Tag: Italy

Rich Countries Seek Priority Access to COVID-19 Vaccine

Posted on by webmaster

In order for an eventual COVID-19 vaccine to save as many lives as possible, it would require rapid distribution, and to those countries struggling with the highest infection rates. The chances that will happen are slim, say several experts who see an increasingly competitive race for first-access to a potential vaccine.

“We have this beautiful picture of everyone getting the vaccine, but there is no road map on how to do it,” the Associated Press was told by Yuan Qiong Hu, a senior legal and policy adviser at Doctors Without Borders in Geneva.

Hu predicts that the existing structure, in which companies establish patents at every step of vaccine development, will hamper the distribution and development of a vaccine that could be made available to all. “We can’t afford to face these multiple layers of private rights to create a ‘people’s vaccine,’” she told the AP.

Three phases

Several possible vaccines are under development across the world thanks to global efforts, with around a dozen in the early stages of testing. Vaccine development requires any potential remedy to go through a three-phase process that tests the efficacy of the drug while ensuring that side effects do not pose unforeseen risks.

In the first phase, small groups of people receive the trial vaccine. If the vaccine proves successful without any significant health risks among the participants, the process moves to the second phase.

In phase two, the clinical study expands to a group of people who are part of the risk group for whom the vaccine is intended, which in COVID-19 cases would be older people and those vulnerable because of pre-existing illnesses.

The third and final phase tests the vaccine on thousands of people to ensure safety and a proven efficacy to avoid false positives and detect possible allergic reactions or side effects.

Private investment

Several wealthy countries have spent millions to support the rapid development of possible vaccine candidates and ensure a potential vaccine could be manufactured on a large scale. In exchange for these investments, these countries are expected to receive vaccines before others.

The British government has declared that the first 30 million doses of a possible vaccine under development at Oxford University will be earmarked for British citizens. The US became entangled in a diplomatic row with France over the potential future distribution of a French vaccine candidate to which the US expected first access because of its investments.

AstraZeneca, a drug manufacturer that intends to produce Oxford University’s vaccine, has signed an agreement with the US that would guarantee 300 million doses for the US, to be delivered as soon as possible.

The same manufacturer struck a deal with four EU countries to also supply them with 300 million doses. Drug manufacturers appear to be actively goading governments into making early commitments to buy yet-unproven drugs, playing countries against each other as they stand to make giant profits.

While pharmaceutical companies have pledged to provide a not-for-profit version of their vaccines, it is becoming clear that the world’s richest will be the first to receive the vaccines, even if other countries need them much more. Another example of the perverse nature of privatized medicine, it will be the richest, not the sickest, who will receive priority in this global crisis.

Black Lives Also Matter at Europe’s Borders

Posted on by webmaster

Racists in Europe must have breathed a sigh of relief over the weekend. Thousands rallied across the continent in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and against police brutality, but few even mentioned that the EU is showing a similar disdain and disregard for Black lives at its borders.

In the US, the legacy of slavery is obvious and noticeable on a daily basis, as the victims of American slavery are part of the country’s society. In Europe, the victims of centuries of oppression and slavery are hidden away, kept from even entering the world’s most prosperous region and claiming even a fragment of the results of their ancestors’ labor.

When European empires stretched across the globe, as recently as 70 years ago, colonizers constantly reminded their subjects of their “mother country” in Europe. Now that these countries no longer profit from them, the descendants of the colonized, often separated by only a single generation, are considered unwelcome foreigners, with no right to enter the continent that their ancestors’ suffering helped build.

In a case of incredible projection, Europeans who once invaded countries to extract resources now accuse poor migrants of trying to “profit from and exploit” Europe’s welfare system that their ancestors helped build as much as Europeans did.

Europeans remain shocked and incredulous in the face of US racism but remain blind to their own similar or often even worse treatment of those that do not have the right immigration papers.

Anti-racism protests

European leaders were quick to express their condemnation of the brutal murder of George Floyd and some even highlighted similar forms of racism in Europe. The continent’s continued complicity in the daily deaths and suffering of its own colonial victims did not receive any attention.

Just in the one week since the anti-racism protests spread across the EU, dozens of Black people experienced their own silent and unreported “I can’t breathe” moment as they drowned in the Mediterranean.

Many have commented on the apparent lack of accountability for police violence in the US, but if George Floyd had been a drowning migrant, those who called for the officer to stop could have been prosecuted, as saving a migrant’s life during sea crossings is a crime in several EU countries. All sense of human decency appears to have been abandoned in the concerted effort to ensure Europe’s wealth is never shared with its colonial victims that helped create that wealth.

Countries such as Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy that have extracted untold amounts of wealth from their colonial subjects now accuse the descendants of their victims of exploiting them, with no apparent sense of shame whatsoever. “Let them die because this is a good deterrence,” is how a UN rapporteur described the European strategy.

FRONTEX

In order to avoid a confrontation with Europe’s colonial past, the EU has set up a paramilitary force in control of concentration camps, advanced military hardware, mobilized a $350 million budget, and granted an unspoken license to kill. Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency is Europe’s version of a militarized police force, conveniently hidden from citizens’ view and used to commit daily human rights violations.

