Coronavirus
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“Given these sorts of whopping profits, I can’t understand why conspiracists, instead of claiming the virus is a hoax and vaccines a vehicle for mind-control, haven’t touted the far simpler plot that the virus was manufactured by drug companies in order to sell vaccines.”
I have heard some consipiracists (I have an in law who is right into this stuff), claim that Big pharma have promoted this, however it isn’t “Big” pharma that are making the profits, the big three Glaxosmthkiline, Merck and Sanofi all had failed vaccines and lost $millions in the process, so much for conspiracies, it’s the anarchy of capitalism as bloody usual.
For centuries TB was a scourge affecting all classes (true, to different degrees). In the years after WW2 effective drugs finally became widely available and almost wiped it out. ‘Almost’ because the funds to finish the job were cut off (at least in the US). They were cut because TB remained only among the very poor and homeless, who ‘didn’t matter.’ Now TB is making a comeback with a vengeance because much of it is multi drug resistant, increasingly difficult and expensive to treat.
How does the Johnson & Johson vaccine work? Only one shot is required instead of two shots like Pfizer and Moderna. It is a very advanced technology that allows scientists ( they are also members of the working class ) to produce a vaccine in a few months instead of taking years to produce one like on prior occasions. I can say that any one of those vaccines is safe because I got two shots of Moderna and did not have any side effects. It is under trial to provide two ( or mixed ) different types of vaccines to every individual to provide better protection, science will beat conspiracy theories
The Archdiocese of New Orleans has issued a statement condemning the coronavirus vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson as “morally compromised” because it was developed using cells that derived from abortions.
corona virus
“The life of just one person is worth more than the private property of the richest man.” This is what’s written on the Calixto Garcia public hospital in Havana Cuba as a testament to the country’s commitment to free public healthcare, and to putting people before profit. I know this about Cuba because in March, at the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic, I spent a week in the ICU at Calixto Garcia. I had been hit by a speeding ambulance, and Cuban doctors saved my life, operated on me twice, and nursed me to stability before putting me on a private medical evacuation flight back to the U.S. All of this, including the flight, was free of cost to me- covered by Cuba’s government-run insurance for foreign visitors. From my hospital bed, as the global emergency around me escalated, I witnessed how the Cuban government swiftly mobilized resources to protect its citizens from Covid-19: at-home testing for anyone with symptoms, door to door preventative education in the most vulnerable neighborhoods, and coordinated isolation when necessary. While deaths soared toward 100,000 in the U.S., Cuba was able to get the average daily Covid-19 related deaths close to zero for most of May-August.On PBS now a documentary on the Black Death suggesting it wasn’t bubonic plague.
European Union Financial Services Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, discussing Coronavirus on Andrew Marr this morning, stated “the world has literally stopped turning”. So that’s something else for us to worry about then.
According to the media, Johnson told the Tories’ 1922 committee yesterday that “the reason Britain had secured such large vaccine supplies before other countries was because of ‘greed’. He is understood to have told his MPs: ‘The reason for our vaccine success is capitalism — greed, my friends’” (today’s Times.
His PR people have since tried to row back on this but it confirms that the UK government got Astra Zeneca to give it priority over the EU by offering them a higher price.
So what is it: vaccine capitalism or vaccine nationalism?
More on the struggle for profits amongst Big Pharma companies supported by their governments.
From another article in today’s Times headed “why did Americans take jab at Astra?”
“It’s too trite to suggest it’s to protect US alternatives developed for profit by Pfizer and Moderna, shooting for $15 billion and €18.4 billion in sales this year.”
Because AstraZeneca is not aiming at a maximum profit for the time being, selling its vaccine at cost price (actually a bit above this but still below what they could charge) the author assumes that they are doing it “for no profit to help the world”.
How naive can you get! He doesn’t mention that this is only for the duration of the current pandemic. They are playing a longer game, using their vaccine as a loss leader and shooting for billions of dollars in the longer term when they have calculated that vaccines will still be needed.
Another case of vaccine capitalism.
As expected, the poor persons vaccine scheme, Covax, as run into delays. Serum Institute of India, the largest supplier to Covax, were has had a “setback in securing export licences” as India exercises the right to veto the Serum Institute’s exports.
Venezuela’s Maduro – Thyme to Reject
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