The pandemic and the normalization of death
By Andre Damon, David North
Dec. 9, 2020
The United States is in the midst of one of the most intense periods of mass death in the nation’s history. More than 16,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the course of just one week, an average of 2,300 every day.
By way of comparison, during the 1918 “Spanish flu” pandemic, some 675,000 people in the US lost their lives over two years, an average of less than 1,000 people every day. In 1995, at the height of the horrific AIDS epidemic, 41,000 people died in a single year, amounting to approximately 112 people per day, or 1/20th the current rate of death.
Read more at http://www.defenddemocracy.press/the-pandemic-and-the-normalization-of-death/
The Debate on Vaccines
How has a Covid vaccine been developed so quickly?
Analysis: Funding and high public interest contributed to slashing of research and approval time
By Nicola Davis
The emergence of vaccines against Covid-19 has been hailed as gamechanger by experts, but polls have revealed the speed of their development and approval is a matter of concern for some people. We take a look at how and why such processes were so rapid.
How long does it normally take to develop a vaccine from scratch?
Traditionally it is a slow process. Speaking at the joint Commons and Lords national security strategy committee in October, Sir Patrick Vallance said that before Covid, it took an average of about 10 years to develop a completely new vaccine, with the process never before achieved in less than about five years.
Read more at http://www.defenddemocracy.press/the-debate-on-vaccines/
Slavoj Zizek: We should look to how Cuba coped with the fall of the Soviet Union to deal with our new Covid world
By Slavoj Zizek
Oct. 23, 2020
It’s time to be brave enough to acknowledge that we are in a hopeless situation, and Covid has changed the way our world will work forever. But we can thrive again if we accept there will be more state control in our lives.
Europe is now paying the price for its summer complacency, when we hoped that coronavirus would be ‘burned’ by the heat. While the epidemic diminished, it did not disappear. Life opened up somewhat, though, and there was a relief that the worst seemed to be over.
Read more at http://www.defenddemocracy.press/slavoj-zizek-we-should-look-to-how-cuba-coped-with-the-fall-of-the-soviet-union-to-deal-with-our-new-covid-world/
Canada Approves Vaccine Made by Pfizer and BioNTech
Dec. 9, 2020
Canada has approved the coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech, the country’s drug regulator said on Wednesday, opening the possibility that Canadians will start receiving it next week.
The regulator, Health Canada, said that it completed a full independent review of the data on the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness. While Britain approved the vaccine earlier, it did so on an emergency basis; the approval was limited to a single production run and largely relied on Pfizer’s analysis. Bahrain has also issued an emergency approval.
Read more at http://www.defenddemocracy.press/canada-approves-vaccine-made-by-pfizer-and-biontech/
‘Catastrophic’: Balkan healthcare overwhelmed by virus surge
Nov. 29, 2020
Not enough beds and not enough doctors: a skyrocketing coronavirus caseload is pushing hospitals in the Balkans to the cusp of collapse, in chaotic scenes reminding some medics of the region’s 1990s wars.
After nearly a year of keeping outbreaks more or less under control, the nightmare scenario that the Balkans feared from the start of the pandemic is now starting to unfold.
In hard-hit Bosnia, one doctor described the distress of having to juggle the care of multiple patients whose lives were hanging by a thread.
Read more at http://www.defenddemocracy.press/catastrophic-balkan-healthcare-overwhelmed-by-virus-surge/
Vacciner est-ce prévenir ?
Par Badia Benjelloun
Un bond de 6% dans les marchés financiers a été enregistré en une matinée le 9 novembre à l’annonce de l’efficacité à 90% du vaccin expérimental Pfizer-BioNTech. De telles progressions réalisées en une matinée sont rarement observées.
Le 3 décembre, Pfizer déclare, à la suite d’une détection de problèmes sur la chaîne de production, ne pouvoir respecter son programme de distribution. L’information a pesé sur la tendance à Wall Street, faisant passer au rouge le SP500. Ainsi en va-t-il de l’allocation des ressources dans le capitalisme décadent du vingt-et-unième siècle. Elle varie au bon gré de rumeurs et de communications émises par des firmes que les investisseurs à l’affût de profits à très court terme, pris dans une course aveugle à la bonne affaire, ne prennent que peu de soins à vérifier. Si les finances publiques étasuniennes avaient favorisé précocement Johnson & Johnson, Moderna et Astra Zeneca dans l’attribution de fonds pour la recherche de vaccin contre la COVID-19, la commande de 100 millions de doses à Pfizer pour 1,98 milliards de dollars en juillet représente un investissement non négligeable dans le développement et la production.
Lire la suite http://www.defenddemocracy.press/vacciner-est-ce-prevenir/
