition, a coalition of more than 750 public health, environmental justice, climate, and labor organizations, said the budget fails to directly address the extraction and production of fossil fuels in California after a year during which the state's oil and gas regulators approved thousands of drilling permits.
indybay.org/newsitems/2021/01/09/1883930…

Pope to be vaccinated against Covid next week, labels opposition to jabs 'suicidal denial'
rt.com | 2021-01-09
Pope Francis has branded opposition to Covid-19 vaccines as "suicidal denial" and announced that he will receive a jab against the coronavirus disease next week. | In a forthcoming interview, the 84-year-old leader of the Catholic Church says that "ethically" getting a vaccine against the virus should be a duty for everyone. | "Next week, we will start to do it here (in the Vatican) and I made an appointment, we must do it," Francis told Italy's Canale 5 TV station. | Segments of the interview were released on Saturday with the full comments set to be broadcast on Sunday. "There is a suicidal denial which I ca…
rt.com/news/512030-pope-francis-covid19-…

BoJo gets an earful from fed-up Brits as UK govt launches ad campaign urging compliance with 3rd national lockdown
rt.com | 2021-01-09
Boris Johnson has been accused of mismanaging the UK's response to Covid-19, as his government rolls out a new ad campaign encouraging people to adhere to the nation's third lockdown. | The British prime minister on Saturday implored his countrymen to comply with the measures, claiming that the NHS was under increasing pressure amid a rise in coronavirus cases. | Our hospitals are under more pressure than at any other time since the start of the pandemic, and infection rates continue to soar at an alarming rate. | The vaccine rollout has given us renewed hope, but it's critical for now we stay at home, protect…
rt.com/uk/512011-boris-stay-home-hospita…

WHO has received 13 Covid vaccine proposals for emergency use, expects to get full data on Russia's Sputnik V by end of this month
rt.com | 2021-01-09
The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently assessing several vaccines to be promoted for emergency use across the world, including those made in Russia and China, one of its most senior officials revealed on Friday | The WHO has received 13 "valid proposals" for the possible emergency listing of Covid-19 vaccines since October, the assistant director-general for access to medicines and health products, Mariangela Simao, said at a press briefing. | "We have received, for example, the information from Sinopharm, we have finalized that in phase three trial and it is being authorized in some countries. We ar…
rt.com/russia/512018-who-sputnik-emergen…

New COVID Variant Found in South Africa Raises Concerns Over Impacts on Vaccine
Staff | truthout.org | 2021-01-09
Naturally, the coronavirus mutates as it spreads. But scientists are more concerned about some mutations more than others, and there's one in particular that's worrisome because it could throw a wrench in future vaccine efficacy. | Specifically, variant 20C/501Y.V2 — also known as B.1.351 lineage — which has emerged in Durban, South Africa, is alarming because the mutation of the virus is at the SARS-Co…
truthout.org/articles/new-covid-variant-…

The military is chuffed that the coronavirus crisis has filled the ranks
Joe Glenton | thecanary.co | 2021-01-09
The British Army is reporting a substantial rise in recruiting due to the pandemic. A source told the Guardian that army recruiting quotas look very likely to be met, with the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis serving as a "rallying cry". | General Tyrone Urch, the British Army officer who was responsible for overseeing the Nightingale hospitals, was also interviewed. He told the paper: In a uniquely demanding year for us all, it has been remarkable and really encouraging to see the huge numbe…
thecanary.co/opinion/2021/01/09/the-military-is-chuffed-that-the-coronavirus-crisis-has-filled-the-ranks/

[Perspectives] Thinking across disciplinary boundaries in a time of crisis
Roger Kneebone, Claudia Schlegel | thelancet.com | 2021-01-09
The COVID-19 pandemic forced clinicians and researchers to look beyond traditional professional boundaries, working at a speed that would have previously been unthinkable. A widespread shortage of essential equipment in the early stages of the pandemic prompted health-care staff to search outside their clinical domains for new solutions. Reports from the UK and beyond showed clinicians, engineers, and racing car teams collaborating to design and produce respiratory support apparatus such as ventilators and continuous positive airway pressure machines for treating seriously ill patients.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)32757-4/fulltext?rss=yes

[World Report] Polio in Afghanistan: a changing landscape
Sophie Cousins | thelancet.com | 2021-01-09
Resurgent violence and the COVID-19 pandemic have set back polio programmes in Afghanistan. Sophie Cousins reports from Kandahar.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(21)00030-1/fulltext?rss=yes

[World Report] Health systems neglected by COVID-19 donors
Ann Danaiya Usher | thelancet.com | 2021-01-09
The Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator is short of billions of dollars, and the funds committed so far are skewed towards vaccines, with little for health systems. Ann Danaiya Usher reports.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(21)00029-5/fulltext?rss=yes

Twitter Deletes Khamenei Post Labelling US and UK COVID-19 Vaccines 'Untrustworthy'
sputniknews.com | 2021-01-09
In December last year, the tech giant announced a policy under which it would eliminate the users' content containing what it described as potentially "false or misleading information" about COVID-19 vaccinations.
sputniknews.com/world/202101091081716717…

The United States sees more than 4,000 deaths in a single day from COVID-19
wsws.org | 2021-01-09
The United States saw more than 4,000 deaths yesterday from COVID-19 infections. The vaccine rollout continues to be a fiasco, while new coronavirus variants are demonstrating more aggressive behaviors.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/09/coro…

