Thursday Open Thread ~ worth repeating edition ~ Best of the Left
Today we take a look at the global struggle to acquire and distribute sufficient doses of vaccine in an effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. It is not going as well as one might hope.
Ch. 1: Pandemic Immunoprivilege - In The Thick
Ranna Ayyub writes for Time Magazine about the COVID-19 crisis in India and the Prime Minister’s failure to lead during this second wave
Ch. 2: We're Torn Apart: Inside India's Worsening COVID Nightmare - The Mother Jones Podcast
Dean Baker, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, joined host Jamilah King on the podcast to talk about the impact this decision could have on bringing the pandemic to an end.
Ch. 3: Filipino Activist Walden Bello Global Vaccine Disparity Shows Irrationality of Global Capitalism - Democracy Now!
The international disparity in vaccine access between rich and low-income countries highlights “the irrationality of global capitalism,” says acclaimed Filipino scholar and activist Walden Bello.
Ch. 4: Media Ramps Up Vaccine Patent Propaganda Production - The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder
Refuting the hollow arguments made by the likes of Bloomberg News against waiving the vaccine patents.
Ch. 5: #VaxLive is a PR Scam So Those Causing Vaccine Inequity Can Pose as Saviors of Global Poor - Citations Needed
We breakdown the anti-TRIPS waiver corporate and ideological forces behind the seemingly good-hearted #VaxLive concert on May 8th.
Ch. 6: Covid Vaccines - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
John Oliver explains why some people don’t want to get the Covid-19 vaccine and how they might be reassured.
Can a vaccinated person spread coronavirus?
Comments
Don't be afraid to comment
On this subject. Whether you personally do or do not want to be vaccinated, I think we can agree that people who do want to be vaccinated should have access to the vaccine. That especially includes those in poor and third world countries. The "right" to make a profit should not keep millions of people from having that choice about their health and that of their families.
I am very happy to have
had access to the vaccine. I am vaccinated, as is my wife. When boosters are available, we will get them as well. I present with a couple of potential comorbidities, and my reading of the literature indicates that the potential risks are sufficiently outweighed by the potential reduction of symptoms if infected, as well as the reduction of the chances of infection to start with. I will also continue to wear a mask until there is solid evidence of herd immunity having been achieved, and probably for a while even after that. A gazillion Asians can't be wrong (sorry for this example of Argumentum ad numerum, but it was intended as humor).
In short, I see those actions as representing my personal best chance of remaining not-dead. And having lost friends and extended family members to the whole drowning-on-the-ventilator process, that particular outcome is very important to me. However, everyone else's mileage will most certainly vary. Don't shoot the messenger...
Having said all that, I also believe that it is completely unconscionable that corporations or governments should try to limit access to the vaccines for any reason whatsoever. I'm quite sure that the pharmaceutical companies will make their pretty penny, regardless.
Wow. Even with all the disclaimers, that still felt a little like peeing on the third rail. Thanks for the encouragement to weigh in!
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
There is room
Usefewersyllables in my philosphy about vaccinations to include every human to make their own decisions.
The exception is for those who seek to make a profit from witholding the vaccine or allowing it only to the highest bidder.
Individuals refusing is their right. I chose to get the vaccine as soon as I could. That feels right to me.
The Patent/Profit wrangling is such a turnoff that I do not expect to keep up with it at all.
I am grateful to those who follow this issue and report back to us.
NYCVG
The patent wrangling
is of some poignant interest to me, as I actually used to make a living as an expert witness (in patent prosecution and licensing for semiconductor and microprocessor technologies, not the medical arena). Basically, a paid nerd, not a lawyer.
That all ended when Congress basically destroyed the entire patent process (IMNSHO) with the passage of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), also called the Patent Reform Act of 2011, enacted into law September 16, 2011. It completely gutted the existing mechanisms for patent prosecution via the District Court system, and substituted a review panel (the Patent Trial and Appeal Board or PTAB, consisting of a bunch of political appointees not particularly skilled in *any* art) who would sit in judgement on the validity of patents.
Like all modern lawmaking, the AIA had the exact opposite of the desired effect. Entities who believed in good faith that their existing patents were being infringed, and who were seeking redress before the PTAB, almost invariably found their patents invalidated instead of being enforced. In the first two years of the PTAB, they invalidated 90% of the patents brought before them, including some very, very well found and well written patents covering fundamental technologies.
Ouch.
Needless to say, nobody in their right minds would try to enforce a patent after that, for fear of losing control of their intellectual property (which had to be disclosed in the patent application, of course). The only people who could afford the risk were truly global megacorporations with infinitely deep pockets- in semiconductors, that was Apple and Samsung, period, full stop. Everybody else simply quit trying to assert patents. Most actually quit bothering to patent at all, falling back on the good old concept of the "trade secret". Why pay the money to draft and file the necessary application and therefore disclose anything, ever, if the likely outcome is for it to be judged "obvious" and invalidated, with prejudice?
