(2022-02-19). The Convoy And Canada — A Call To Step Up. popularresistance.org I have spent time listening to leaders and activists from across this country, and I have learned one thing: we as civil society must step up and provide courageous leadership in this time of crisis. Unions, racial and climate justice organizations, faith leaders, students, residents' groups, health care activists — all of us have a role to play to help overcome this polarization, to bridge divides and to focus on crucial issues of social justice. We need to start organizing at the national and local level — bringing together people from all walks of life to determine strategies that will address the…
(2022-02-19). European Union prefers corporate profits over the health of people across the world. peoplesdispatch.org By showing reluctance on the patent waiver on COVID-19-related products even after the majority of its population is vaccinated, the EU leadership has once again taken the side of Big Pharma and perpetuated vaccine apartheid…
(2022-02-19). Deadly BA.2 subvariant of Omicron spreading in more than 74 countries. wsws.org As the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron accounts for a growing proportion of new cases globally, recent evidence points to its increased infectivity, higher virulence and greater immune-evading capacity.
(2022-02-19). Health workers in Slovenia go on strike. peoplesdispatch.org Health workers and members of trade unions in the health and care sector in Slovenia, including the Trade Union of Health and Social Security and the Nurses' Trade Union — Florence, organized a one-day strike on February 16. Physiotherapists, nurses, pharmacists, and auxiliary workers in publicly-owned health institutions all over the countries stopped their work as the government has betrayed its 2018 pledge to engage in negotiations for enhancing workers' rights in healthcare. | While several ministers, including those of health and labor, denied the unions' allegations and insisted that the government had…
(2022-02-19). Ethical Considerations and Experimental Vaccines. dissidentvoice.org 
(2022-02-19). [Comment] Offline: A lie at the heart of public health. thelancet.com The John Snow Society describes their illustrious namesake as "the pioneer of epidemiological method". His identification of the source of cholera in Soho, London, and the removal of the handle of a water pump in Broad Street in 1854 is celebrated annually with the Pumphandle Lecture. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine named a lecture theatre after Snow. Indeed, the epidemiology community has deified Snow as a founding father of public health. But, as Jim Downs argues in his searching reappraisal of the origins of epidemiology, Maladies of Empire, western epidemiologists have invented a comforting…
(2022-02-19). [Perspectives] Samuel K Roberts: illuminating history, racial bias, and public health. thelancet.com In 2009, Samuel Kelton Roberts, Jr's first book, Infectious Fear: Politics, Disease, and the Health Effects of Segregation, was published. "The book itself is about how racialism is baked into the kernel of modern public health practice here in the USA. Some of the most foundational moments in public health sit adjacent to or are ones that play a role in our history of race and racialisation. Even the way we collected data in the 19th and early 20th century was not just racially biased, but often racialised in their methods.
(2022-02-19). City Denies Controversial Metal Scrapper Southside Recycling's Permit. popularresistance.org East Side, Chicago — The city's health department Friday rejected the final permit needed for a controversial metal scrapper to open on the Southeast Side, a victory for local activists who spent years organizing to block the industrial facility's move from the North Side. | Southside Recycling, owned by Reserve Management Group, will not be permitted to move troubled scrapper General Iron's assets and employees to 11600 S. Burley Ave. in East Side. | Reserve Management Group spent $80 million in anticipation of a permit for the facility at the Burley Avenue campus, where the Ohio-based firm operates four o…
(2022-02-19). Sanitation Workers Win Raise After Going On Strike. popularresistance.org Chula Vista, Calif. – "Who are we?" Teamsters! "What do we want?" Contract! "When do we want it?" Now! | The sanitation workers of Teamsters Local 542 were still in good voice three weeks into their strike, which began Dec. 17, 2021, even as Republic Services started bringing in nonunion out-of-staters as garbage piled up. Republic had refused the Teamsters' demands for so long that the city of Chula Vista declared a public health emergency because of the amount of uncollected refuse. | Close to 300 workers, many of them Latino or Black, were on strike across three different San Diego County locations. "We want t…
(2022-02-19). Biden Extends State of Emergency in US Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic. sputniknews.com MOSCOW (Sputnik) – US President Joe Biden has announced his decision to extend the state of emergency, which was declared in the country almost two years ago, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has been causing significant risk to the public health.
(2022-02-19). UK teacher Kathleen Munro speaks of "devastating" effects of Long COVID. wsws.org In her testimony to the Global Workers Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic, Kathleen bears witness to the devastating effects of Long COVID on her own health and livelihood, and that of her 13-year-old niece, Ellie, who caught COVID-19 on her first day at school last September.