Numerous Deaths After COVID Vaccine, DARPA Genetic Extinction Tech, The Coup Psyop & The War On YOU
Ryan Cristián | thelastamericanvagabond.com | 2021-01-09
Welcome to The Daily Wrap Up, a concise show dedicated to bringing you the most relevant independent news, as we see it, from the last 24 hours (1/9/20). As always, take the information discussed in the video below and research it for yourself, and come to your own conclusions. Anyone telling you what the truth Read…
thelastamericanvagabond.com/numerous-dea…

Indonesia: Soaring COVID-19 cases as government scrambles to roll out vaccine
wsws.org | 2021-01-09
Contact tracing has been minimal and disorderly, while lockdowns have been resisted throughout, placing the full burden of the virus on the working class.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/09/indo…

Tribes Mount Organized Responses To COVID-19
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2021-01-09
As the months roll by, the pandemic continues to hit Indigenous nations hard. But this phenomenon is not new. Epidemics have been part of colonialism since settlers arrived. Health inequities tell us that illnesses have different outcomes on different populations; however, leading medical professionals warn the general public of the dangers of oversimplifying health data. They don't tell the whole story. And, in the case of Indigenous nations, the story of inequity is imbued with dispossession of lands and is met with organizing from the inside: two crucial points for untangling and responding to COVID-19.
popularresistance.org/tribes-mount-organ…

Tennessee Education Association estimates more than 16,000 Tennessee educators have had COVID-19
wsws.org | 2021-01-09
In response to a recent survey conducted by the Tennessee Educators Association over 84 percent of educators reported a negative "emotional impact" from working in public education during the pandemic.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/09/tenn…

Infamous US Record during Covid-19 Pandemic
John V. Walsh | dissidentvoice.org | 2021-01-09
A health worker conducts a nucleic acid test on a resident in Chengdu, in western China's Sichuan province, on December 8, 2020, after new Covid-19 cases were detected in the city. Almost from the start, China has responded rapidly to outbreaks. Photo: AFP / STR December 11, 2020, is another December day that should "live …
dissidentvoice.org/2021/01/infamous-us-r…

COVID-19 crisis situation in Ontario: Deadliest day of the pandemic
Eds. | mronline.org | 2021-01-09
January 7th is the deadliest day of the pandemic so far, 89 people died in the last 24-hour period. By every measure the situation is critical, and there can be no question remaining that stronger measures are needed to control the devastation the virus is wreaking.
mronline.org/2021/01/09/covid-19-crisis-…

'Our people won't be a testing device': Tehran bans trials of foreign vaccines on Iranians
rt.com | 2021-01-09
Tehran has rejected attempts by foreign companies to test their coronavirus vaccines on Iranians, President Hassan Rouhani said, adding that the country will purchase safe immunization for its population. | "Foreign companies wanted to give us vaccines so they would be tested on the Iranian people. But the health ministry prevented it," Rouhani told state TV, without naming the producers that tried contacting the government in Tehran. | Our people won't be a testing device for vaccine manufacturing companies. | The Iranian authorities will purchase foreign vaccines — without naming them — that hav…
rt.com/news/512019-iran-coronavirus-vacc…

Scientists warn that national lockdown needs to be stricter
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2021-01-09
The national lockdown needs to be toughened further to have a similar impact on case numbers as the March shutdown, scientists have said. | A more infectious variant, coupled with the usual winter pressures, requires stricter measures than the ones announced by Boris Johnson for England this month, the experts warned. Similar lockdown measures are in place across Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. | Activity: | Professor Robert West, a participant in the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B), said the current restrictions are "still allowing a lot of activity which is spreading the…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2021/01/09/scientists-warn-that-national-lockdown-needs-to-be-stricter/

The Pointless Putsch
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2021-01-09
If the people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, and eventually overtook the Capitol, quite easily by the way, with police literally opening gates for them, snapping some selfies, and participating in a few friendly shoving matches before ceding the building completely. | If those people stormed the Capitol because their government had abandoned them for nearly a year while an unprecedented pandemic ravaged the country. | If they stormed the Capitol because the government shut down their jobs and asked them to stay home but didn't provide stimulus to replace their lost income, didn't provide rent relief,…
popularresistance.org/the-pointless-puts…

Ohio Amazon worker speaks out against unsafe workplace conditions in pandemic
wsws.org | 2021-01-09
An Amazon worker in Ohio describes the bureaucratic nightmare of returning to work in the midst of a deadly pandemic following a planned leave of absence.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/09/amaz…

The Black community is right to be suspicious of the medical establishment right now
D. Watkins | salon.com | 2021-01-09
Though I'll be getting the vaccine, I don't judge my friends for being mistrustful of the biotech industry…
salon.com/2021/01/09/the-black-community…

