COVID-19

US Department Of Health Pressured Brazil Into Rejecting Sputnik V

March 16, 2021 Tim Korso, Sputnik News. Educate! Brazil, COVID-19, United States, Vaccines

The developers of the Russian vaccine against the coronavirus have condemned the actions of the American authorities and stressed that nations should be fighting as a united front against the pandemic. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has admitted in its annual report that it used "diplomatic relations" in order to force Brazil, one of the worst-hit countries in terms of the pandemic, to reject authorisation of the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V. The American authorities put their actions down to the need to "mitigate efforts" by Russia to boost its "influence" in the region, which, as the department's paper argues, would be detrimental to the "US’ safety and security". The report did not elaborate on how Brazil's approval of an additional vaccine to fight the pandemic would undermine US security.

US Chamber Of Commerce Presses WTO Not To Grant Vaccine Waivers

March 13, 2021 Andrew Karpan, Law 360. Educate! COVID-19, Medical Apartheid, Vaccines, WTO

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday warned the World Trade Organization's new director-general not to "distract" herself with proposals to suspend global intellectual property rules in order to distribute COVID-19 vaccines around the world. Patrick Kilbride, senior vice president of the Global Innovation Policy Center at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told the WTO to recognize how important "transparent and predictable intellectual property rights" have been in spurring collaborative efforts to develop vaccines. Kilbride's comments came just a day after the trade body's new director-general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, issued her first address to the WTO's General Council.

How The Pandemic Economy Could Wipe Out A Generation Of Black-Owned Businesses

March 8, 2021 Lydia DePillis, ProPublica. Educate! Black Working Class, COVID-19, Recession, Systemic Racism

Of all the products made at Danette Wilder’s small manufacturing plant near the University of Kentucky in Lexington, the products she depended on most for sales were the O-rings cranked out by her vintage presses. Each month, Wilder’s crew of six people, working at long tables as they listened to a soundtrack of funk and R&B, made thousands of the rubber loops, cut from spools into precise strips and spliced into uniform perfect circles. The work distinguished Wilder’s company, SealingLife Technology, as one of the vanishingly few rubber products suppliers owned by a female engineer — not to mention one who is also Black. It hasn’t been an easy path: Wilder has navigated state and federal set-aside programs, tight-fisted bankers and what she saw as obvious discrimination. But eventually, Wilder built SealingLife into a reliable vendor for all manner of aerospace, medical and other industrial businesses.

The Fight For Women’s Rights Is A Fight Against Capitalism

March 8, 2021 Rachel Hagan, Tribune Magazine. Educate! Capitalism, COVID-19, International Women's Day, Worker Rights

International Women’s Day was founded after 15,000 women marched through New York City in 1908 to demand three things: better hours, better pay, and voting rights. In most of the world, the last of these has been cemented – but the pandemic has thrown the former two into jeopardy. In summer 2020, the McKinsey Global Institute reported that around the world, women were at 1.8 times the risk of Covid redundancy compared to the risk facing men. Research from the University of Exeter also found that women in the UK were twice as likely to have lost their job during the first wave of the pandemic. Around 133,000 more women were furloughed during the first wave, too, meaning more are likely in line for redundancies when the scheme ends. In the UK, as redundancies have proliferated, men’s employment has now fallen more than women’s – but that women were often first in the firing line indicates qualitative divisions in work.

Medical Technicians’ Strike In Oregon Could Be The First Of Many

March 5, 2021 Lizzie Mulvey, Al Jazeera. Resist! COVID-19, Healthcare workers, Oregon, Strike

As a registered respiratory therapist, Rachel Maida spent the past year caring for COVID-19 patients at St Charles Medical Center in Bend, Oregon in the United States – challenging work that has taken both a physical and mental toll on the 48-year-old. The powered air purifying respirator (PAPR) she wears for 12 hours a day causes headaches, she said, and her mask leaves bruises on her face. She loves her job, but “it’s exhausting, day in and day out,” Maida told Al Jazeera, explaining that earning between $25 and $35 per hour, she is not compensated enough. That is why nearly a year into the coronavirus pandemic, Maida and more than 150 other medical technicians – a group of highly skilled healthcare professionals who typically don’t have the labour protections afforded to nurses and doctors – have been negotiating their first union contract as part of the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP).

Educators’ Safety Struggle Rekindles Collective Workplace Action

March 4, 2021 James Kerr, Labor Notes. Organize! COVID-19, Teachers, United Kingdom (UK), Worker Rights

United Kingdom - Former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson famously said that “a week is a long time in politics.” In early January, even a week was too long, as current Prime Minister Boris Johnson performed a dramatic 24-hour U-turn on the question of schools reopening after the Christmas break. On Sunday, January 3, Johnson told journalists “there is no doubt in my mind that schools are safe,” part of a media campaign to get schools open and people back to work. But by the next day, he described those same schools as “vectors of transmission” for Covid. He included their closure in the nationwide lockdown, except for the children of key workers (the British term for essential workers) and those designated “vulnerable.” What spurred this sudden conversion? Had Johnson finally seen sense and prioritized lives over the profits of corporations? Were the nearly 100,000 Covid deaths in the United Kingdom playing on his mind?