In short, Congress fucked it up grand royal, and many professionals in that area (who weren't already contracted with Apple and Samsung, anyway) suddenly found themselves working at Home Depot.
No, I'm not bitter.So in the marvelous modern era of whatever patent gobbledegook has devolved into doing post-AIA, it'll be interesting to see what happens here. My bet is on corruption. Perhaps certain companies might try to load the PTAB with people that they own: to rule against everyone they don't like, but not rule against them... Who knows?
For me, it'll be a little like watching a train wreck in slow motion. You just can't look away.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Hola, philly. THIS is a religious issue
-
When god ran everybody out of the garden of eden, he mandated that they shuld henceforth work and live by the sweat of their brow. Seemingly, however, there was an unstated exception for accumulated and even inherited wealth. Much later, his kid told a parable in which servants who invested their masters money in such fashion that the money would earn the master further money, whether he worked or not were good servants and were rewarded. One who simply held the money was a bad servant and was punished. This is clearly a holy approval of and mandate to engage in rentier capitalism.
Those what gots shall effortlessly earn more by putting their monies to work, and those what don't gots shall slave and toil for everything needed to survive. This is holy writ and to deny it is either pagan or satanic.
/snark (or not, depending)
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Retrospective look at Britain's response
Dominic Cummings appeared before a select committee of the British Parliament yesterday.
21 minutes of highlights of 8 hours of testimony.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xCovfRX2R4]
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
India COVID cases plummet.
Is Ivermectin turning the COVID tide in India?
It’s time to get serious about prophylaxis and treatment possibilities! Immunizations alone are not enough, particularly in areas where distribution of low temp vaccines is problematic.
“The story around the world gives a silent testimony:
— The Beresovka mammoth, frozen in mud, with buttercups in his mouth…..”
The Adam and Eve Story, Chan Thomas 1963
Lookout needs to see this
post. He has been talking about ivermectin all along.
NYCVG
There is a lot of sound evidence of efficacy.
but you wouldn’t know that if you asked the NIH or WHO. Apparently only large (expensive) double blind studies are considered reliable evidence these days with regard to COVID. You know, the kind only Big Pharma can afford to pay for. Who’s going to shell out for a large study for a safe, well established generic drug that cost pennies per dose? The dozens of well constructed smaller studies which showed impressive results in preventing infection, speeding recovery and saving lives were simply dismissed as non evidence of efficacy.
Our health
caresystem is broken, from top to bottom. It’s now a business opportunity, not a healing art.“The story around the world gives a silent testimony:
— The Beresovka mammoth, frozen in mud, with buttercups in his mouth…..”
The Adam and Eve Story, Chan Thomas 1963
Hola ovals. It's worse than that
In order to avoid burdening folks with the need to think, we have developed "protocols" for damn near everything, and especially for research and experimentation and doubly so if it involves biology or medicine. The gold standard for all of it, absolutely everything, is the double blind study performed on a large randomized sample. The silver sample is an academic meta-study of a collection of these double blind studies. Everything else is deemed unreliable.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
An example of the perfect being the enemy of a greater good.
Even when it’s a simple repurposing of a Nobel Prize winning drug with decades of real world demonstration of safety with billions of doses administered. It’s not like Ivermectin is some mRNA concoction dreamed up in a lab like those that needed EUAs and liability waivers to get off the ground.
[Edited to add link to FLCCC cited Ivermectin studies]
“The story around the world gives a silent testimony:
— The Beresovka mammoth, frozen in mud, with buttercups in his mouth…..”
The Adam and Eve Story, Chan Thomas 1963
The FLCCC has been advocating use of Ivermectin,
for some time. Their website can be found at FLCCC.net This is a group of well published specialists who have testified to Congressional subcommittees, petitioned international health organizations, submitted peer reviewed studies and encouraging the inclusion of Ivermectin in the treatment of COVID.
They have my respect and gratitude for their efforts.
“The story around the world gives a silent testimony:
— The Beresovka mammoth, frozen in mud, with buttercups in his mouth…..”
The Adam and Eve Story, Chan Thomas 1963
Taiwan is loosing control of COVID-19 infections.
Taiwan's situation effects the United States directly by our reliance on chip supply for economic recovery.
Intellectual property rights are inhibiting Taiwan's ability to purchase Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines directly from Germany.
Republic of China versus People's Republic of China continues over COVID-19.
Politics is inhibiting a vaccination program for the island.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.