[Articles] Immunogenicity and safety of fractional doses of yellow fever vaccines: a randomised, double-blind, non-inferiority trial
Aitana Juan-Giner, Derick Kimathi, Kyra H Grantz, Mainga Hamaluba, Patrick Kazooba, Patricia Njuguna, Gamou Fall, Moussa Dia, Ndeye S Bob, Thomas P Monath, Alan D Barrett, Joachim Hombach, Edgar M Mulogo, Immaculate Ampeire, Henry K Karanja, Dan Nyehangane, Juliet Mwanga-Amumpaire, Derek A T Cummings, Philip Bejon, George M Warimwe, Rebecca F Grais | thelancet.com | 2021-01-09
Fractional doses of all WHO-prequalified yellow fever vaccines were non-inferior to the standard dose in inducing seroconversion 28 days after vaccination, with no major safety concerns. These results support the use of fractional dosage in the general adult population for outbreak response in situations of vaccine shortage.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)32520-4/fulltext?rss=yes

[Comment] Public health role for fractional dosage of yellow fever vaccine
J Erin Staples, Alba-Maria Ropero Alvarez | thelancet.com | 2021-01-09
In The Lancet, Aitana Juan-Giner and colleagues1 compare seroconversion rates, neutralising antibody titres, and adverse events in patients given full dose (0 ∑5 mL) and one fifth dose (0 ∑1 mL) of all four WHO pre-qualified yellow fever vaccines among 960 healthy adults aged 18–59 years in Kenya and Uganda. Each group contained 110–117 participants and participant demographics were similar between groups, with an overall mean age of 35 ∑7 years (range 34 ∑5–37 ∑2), and 55% of participants were female (range 49–61%).
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)32707-0/fulltext?rss=yes

In India, pseudo-nationalism trumps science in vaccine clearance
Prabir Purkayastha | peoplesdispatch.org | 2021-01-09
The recent regulatory clearance given to an indigenous developed vaccine candidate in India is an example of vaccine nationalism at its worst and jettisoning of all the principles of an evidence-based, scientific approach…
peoplesdispatch.org/2021/01/09/in-india-…

Ministers face calls to support university students with rent rebates for their empty rooms
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2021-01-09
Ministers and university leaders are facing calls to offer rent rebates to students amid the lockdown. | The government has said the majority of university students in England can't return to campus until at least mid-February. Instead, they'll have to study from their current residence. Some universities have decided to move lessons online until even later in the year amid tighter restrictions announced this week. | The National Union of Students (NUS) has said it's "unacceptable" that students have to pay towards accommodation that they've been told not to travel to on public health grounds. They say ministers…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2021/01/09/ministers-face-calls-to-support-university-students-with-rent-rebates-for-their-empty-rooms/

[Obituary] Gordon Wesley Perkin
Geoff Watts | thelancet.com | 2021-01-09
PATH co-founder and radical visionary in global health. He was born in Toronto, ON, Canada, on April 25, 1935, and died of lung cancer in Seattle, WA, USA on Aug 21, 2020, aged 85 years.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)32758-6/fulltext?rss=yes

[Perspectives] Building power
Michelle Morse, Delan Devakumar | thelancet.com | 2021-01-09
It was a raw response to yet another social injustice. A response to the not guilty verdict in the trial of the murderer of Trayvon Martin. A response that many people had, but Alicia Garza's response became a global movement. As she describes in her book The Purpose of Power, this was a moment decades in the making. Garza's courageous reflections document her personal transformation alongside the growth of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in the USA. As public health physicians of colour from the USA and UK humbly engaging in the work of social change to advance global health equity, for us Garza's words ar…
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PI…(20)32756-2/fulltext?rss=yes

Gavin Newsom's New Year's Gift: 14 new fracking permits, delayed public health regulations
Dan Bacher | indybay.org | 2021-01-09
California Gavin Newsom has come under fire from environmentalists and the public over the fracking and other oil drilling permits that CalGEM issued in 2020 for Aera Energy and other oil companies.
indybay.org/newsitems/2021/01/09/1883930…

Groundbreaking Climate Crisis Court Case
_____ | popularresistance.org | 2021-01-09
In 2019 a study linked climate change and hotter weather to early childbirth in the United States. "That's enough to take somebody from what's considered to be a pretty healthy pregnancy into a 'we are somewhat worried' pregnancy," said Alan Barreca, a UCLA professor of environment and human health and lead author of the study. | Prior to this, several studies showed that the most effective way to mitigate the climate crisis, in terms of individual behavior, was to choose a smaller family, and have fewer children than one normally would. | That means the best thing we can do to protect our kids is to change the w…
popularresistance.org/groundbreaking-cli…

Researchers 'find no sign' that patients on immunosuppressive drugs at higher risk from severe Covid-19 — Johns Hopkins
rt.com | 2021-01-08
In promising coronavirus news, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have found that, contrary to widespread fears, patients on immunosuppressive drugs are not at higher risk from severe Covid-19. | Immunosuppressed patients are typically classed as those taking medications to prevent organ rejection following transplant or to treat a variety of inflammatory or autoimmune diseases and conditions. Roughly 10 million people in the US alone would fall under this category. | The medical status has been touted as a potential risk factor throughout the pandemic, with patients advised to…
rt.com/news/511924-immunosuppressed-risk…

The COVID-19 Pandemic Shows the Dangers of For-Profit Housing
Staff | truthout.org | 2021-01-08
A recently published article in The Atlantic titled " The Pandemic Disproved Urban Progressives' Theory About Gentrification" begins with a celebratory cheer for the performance of supply and demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. | As white-collar workers have left expensive urban cores in droves, apartments have emptied and rents have fallen, just as your average economist would predict.
truthout.org/articles/the-covid-19-pande…