Mumia Abu-Jamal Has COVID-19

February 28, 2021 Dave Lindorff, This Can't Be Happening. Educate! COVID-19, health, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Prisoner rights

Internationally known U.S. political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal has reported to friends and family on the outside that he has contracted Covid-19 in the Pennsylvania prison where he is incarcerated, and says he is having difficulty breathing. His life is in immediate danger and he is in urgent need of hospital care. This latest outrage was sadly predictable. Prisons across the U.S. have for years been allowing serious illness to serve as a form of “silent execution” of prisoners, many of them certainly innocent of the crimes they were convicted of. Many prisoners in the system, guilty or not, are serving unfairly punitive terms that keep them confined into an old age meaning they are particularly vulnerable to potentially fatal illnesses, whether that is flu, cancer, hepatitis, pneumonia or now Covid-19.

Dr. Osterholm’s Warning: COVID Hurricane On The Horizon

February 27, 2021 Vincent Emanuele, Counterpunch. Educate! COVID-19, Pandemic, PPE, Vaccines

Twelve months ago, Dr. Michael Osterholm was interviewed on the Joe Rogan Program. At the time, he warned that anywhere from 400,000 to 1.5 million Americans would die of COVID and that the pandemic would last for many years and significantly impact our lives. So far, his predictions have been eerily accurate. Today, Dr. Osterholm is warning that a “Category 5 COVID-hurricane” is on the horizon, with the B117/UK Variant posing the greatest threat. As positive cases and deaths decline, he warns that the media has been negligent in their overly positive reporting. Indeed, the scientific community is engaged in an important debate. On one side, we have scientists who believe enough Americans have been infected and, as a result, have developed enough immunity to avoid a serious surge.

Vaccine Imperialism: China vs. The Western World

February 24, 2021 Lee Siu Hin, Action LA. Educate! China, COVID-19, Vaccine apartheid, Vaccines

China and Russia are among the first countries in the world to vaccinate people, according to the website Our World in Data. By December 15, 2020, at least 1.5 million Chinese had taken a jab, compared to the U.S. and U.K. who also began their vaccination campaigns in early December and by December 15 had vaccinated around half a million people. So far China is leading the world in number of people who are fully vaccinated or have at least received the first jab. According to the Chinese media, as of January 23, 2021, nearly 16 million had taken a jab, closely followed by the number of people vaccinated in the U.S; as of February 9, China had administered 40.52 million doses and the U.S. had given 43.2 million.

Silicon Valley Bus Drivers Restored Community Rides For Free

February 24, 2021 Richard Marcantonio, Labor Notes. Create! California, COVID-19, Labor Unions, Public transportation

With Covid cases surging in their ranks, bus drivers in Santa Clara, California, demanded to resume rear-door boarding, which is proven to reduce the risk of infection. Management of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) balked, even blaming the workers for getting sick. Pressure mounted from the leadership of Transit (ATU) Local 265, and from rider and community groups. But it was rank-and-file bus drivers who forced management’s hand when they started planning to stop boarding at the front door whether the agency agreed or not. Bosses prefer anything to allowing workers to run the company. On February 3, the agency announced that it would resume rear-door boarding.

Higher Education Workers Are Organizing For Their Own Safety

February 22, 2021 Brian Wakamo, Inequality.org. Organize! COVID-19, Higher Education, PPE, Worker Rights

President Biden included $35 billion in funding for higher education in his American Rescue Plan. If this aid makes it into the final Covid relief law, college and university employees across the country will no doubt applaud. The pandemic has hit this sector hard. Around 260,100 university employees (14.6 percent of the total workforce) have lost their jobs since February 2020. Staff also make up most of the Covid-19 deaths on college campuses. But while federal funding is welcome, it is no guarantee of equitable treatment for higher education workers. Economic disparities and unsafe working conditions are motivating staff on a growing number of college campuses to build power through union organizing. One of the most ambitious university organizing efforts is taking place in Arizona. Late last year, staff at two schools — the University of Arizona and Arizona State University — formed United Campus Workers Arizona Local 7065, a “wall-to-wall” union representing all of the schools’ employees.

What The Vaccine Debacle Tells Us About Predatory Capitalism

February 22, 2021 Ognian Kassabov, Al Jazeera. Educate! Capitalism, COVID-19, Vaccine apartheid, Vaccines

Vaccines have been a beacon of hope amid a raging coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 2.4 million people and brought world economies to a halt. They have been presented as a remedy that would put an end to the immense suffering – physical, emotional, and economic – caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. But as vaccine roll-out has faltered due to various foreseen and unforeseen circumstances, the light of this imaginary beacon seems to be getting dimmer. As a recent article published in the leading medical journal The Lancet concludes, “new vaccines will mean little to individuals around the world if they are unable to get vaccinated in a timely manner”. Months after several vaccines were approved for use, vaccination campaigns have been disappointingly slow, and if deployment continues at the present rate, only a few of the world’s richest countries are expected to achieve herd immunity before the end of the summer.

Cuomo’s Nursing Home Scandal Vindicates His Critics In The Press

February 21, 2021 Ari Paul, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting. Educate! Andrew Cuomo, COVID-19, Media, New York (NY)

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s moment as the “hero” of the Covid-19 crisis is fading, with revelations (New York Times, 2/12/21) that his administration covered up the scope of the coronavirus death toll in the state’s nursing homes, as one Cuomo aide “admitted that the state had withheld data because it feared an investigation by the Trump Justice Department.” The anger at the governor is bipartisan; legislators on both sides of the aisle are discussing curtailing his powers, and even impeachment (City and State, 2/12/21). It seems like yesterday when Cuomo, the son of legendary New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, was in the spotlight as the leader who rose to the occasion in cinematic fashion.

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