Black migrants in Europe are not even considered worthy of human rights, if they are not lucky enough to already be in possession of a European passport. Those unfortunate people in dangerously overcrowded boats in the Mediterranean are all structurally denied their human right of asylum (Article 33 of the Geneva Convention on Refugees.)

They are similarly denied the human right to not experience inhuman and degrading treatment (Article 3 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) and the right to leave any country (Article 13.2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.)

By keeping migrants away from European shores, the EU is ensuring it does not have to recognize the rights of those attempting the dangerous journey and instead putting that responsibility on regimes it knows will not uphold them.

Europeans have some of the most powerful passports on earth and can travel virtually unimpeded, but apparently see no moral problem in the fact that others are barred from entering their territory.

Deal with the devil

Increased scrutiny of FRONTEX has not changed Europe’s ways, instead it has changed its methods to avoid responsibility. Europe has made deals with oppressive regimes in Turkey and Libya that exchange large amounts of euros to move the structural and continuing death toll of Black people away from European coasts and towards those of North Africa.

The move has led to Libyan coast guard and European ships forcing migrants back to African shores, Libyan concentration camps full of migrants, and a reemergence of slave auctions in Libya.

But another devil with whom European politicians are making a deal is the anti-immigration voting bloc that they aim to appease. Politicians employ many of the brutal strategies to keep former colonial subjects out because of fear of losing support from Europe’s anti-immigrant voters. Far from a fringe group, they constitute enough political power to make even left-wing politicians approach the topic with caution.

Many on Europe’s right claim the continent is doing enough to help Africa through development aid. But the decreasing development budgets of EU countries stand in stark contrast with the net outflow of over $16.3 trillion of wealth extracted from developing countries to developed ones since 1980.

American law enforcement disgracefully kills an average of 1,000 Black people every year, while the EU’s tally in 2019 was 1,283. Its immigration policies killed 2,299 in 2018. The number of recorded deaths has gone down only because rescue ships are no longer searching for migrants and therefore not recording the death toll.

Since 2014, ships have found at least 19,164 migrants dead in the Mediterranean, all simply human beings trying to exercise their human right to claim asylum in Europe.

While Europeans protests in solidarity with America’s anti-racist movements, perhaps they should take a deep look at their own structural and continuing murder of their former colonial subjects in an effort to keep “them” away from Europe’s shores.

Europe needs to stop wagging its finger at others and perhaps take a deeper look into the structural racism and xenophobia that keeps Europe rich at the cost of Black lives, which, unlike those in the US, are lost far away from cameras and moral outrage.

European Leaders Hide COVID-19 Deaths

Posted on by webmaster

Belgium has faced international criticism for its high COVID-19 death-rate, but Belgian scientists claim that the rest of the EU are under-counting or under-reporting fatalities.

Professor Steven van Gucht, head of Belgium’s scientific COVID-19 response team has been under fire from both national and international actors for using a counting method that the British Health Foundation describes as the “fairest way to compare COVID-19 deaths internationally.”

Van Gucht has felt the pressure from Belgium’s business community and political leadership who have urged him to change the method of counting, “but we refused,” van Gucht told Deutsche Welle. Infection rates appear to be slowing in Europe, allowing for a deeper look into the numbers behind the pandemic’s impact on Europe.

Excess Deaths

It now appears that Belgium is one of the few European countries that has accurately reported the scale of the crisis on its citizens, while most have downplayed their numbers. “Official covid-19 death tolls still under-count the true number of fatalities,” the Economist concluded when they compared “excess deaths,” the increase in deaths compared to a five-year average.

In Belgium, this April saw the most deaths since the country was under Nazi occupation. While many other countries will have reached similar milestones they have not been revealed because of the structural under-reporting by national leaders.

Despite the scrutiny and mistrust surrounding COVID-19 data from China and Iran, data presented by the “revered ladies and gentlemen” that rule Europe have received no such scrutiny. That was a mistake, new data reveals, as most European leaders appear to have downplayed thousands of deaths in their countries.

Systematic under-reporting

Between March 14 and May 15, Britain’s government reported 45,298 coronavirus-related deaths, while the true number appears to stand at 59,100, meaning that Boris Johnson’s government is not reporting almost one in every four deaths.

The Dutch “intelligent lock-down” apparently has been supported through less than complete numbers, as Prime Minister Mark Rutte has only reported 60% of the country’s death-toll, ignoring 3,745 fatalities out of a total death-toll of 9,405 between March 16 and May 17.

In Italy almost half of all COVID-19 deaths have not been reported as such, with the country’s official tally standing at 12,178 deaths between February 26 and March 31, while the real number appears to be 24,031. Based on the data provided by the Economist, besides Belgium, only France and Spain come close to reporting their actual numbers.

Why it matters

This systematic misinformation could have dire consequences as citizens do not see the true scale of the tragedy that has befallen their country, and will not hold their leaders to account.