Plunge in Restaurant Jobs Due to COVID Leads to First Job Loss Since April
Staff | truthout.org | 2021-01-08
The economy lost 140,000 jobs in December, all of which can be attributed to a plunge in restaurant employment of 372,000. Other sectors highly sensitive to the pandemic, such as hotels and recreation, also lost jobs. The unemployment rate and employment-to-population ratio (EPOP) were both unchanged at 6.7 percent and 57.4 percent, respectively. | The resurgence of the pandemic further heightened the two-track nature of this recession. Construction and manufacturing, two sectors normally hard…
truthout.org/articles/plunge-in-restaura…

Florida Seniors Forced to Camp Overnight in Cars in Hope of Vaccine
Staff | truthout.org | 2021-01-08
As the United States reports record COVID-19 deaths, Florida broke the record for the highest single-day increase in new cases Thursday. Across the state, long lines to get vaccinations against COVID-19 left senior citizens camping in their cars overnight in cold weather, after Governor Ron DeSantis lowered the priority age to 65, 10 years below the CDC recommended age of 75. Those aged 79 and older are reportedly four times as likely to die from COVID. We speak with John and Maria Luisa Schoch, aged 79…
truthout.org/video/florida-seniors-force…

As US Sets Daily Record With 4,085 Dead From Covid-19, Governors Demand More Vaccine Doses
Jessica Corbett, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2021-01-08
The World Health Organization now says the interval between two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can be extended to up to six weeks. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…
commondreams.org/news/2021/01/08/us-sets…

Is Israel practicing vaccine leadership or medical apartheid?
Ariel Gold | peoplesdispatch.org | 2021-01-08
The media is abuzz these days with headlines such as "How Israel Became a World Leader in Vaccinating Against Covid-19." While the US has vaccinated only 1.67% of its population against COVID-19 so far, Israel has already given the vaccine to more than 16% of…
peoplesdispatch.org/2021/01/08/is-israel…

Vaccinating equitably 'saves lives, stabilizes health systems' — WHO chief
news.un.org | 2021-01-08
Two billion doses of "safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines" have been secured by the international equitable vaccine alliance COVAX, and they will be ready for distribution as soon they are delivered, the UN health agency chief said on Friday.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2021/01/1…

Indonesia Deems the Chinese Vaccine Suitable for Muslims
telesurenglish.net | 2021-01-08
The Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) on Friday announced that the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the Chinese company Sinovac is suitable for Muslim believers. | RELATED: | Egypt Licenses Sinopharm COVID-19 Vaccine for Emergency Use | The MUI Fatwas Commission Secretary Asrorun Ni'am Sholeh pointed out that the vaccine is "holy" but that his institution will wait for the health authorities to approve the drug to issue the "fatwa", which is a formal ruling on a point of Islamic law…
telesurenglish.net/news/Indonesia-Deems-…

Survival of the Fittest? Florida Seniors Forced to Camp Overnight in Cars, Hoping for Vaccine
Staff | democracynow.org | 2021-01-08
As the United States reports record COVID-19 deaths, Florida broke the record for the highest single-day increase in new cases Thursday. Across the state, long lines to get vaccinations against COVID-19 left senior citizens camping in their cars overnight in cold weather, after Governor Ron DeSantis lowered the priority age to 65, 10 years below the CDC recommended age of 75. Those aged 79 and older are reportedly four times as likely to die from COVID. We speak with John and Maria Luisa Schoch, aged 79 and 80, as they enter their second day in line waiting for shots.
www.democracynow.org/2021/1/8/florida_co…

Hospitals in Ecuador and Peru Collapse Due to Lack of Beds
telesurenglish.net | 2021-01-08
Health authorities in Peru and Ecuador on Thursday reported a surge in demand for Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds at their hospitals, which suggests that both countries are facing a COVID-19 rebound. | RELATED: | Cuba's COVID-19 Vaccine to Benefit Latin America, PAHO Says | "We have started counting them on our fingers," Peru's Health Minister Pilar Mazzetti warned, reporting that a group of experts believe the country is experiencing a second wave of contagion. | Hospitals' situatio…
telesurenglish.net/news/Hospitals-in-Ecu…

How to Make a COVID-19 Vaccine @Home
Jackie Fox | realprogressives.org | 2021-01-08
This is a script of the video embedded below. | Hello Internet, I'm Jackie Fox and I have a new idea I want to bring you in the final hours of a dark year. This may be a very bright light at the end of the tunnel. It combines video games, community, scientific research, and even vaccines and medical treatments. In some ways it's a follow up to cover new info about vaccines in general I learned since the last series, but the core concept is about this project called Folding@Home. | See, back in 2007, I bought a PlayStation 3, and after a few updates, there was a mysterious app added called "Folding@Home" and I…
realprogressives.org/make-a-covid-19-vac…

Is Israel Practicing Vaccine Leadership or Medical Apartheid?
Ariel Gold | counterpunch.org | 2021-01-08
Israel has a population of around 9 million. About 20 percent of Israel's population are Palestinian citizens of Israel. These people can vote in elections, have representation in the Knesset, and are being vaccinated against COVID-19. But, there are another around 5 million Palestinians who live under Israeli rule, without rights, and like the rest of the world, are suffering from the pandemic.
counterpunch.org/2021/01/08/is-israel-pr…

2021-01-09: News Headlines

_____ (2021-01-09). Tribes Mount Organized Responses To COVID-19. popularresistance.org As the months roll by, the pandemic continues to hit Indigenous nations hard. But this phenomenon is not new. Epidemics have been part of colonialism since settlers arrived. Health inequities tell us that illnesses have different outcomes on different populations; however, leading medical professionals warn the general public of the dangers of oversimplifying health data. They don't tell the whole story. And, in the case of Indigenous nations, the story of inequity is imbued with dispossession of lands and is met with organizing from the inside: two crucial points for untangling and responding to COVID-19.