(2022-02-19). Turkish health workers intensify protests amid soaring inflation and poor working conditions. peoplesdispatch.org 
The Turkish Medical Association (TMA) and other health workers' organizations organized country-wide industrial actions on February 8. This is part of a wave of workers' uprisings against rising living expenses and soaring inflation…
(2022-02-19). [Perspectives] A public health manifesto. thelancet.com The way that societies divide and manage our resources and treat our planet is not working. This failure is the starting point of a number of books that have been published during the COVID-19 pandemic, including GO BIG: 20 Bold Solutions to Fix Our World by Ed Miliband. This book, partly based on Miliband and Geoff Lloyd's podcast Reasons to Be Cheerful, identifies what is wrong with our political and multilateral systems and sets out solutions to fix our world. "In saying we need to 'go big' I am advocating not just the consideration of ideas that promise significant change but for politics to rediscover its se…
(2022-02-19). Twist in TRIPS waiver negotiations raises eyebrows. peoplesdispatch.org Not long before the beginning of the EU-African Union Summit on February 17,
(2022-02-19). More than 3.06b COVID-19 vaccine doses administered on Chinese mainland. ecns.cn The number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered on the Chinese mainland has reached over 3.06 billion on Wednesday, data from the National Health Commission showed Tuesday.
(2022-02-19). [World Report] Medical aid returns to Tigray. thelancet.com Shipments of medical supplies have been delivered to Tigray—the first in months—but WHO says it will not be enough to restock the severely depleted health system. Sharmila Devi reports.
(2022-02-19). China highlights metaverse risks. rt.com 
The virtual space network is the primary target of scammers and fraudsters, regulator warns | The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission warned on Friday about the associated risks the emerging metaverse technology could bring as the virtual space fever sweeps the world. | The watchdog said in a statement published on its website that some companies were engaging in illegal fund-raising, fraud, and virtual real estate speculation. | "Beware of being duped, and if you find clues of suspected illegal crimes, please actively report this to the relevant local departments," it said. | The official warnin…
(2022-02-19). Vaccine shedding spreads disaster to unvaccinated pregnant women? globalresearch.ca Since the COVID vaccines were authorized, MANY women have posted reports of disrupted and unusual menstrual cycles, heavy bleeding, and miscarriages. | What's more, some of these women state they haven't received the COVID vaccine, but they've been in close contact …
(2022-02-19). SF City Workers Fed Up With Low Staffing, Wages, Union Busting Privatization & Corruption. indybay.org Hundreds of San Francisco City workers rally to protest the low staffing, lack of wage increases, two tier union busting and systemic corruption by City officials and retaliation against whistlelblowers. Workers were also protesting the firing of workers for not taking the vaccine…
(2022-02-19). News on China | No. 87. dissidentvoice.org How a COVID outbreak in Hong Kong is being managed; a shift in Germany's position toward China, as it classifies China as a "systemic rival"; a look at relationships in China; Red Star over China author Edgar Snow passed away 50 years ago.
(2022-02-19). The Maoist 'Exceptionalism' at the Heart of China's COVID Strategy. mronline.org 
Arguably the best known contemporary proponent of Chinese exceptionalism in the English-language is Martin Jacques, best known for his 2009 bestseller 'When China Rules the World', a tour-de-force in the repackaging of orientalist tropes for the 21st-century.
(2022-02-19). COVID-19 disaster intensifies across the Pacific. wsws.org COVID-19 numbers are escalating as Pacific island governments adopt the "living with the virus" policies put forward by capitalist elites globally.
(2022-02-19). California's "endemic plan" sets the stage for unending COVID-19 infections and deaths. wsws.org The propaganda campaign is driven not by science, but by the demands of the corporations and financial elite. The aim is to fabricate a narrative that COVID-19 is harmless in order to maximize profits under the guise of a "return to normalcy."
(2022-02-19). Australia Accuses Chinese Guided-Missile Destroyer of Aiming Laser at Its Surveillance Aircraft. sputniknews.com The incident comes amid strained ties between Australia and China over Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanding an international enquiry into the origins of COVID-19 and an ongoing trade war between the two nations. China, Australia's largest trading partner, is also unhappy about Canberra's membership of US-led alliances such as Quad and AUKUS.
(2022-02-19). The Truth About Ivermectin. dissidentvoice.org 
A very recent article on The Defender began: "A peer-reviewed study published last month found the prophylactic use of ivermectin reduced COVID mortality by 90 percent among more than 223,000 study participants in a town in Southern Brazil. The study, published in the Cureus Journal of Medical Science, also found a 44 percent reduction in COVID cases among those …