The patchwork of different approaches across Europe appears to have developed a perverse competition over which country ‘outperformed’ the others, creating an incentive to downplay numbers.

As an example, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has been enjoying rising popularity for himself and his center-right party. Instead of facing criticism for the country’s failure to prevent the deaths of over 9,000 citizens in a single month, the Dutch appear to have been lulled into a false sense of confidence in their elected leaders.

As a result a government that failed to adequately prepare and wasted valuable time in implementing lock-downs will likely not face any political ramifications.

Little criticism has emerged over the government’s decision to allow a large-scale festival in the country’s southern provinces while Italy was already implementing its first lockdown in Lombardy. Within a month it became clear the decision had led to a large outbreak in the country’s south.

Weeks later the Dutch PM still upheld that the country was in the “containment phase” and was touting “herd immunity” as a strategy even as thousands had already become infected. On March 21, Dutch health officials were shipping patients to northern provinces as hospitals in the south were flooded by COVID-19 patients in need of intensive care.

Consequences

By the end of March the number of cases was doubling every week and health officials announced that 2,400 intensive care beds would be needed, more than double the Dutch total capacity of 1,150.

Because the true death-rate was never revealed, the government’s failure to prepare adequately for a pandemic after a decade of its own austerity-led reductions in hospitals and medical staff never became a political issue.

While any attempt to misinform the public is roundly highlighted and mocked whenever Donald Trump engages in it, the misplaced reverence for European leaders has created a dangerous precedent where leaders are not being held to account for similar acts.

The false sense of confidence in Europe’s leaders could easily mean that even a second wave of infections will not lead to any significant criticism or consequences for the national leaders who used distorted data to justify a rush to reopen the economy.

Activism and Economic Activity Amid a Growing COVID-19 Crisis

Posted on by webmaster

There are currently seven million confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, 400,000 have died, and new cases are still on the rise. The World Health Organization (WHO) is warning that the global COVID-19 crisis is “worsening,” yet life appears to return to normal at a lighting pace.

Many citizens who have faced long coronavirus lockdowns and travel restrictions are either waiting for their country to reopen or already seeing some elements of normalcy. Even though COVID-19 remains a global threat, economic and societal pressures are pushing people back onto the street.

Return to ‘normal’

In Europe, life seems to be returning to normal, with the EU planning to reopen its internal Schengen borders in time for summer vacations. Famous museums like the Prado museum in Madrid, the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, and the Versailles museum in Paris have once again opened their doors to visitors.

The Bundesliga has returned and even family entertainment venues like theme parks are reopening. Tourists are again free to visit Rome’s Colosseum and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, after which they are free to have some food or cold drinks in local bars and restaurants. Germany bars have been packed with patrons and Amsterdam’s famous Vondelpark saw an impromptu “mini-festival.”

Cyprus is so eager to again receive tourists that it is offering to pay for anyone’s COVID-19 treatment if they test positive upon arrival.

The US has seen no sign of effective containment as the country is preparing to confirm it’s two-millionth COVID-19 case, yet California bars are set to reopen on Friday, June 12.

Protesting racism

Hundreds of thousands of people in America’s largest cities have protested institutional racism in the United States over the past week, with protests now spreading to smaller towns. The brutal death of George Floyd in police custody has reignited the debate over the country’s ingrained and persistent racism.

The blatant case of police brutality has even sparked outrage worldwide, with large demonstrations across the globe. In Europe, thousands packed the streets of Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona, Brussels, Copenhagen, London, Madrid, Paris, Rome, and Warsaw while smaller cities also saw significant demonstrations.

In Asia, protesters in cities like Tokyo, Jakarta, Seoul, Sydney, and Brisbane came out in a display of solidarity with US protests while highlighting local injustices, such as West Papua’s struggle for independence and the Philippine anti-drug war that has become a slaughter of impoverished locals.

Even in Brazil, where the local COVID-19 epidemic is rapidly accelerating, most large cities saw protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, and in opposition to the Brazilian government’s COVID-19 response.

WHO warnings

When listening to the analysis of the WHO, both large-scale protests and the reopening of tourist attractions seems unimaginable.

WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in his opening remarks during a June 8 media briefing said “the situation in Europe is improving, globally it is worsening.”

On Sunday, June 7, “more than 136,000 cases were reported, the most in a single day so far,” he underlined.

Ten countries in the Americas and Central Asia currently account for three-quarters of all new cases, with fears of increasing numbers in Africa and Eastern Europe. But the WHO has expressed concern over the emergence of large protests. While Ghebreyesus stated that the WHO “fully supports equality and the global movement against racism,” he urged for “active surveillance to ensure the virus does not rebound.”

The world appears to have reached a “new normal” where some countries are resuming many parts of daily life while others continue to struggle with large local outbreaks. The patchwork of different approaches, preventive measures, and exit strategies mean that many countries base their policies on the local situation, even as the global problem grows.

While all sectors of the economy will cheer a return to normal, once international travel reemerges we could be reminded, once again, of the consequences of our interconnected global society.

Most Popular