Staff (2021-01-09). New COVID Variant Found in South Africa Raises Concerns Over Impacts on Vaccine. truthout.org Naturally, the coronavirus mutates as it spreads. But scientists are more concerned about some mutations more than others, and there's one in particular that's worrisome because it could throw a wrench in future vaccine efficacy. | Specifically, variant 20C/501Y.V2 — also known as B.1.351 lineage — which has

Ann Danaiya Usher (2021-01-09). [World Report] Health systems neglected by COVID-19 donors. thelancet.com The Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator is short of billions of dollars, and the funds committed so far are skewed towards vaccines, with little for health systems. Ann Danaiya Usher reports.

Sophie Cousins (2021-01-09). [World Report] Polio in Afghanistan: a changing landscape. thelancet.com Resurgent violence and the COVID-19 pandemic have set back polio programmes in Afghanistan. Sophie Cousins reports from Kandahar.

Roger Kneebone, Claudia Schlegel (2021-01-09). [Perspectives] Thinking across disciplinary boundaries in a time of crisis. thelancet.com The COVID-19 pandemic forced clinicians and researchers to look beyond traditional professional boundaries, working at a speed that would have previously been unthinkable. A widespread shortage of essential equipment in the early stages of the pandemic prompted health-care staff to search outside their clinical domains for new solutions. Reports from the UK and beyond showed clinicians, engineers, and racing car teams collaborating to design and produce respiratory support apparatus such as ventilators and continuous positive airway pressure machines for treating seriously ill patients.

John V. Walsh (2021-01-09). Infamous US Record during Covid-19 Pandemic. dissidentvoice.org A health worker conducts a nucleic acid test on a resident in Chengdu, in western China's Sichuan province, on December 8, 2020, after new Covid-19 cases were detected in the city. Almost from the start, China has responded rapidly to outbreaks. Photo: AFP / STR December 11, 2020, is another December day that should "live …

Eds. (2021-01-09). COVID-19 crisis situation in Ontario: Deadliest day of the pandemic. mronline.org January 7th is the deadliest day of the pandemic so far, 89 people died in the last 24-hour period. By every measure the situation is critical, and there can be no question remaining that stronger measures are needed to control the devastation the virus is wreaking.

Joe Glenton (2021-01-09). The military is chuffed that the coronavirus crisis has filled the ranks. thecanary.co The British Army is reporting a substantial rise in recruiting due to the pandemic. A source General Tyrone Urch, the British Army officer who was responsible for overseeing the Nightingale hospitals, was also interviewed. He told the paper: In a uniquely demanding year for us all, it has been remarkable and really encouraging to see the huge numbe…

_____ (2021-01-09). The Pointless Putsch. popularresistance.org If the people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, and eventually overtook the Capitol, quite easily by the way, with police literally opening gates for them, snapping some selfies, and participating in a few friendly shoving matches before ceding the building completely. | If those people stormed the Capitol because their government had abandoned them for nearly a year while an unprecedented pandemic ravaged the country. | If they stormed the Capitol because the government shut down their jobs and asked them to stay home but didn't provide stimulus to replace their lost income, didn't provide rent relief,…

The Canary (2021-01-09). Scientists warn that national lockdown needs to be stricter. thecanary.co The national lockdown needs to be toughened further to have a similar impact on case numbers as the March shutdown, scientists have said. | A more infectious variant, coupled with the usual winter pressures, requires stricter measures than the ones announced by Boris Johnson for England this month, the experts warned. Similar lockdown measures are in place across Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. | Activity: | Professor Robert West, a participant in the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B), said the current restrictions are "still allowing a lot of activity which is spreading the…

Aitana Juan-Giner, Derick Kimathi, Kyra H Grantz, Mainga Hamaluba, Patrick Kazooba, Patricia Njuguna, Gamou Fall, Moussa Dia, Ndeye S Bob, Thomas P Monath, Alan D Barrett, Joachim Hombach, Edgar M Mulogo, Immaculate Ampeire, Henry K Karanja, Dan Nyehangane, Juliet Mwanga-Amumpaire, Derek A T Cummings, Philip Bejon, George M Warimwe, Rebecca F Grais (2021-01-09). [Articles] Immunogenicity and safety of fractional doses of yellow fever vaccines: a randomised, double-blind, non-inferiority trial. thelancet.com Fractional doses of all WHO-prequalified yellow fever vaccines were non-inferior to the standard dose in inducing seroconversion 28 days after vaccination, with no major safety concerns. These results support the use of fractional dosage in the general adult population for outbreak response in situations of vaccine shortage.

J Erin Staples, Alba-Maria Ropero Alvarez (2021-01-09). [Comment] Public health role for fractional dosage of yellow fever vaccine. thelancet.com In The Lancet, Aitana Juan-Giner and colleagues1 compare seroconversion rates, neutralising antibody titres, and adverse events in patients given full dose (0 ∑5 mL) and one fifth dose (0 ∑1 mL) of all four WHO pre-qualified yellow fever vaccines among 960 healthy adults aged 18—59 years in Kenya and Uganda. Each group contained 110—117 participants and participant demographics were similar between groups, with an overall mean age of 35 ∑7 years (range 34 ∑5—37 ∑2), and 55% of participants were female (range 49—61%).

Prabir Purkayastha (2021-01-09). In India, pseudo-nationalism trumps science in vaccine clearance. peoplesdispatch.org The recent regulatory clearance given to an indigenous developed vaccine candidate in India is an example of vaccine nationalism at its worst and jettisoning of all the principles of an evidence-based, scientific approach…

Eds. (2021-01-09). Fascism, fascisation, antifascism. mronline.org Fascism can be classically defined as an ideology, a movement and a regime.

_____ (2021-01-09). Groundbreaking Climate Crisis Court Case. popularresistance.org In 2019 a study linked climate change and hotter weather to early childbirth in the United States. "That's enough to take somebody from what's considered to be a pretty healthy pregnancy into a 'we are somewhat worried' pregnancy," said Alan Barreca, a UCLA professor of environment and human health and lead author of the study. | Prior to this, several studies showed that the most effective way to mitigate the climate crisis, in terms of individual behavior, was to choose a smaller family, and have fewer children than one normally would. | That means the best thing we can do to protect our kids is to change the w…

Dan Bacher (2021-01-09). Gavin Newsom's New Year's Gift: 14 new fracking permits, delayed public health regulations. indybay.org California Gavin Newsom has come under fire from environmentalists and the public over the fracking and other oil drilling permits that CalGEM issued in 2020 for Aera Energy and other oil companies.

The Canary (2021-01-09). Ministers face calls to support university students with rent rebates for their empty rooms. thecanary.co Ministers and university leaders are facing calls to offer rent rebates to students amid the lockdown. | The government has said the majority of university students in England can't return to campus until at least mid-February. Instead, they'll have to study from their current residence. Some universities have decided to move lessons online until even later in the year amid tighter restrictions announced this week. | The National Union of Students (NUS) has said it's "unacceptable" that students have to pay towards accommodation that they've been told not to travel to on public health grounds. They say ministers…

Michelle Morse, Delan Devakumar (2021-01-09). [Perspectives] Building power. thelancet.com It was a raw response to yet another social injustice. A response to the not guilty verdict in the trial of the murderer of Trayvon Martin. A response that many people had, but Alicia Garza's response became a global movement. As she describes in her book The Purpose of Power, this was a moment decades in the making. Garza's courageous reflections document her personal transformation alongside the growth of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in the USA. As public health physicians of colour from the USA and UK humbly engaging in the work of social change to advance global health equity, for us Garza's words ar…

Geoff Watts (2021-01-09). [Obituary] Gordon Wesley Perkin. thelancet.com PATH co-founder and radical visionary in global health. He was born in Toronto, ON, Canada, on April 25, 1935, and died of lung cancer in Seattle, WA, USA on Aug 21, 2020, aged 85 years.

_____ (2021-01-08). Patriarchy And The Pandemic. popularresistance.org The COVID-19 pandemic has made it agonizingly clear that the systems under which we are living were already broken. The pandemic has only exacerbated the crisis of the capitalist system and removed any illusions about this reality. However, the impact of the crisis has not been uniform. The neoliberal capitalist model, which survives and profits by exploiting the vulnerable, again fell back on its same old ways. As a result, it has been the workers, the migrants, the women, and others, whose unpaid and underpaid labor serves as the basis for capitalists to profit, who have suffered the most. | In this conversatio…

Staff (2021-01-08). The COVID-19 Pandemic Shows the Dangers of For-Profit Housing. truthout.org A recently published article in The Atlantic titled " As white-collar workers have left expensive urban cores in droves, apartments have emptied and rents have fallen, just as your average economist would predict.

Staff (2021-01-08). Plunge in Restaurant Jobs Due to COVID Leads to First Job Loss Since April. truthout.org The economy lost 140,000 jobs in December, all of which can be attributed to a plunge in restaurant employment of 372,000. Other sectors highly sensitive to the pandemic, such as hotels and recreation, also lost jobs. The unemployment rate and employment-to-population ratio (EPOP) were both unchanged at 6.7 percent and 57.4 percent, respectively. | The resurgence of the pandemic further heightened the two-track nature of this recession. Construction and manufacturing, two sectors normally hard…

Staff (2021-01-08). Florida Seniors Forced to Camp Overnight in Cars in Hope of Vaccine. truthout.org As the United States reports record COVID-19 deaths, Florida broke the record for the highest single-day increase in new cases Thursday. Across the state, long lines to get vaccinations against COVID-19 left senior citizens camping in their cars overnight in cold weather, after Governor Ron DeSantis lowered the priority age to 65, 10 years below the CDC recommended age of 75. Those aged 79 and older are reportedly four times as likely to die from COVID. We speak with John and Maria Luisa Schoch, aged 79…

news.un (2021-01-08). Vaccinating equitably 'saves lives, stabilizes health systems' — WHO chief. news.un.org Two billion doses of "safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines" have been secured by the international equitable vaccine alliance COVAX, and they will be ready for distribution as soon they are delivered, the UN health agency chief said on Friday.

Jessica Corbett, staff writer (2021-01-08). As US Sets Daily Record With 4,085 Dead From Covid-19, Governors Demand More Vaccine Doses. commondreams.org The World Health Organization now says the interval between two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can be extended to up to six weeks.

teleSUR (2021-01-08). Peru Identifies the First Case of the New Sars-Cov-2 Mutation. telesurenglish.net Peru's Ministry of Health confirmed on Friday its first case of the new SARS-CoV-2 mutation. The patient, a woman who had not traveled abroad but did receive a relative over Christmas, remains in quarantine at this home. | RELATED: | The scientists have warned that the new mutation has a contagion capacity 70 percent more than the COVID-19. Nonetheless, the authorities remarked that the patient had shown only "mild sympto…

WSWS (2021-01-08). Modi boasts about "Indian" vaccines as COVID-19 virus rages through the country. wsws.org Workers and the poor continue to be the primary victims of the pandemic, while India's media focuses on vaccinations.

Staff (2021-01-08). Survival of the Fittest? Florida Seniors Forced to Camp Overnight in Cars, Hoping for Vaccine. democracynow.org As the United States reports record COVID-19 deaths, Florida broke the record for the highest single-day increase in new cases Thursday. Across the state, long lines to get vaccinations against COVID-19 left senior citizens camping in their cars overnight in cold weather, after Governor Ron DeSantis lowered the priority age to 65, 10 years below the CDC recommended age of 75. Those aged 79 and older are reportedly four times as likely to die from COVID. We speak with John and Maria Luisa Schoch, aged 79 and 80, as they enter their second day in line waiting for shots.

Jackie Fox (2021-01-08). How to Make a COVID-19 Vaccine @Home. realprogressives.org This is a script of the video embedded below. | Hello Internet, I'm Jackie Fox and I have a new idea I want to bring you in the final hours of a dark year. This may be a very bright light at the end of the tunnel. It combines video games, community, scientific research, and even vaccines and medical treatments. In some ways it's a follow up to cover new info about vaccines in general I learned since the last series, but the core concept is about this project called Folding@Home. | See, back in 2007, I bought a PlayStation 3, and after a few updates, there was a mysterious app added called "Folding@Home" and I…

teleSUR (2021-01-08). Indonesia Deems the Chinese Vaccine Suitable for Muslims. telesurenglish.net The Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) on Friday announced that the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the Chinese company Sinovac is suitable for Muslim believers. | RELATED: | The MUI Fatwas Commission Secretary Asrorun Ni'am Sholeh pointed out that the vaccine is "holy" but that his institution will wait for the health authorities to approve the drug to issue the "fatwa", which is a formal ruling on a point of Islamic law…

Ariel Gold (2021-01-08). Is Israel Practicing Vaccine Leadership or Medical Apartheid? counterpunch.org Israel has a population of around 9 million. About 20 percent of Israel's population are Palestinian citizens of Israel. These people can vote in elections, have representation in the Knesset, and are being vaccinated against COVID-19. But, there are another around 5 million Palestinians who live under Israeli rule, without rights, and like the rest of the world, are suffering from the pandemic.

Staff (2021-01-08). COVID Scientist Rebekah Jones Condemns Armed Police Raid on Her Home & Florida's Pandemic Response. democracynow.org As Florida sets new records for daily coronavirus cases, we speak with a whistleblower who was fired in May from the Florida Department of Health after she refused to censor information about the state's COVID-19 outbreak. Rebekah Jones is a data scientist who helped build Florida's coronavirus tracking dashboard, and she says her termination came after she refused to manipulate data to support the state's reopening. In December, police raided Jones's home in Tallahassee, seizing her computer and phone and holding her family at gunpoint, as part of an alleged investigation into a hacking of the Florida Health Dep…

teleSUR (2021-01-08). Hospitals in Ecuador and Peru Collapse Due to Lack of Beds. telesurenglish.net Health authorities in Peru and Ecuador on Thursday reported a surge in demand for Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds at their hospitals, which suggests that both countries are facing a COVID-19 rebound. | RELATED: | "We have started counting them on our fingers," Peru's Health Minister Pilar Mazzetti warned, reporting that a group of experts believe the country is experiencing a second wave of contagion. | Hospitals' situatio…

teleSUR (2021-01-08). Cuba Reports Record Number of COVID-19 Cases in Past 24 Hours. telesurenglish.net The director of epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap) of Cuba, Francisco Durán García, announced this Friday in a press conference that the country reports its highest number of infections of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, with 344 new cases confirmed. | The province that presents the most significant accumulation of coronavirus infections is Havana, the island's capital. | RELATED: | Durán García said that 12,092 clinical t…

Danny Haiphong (2021-01-08). Capitalism on a Ventilator: A new book analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. and China. mronline.org While China contained COVID-19 and preserved its economy, the U.S. spins lies while hundreds of thousands of its people die for lack of even a semblance of a national health system.

WSWS (2021-01-08). COVID-19 infections out of control at Cricklewood Bus Garage! For a walkout and strike action to save lives! wsws.org At least 12 staff have been diagnosed with COVID in recent days, including up to ten bus drivers, a manager and the garage's full time Unite Health and Safety Rep…

WSWS (2021-01-08). Record numbers of COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations across the US as pandemic surge continues. wsws.org The situation in southern California remains especially dire, with Los Angeles County emerging as a global epicenter of the virus.

teleSUR (2021-01-08). North China City Shijiazhuang to be Locked Down for 7 Days. telesurenglish.net Shijiazhuang, the capital city of north China's Hebei Province, will be locked down for seven days to curb the COVID-19 epidemic spread, announced local authorities on Friday evening. | RELATED: | After completing the citywide acid testing, all Shijiazhuang citizens are called to stay at home, and local authorities will endeavor to ensure their daily life, said the municipal COVID-19 prevention and control headquarters. | Shijiazhuang…

Makasi Motema (2021-01-08). Comentario: øEnfrenta EE.UU. una situación revolucionaria? workers.org El deber ineludible de un socialista revolucionario es percibir los cambios que se están produciendo en la sociedad y que agudizan la lucha de clases y actuar sobre esos cambios sin vacilar. Cualquier organización socialista o persona socialista que no lo haga no puede ser considerada una defensora del proletariado . . . |

The Canary (2021-01-08). Unison leader retires with blast against Boris Johnson and the government. thecanary.co The outgoing head of the country's biggest trade union has criticised the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis and their treatment of public sector workers. | "Reckoning": | Dave Prentis, who has been general secretary of Unison for 20 years, said ministers had been behind the curve on procuring enough safety equipment at the start of the pandemic, made promises they hadn't kept, and were now denying a pay rise to workers who had heroically served their communities. | He called for a public inquiry into how the government had handled the crisis, saying there has to be a "day of reckoning". | He…

WSWS (2021-01-08). Vaccine distribution mired in delays across Europe. wsws.org As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread out of control throughout the European continent, the program of vaccination organized by the European Union is already widely recognized to be a debacle.

Chien-Te Tseng (2021-01-08). Immunization with SARS [1] Coronavirus Vaccines Leads to Pulmonary Immunopathology on Challenge with the SARS Virus. globalresearch.ca This article was originally published in April 2012. | It pertains to Severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS-CoV (2002) which has, according to the WHO and the CDC similar features to SARS-CoV-2. | A vaccine was envisaged in relation to SARS-1. | This article …

Chien-Te Tseng (2021-01-08). Immunization with SARS [1] Coronavirus Vaccines Leads to Pulmonary Immunopathology on Challenge with the SARS Virus. globalresearch.ca This study was originally published in April 2012. | It pertains to the Severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS-CoV (2002) which has, according to the WHO and the CDC similar features to SARS-CoV-2. | A vaccine was envisaged in relation to SARS-1. The …

Peter Mertens (2021-01-08). This Pandemic Shows How Elites Have Forgotten Us. zcomm.org Belgium has suffered the world's worst rate of coronavirus deaths…

Mark Gruenberg (2021-01-08). Coronavirus hits jobs again, 140k jobs lost in December. peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON—The national coronavirus pandemic has hit workers' jobs again. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Jan. 8 that companies shed a net of 140,000 jobs in December. The U.S. ended 2020 with a 6.7% jobless rate, compared to 3.6% in Dec. 2019. But those jobs numbers actually understate the virus's impact. And the day …

Matt Sedlar (2021-01-08). Pandemic-Caused Plunge in Restaurant Jobs Leads to First Job Loss Since April. cepr.net The pain from the recession is heavily concentrated among the long-term unemployed. The economy lost 140,000 jobs in December, all of which can be attributed to a plunge in restaurant employment of 372,000. Other sectors highly sensitive to the pandemic, such as hotels and recreation, also lost jobs. The unemployment rate and employment-to-population ratio (EPOP) …

Minnie Bruce Pratt (2021-01-08). Cuba's revolution continues during the pandemic. workers.org During the first week of January, Cubans celebrated the 62nd anniversary of their great Revolution, marking the day when Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos and the revolutionary forces entered Havana and ousted the U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. Since the victory in 1959, Cuba has resisted attack after attack by . . . |

Liberation staff, Mississippi (2021-01-08). Jackson, Miss., schools 'Smart Restart' pushed by capitalism, not families. liberationnews.org JPS leaders are making the decision to reopen campus because our racist capitalist system refuses to prioritize public health and safety, even during a global pandemic.

teleSUR (2021-01-08). Cuban Doctors To Arrive in Mexico Once Again. telesurenglish.net Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) announced the upcoming arrival of the second group of Cuban doctors made up of 200 professionals who will support the fight against the pandemic in the country. | RELATED: | The group will be assisted by the Navy and the Armed forces given the alarming health situation in the country, which has recorded a caseload of over 1.4 million cases and over 131,031 related fatalitie…

teleSUR (2021-01-08). IMF Projects China's Economy To Grow by 7.9% in 2021. telesurenglish.net The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday said that China's economy will expand by 7.9 percent in 2021 following a 1.9 percent growth in 2020. | RELATED: | "The Chinese economy continues its fast recovery from the pandemic, helped by a strong containment effort and swift policy actions to mitigate the impact of the crisis," the IMF executive board said, adding that "policymakers have provided financial relief a…