Hong Kong reels after the year that free speech died

Issued on: 21/12/2020 -

Hong Kong riot police detain a man as they clear protesters taking part in a July 1, 2020 rally against the new national security law imposed by Beijing DALE DE LA REY AFP/File

Hong Kong (AFP)

Hong Kong faces no respite from Beijing's crackdown on dissent after a year that saw its status as a free speech bastion collapse under a security law that has radically transformed the city.

China's authoritarian leaders guaranteed Hong Kong would maintain key freedoms and autonomy after its 1997 handover by Britain in a model dubbed "One Country, Two Systems".

But a historic retreat from that promise is underway in response to the huge and often violent democracy protests that convulsed the business hub a year ago.

Hong Kong is now a place where Beijing increasingly calls the shots and where voicing certain opinions can now carry up to a lifetime prison sentence.

Dozens have been arrested under the new national security law China imposed in June, which bypassed the city's legislature, its contents kept secret until it was enacted.

Supporters say it was needed to end unrest.

"Whether you like it or not, it has succeeded in restoring peace and stability to Hong Kong," Regina Ip, a prominent pro-Beijing politician, told AFP.

But critics say it has forever altered the DNA of a free-wheeling city used to speaking its mind.

"It's the kind of stability you get in a graveyard," said Philip Dykes, the outgoing chairman of the city's Bar Association.

"The national security law offences are, many of them, directed to what people said instead of what people did."

- Speech crimes -

Even without the security law, Hong Kong changed dramatically over the course of 2020.

Street protests have been effectively outlawed and court docks are filled with the prosecutions of opposition figures.

The city's half-elected legislature is now devoid of dissenting voices after pro-democracy lawmakers resigned en masse when authorities disqualified four of their colleagues because of their political views.

Other opposition figures were simply banned from standing for local elections.

But the national security law has had the most profound impact.

On paper, it targets four crimes: secession, subversion, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces.

In reality its catch-all wording outlaws a host of political views such as advocating for independence, autonomy or international sanctions.

All but one of the cases brought by police so far centre on speech crimes.

Detained media tycoon Jimmy Lai is being investigated for tweets he wrote and media interviews he gave.

The secession charge against 19-year-old student activist Tony Chung, also in custody, was sparked by social media posts.

Police from the city's new national security unit arrested eight people who chanted banned slogans at a small campus protest last month.

The legal firewall between Hong Kong and the mainland has been toppled -- China has claimed jurisdiction over especially serious security cases and empowered its security agents to operate openly in the city for the first time.

Arrestees have had bank accounts frozen, entangling international finance giants like HSBC in Beijing's crackdown.

The United States has rescinded Hong Kong's special trading privileges and imposed sanctions on key officials, including city leader Carrie Lam.

- 'Clean house' -

Even establishment figures have been taken aback by the speed and depth of the changes.

"The city where I was born is becoming unrecognisable with each passing day," Michael Chugani, a once often pro-government commentator, wrote in the South China Morning Post earlier this month.

The city was now seen, he added, as one "that limits free speech, restricts protests, reins in the media, crushes the opposition with waves of arrests, and freezes bank accounts."

Political analyst Derek Yuen says Hong Kong remains riven by polarisation and populist anger.

But China's leaders have no plan to change course.

"Beijing will hope to clean the house of Hong Kong as soon as possible," he predicted.

After a string of protesters were acquitted -- often by judges critical of police evidence and testimony -- a senior mainland official backed calls to "reform" the judiciary.

Local authorities have also begun to overhaul the curriculum after Beijing ordered more "patriotic" education.

A key test of confidence will come in January when those with British National Overseas passports can start applying for long term visas to relocate to the UK.

Predictions of Hong Kong's demise have been brushed off by Chief Executive Lam, who has struck an increasingly defiant tone.

She began the year with a conciliatory New Year's address vowing to "listen humbly" to people's concerns.

But by November, Lam told the SCMP she had "regained confidence" and felt no regrets about her administration of the city.

"I'm back to my old self," she said.

© 2020 AFP

THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED

Foot massages, tattoos and dentists for defiant 

India farmers

Issued on: 21/12/2020 - 

In one tent, volunteers have set up two neat rows of about 20 foot-massage machines 

Sajjad HUSSAIN AFP

New Delhi (AFP)

With foot-massage machines, a dental surgery, their own newspaper and even a tattoo parlour, it's clear that the thousands of Indian farmers blocking roads into Delhi for almost a month are going nowhere.

The farmers marched on the capital in late November to protest at new farm laws they fear will destroy their livelihoods, but police firing tear gas and water cannon stopped them in their tracks.

So now, numbering tens of thousands, they are digging in at several entry points into the city, braving the bitter night-time cold with tents, blankets and fires, as well as hot samosas and sweet chai.

With music blaring from large speakers fitted to tractors, the largest such site at the Singhu border crossing north of Delhi now resembles a lively -- and highly organised -- festival.

Sunny Ahluwalia, a dentist, drove his van fitted with two dental chairs and an X-ray machine, all powered by a generator, from his home 250 kilometres away to help.

"We may have become doctors but we are sons of farmers," Ahluwalia told AFP after scraping one farmer's yellowing teeth, one of around 100 patients he treats for free per day.

"It is very unfortunate that our government isn't ready to accept the farmers' demands. How can the laws be good if they don't like them?"

- Tired feet -

The main camp snakes back almost a kilometre (half a mile). Tractor trailers are stuffed with bedding, while tents are set up around makeshift stalls offering anything from toothpaste to free medicine.

The makeshift settlement is a hive of activity throughout the day, as the farmers -- mostly without covid masks -- weave in and out of the bustling area, chatting and getting free food from community kitchens.

In one tent, volunteers have set up two neat rows of about 20 foot-massage machines to put a fresh spring in the step of the many grey-bearded, multicolour-turbaned farmers.

"Since many of the protesters are elderly farmers, they used to ask us for massages because of pain in (their) knees and feet," volunteer Bhupinder Singh told AFP.

"We felt that we could serve more people and do it better by purchasing these cheap machines."

"I told them how it feels good and they are doing a very good job," said satisfied customer Harbans Singh.

- Spick and span -

A team of 50 volunteers wielding brooms and dustpans have split themselves into two teams keep the bustling place clean.

"While everything else is in good supply, we felt that we could clean it better since we may be here for long," Sukhwinder Singh told AFP.

The government has said the new laws will mean farmers do not just have to sell their produce at state-run bodies that guarantee a minimum price.

But the protesters, who are mostly from northern states, fear that with the minimum price taken away, they will be squeezed dry by large corporations.

To spread their message across India and abroad -- there have been solidarity demos in Canada and Britain -- a common social media platform is managed by a 36-member IT cell.

The farmers have reportedly also set up their own weekly free newspaper to be distributed at the protest site.

Any farmers wanting to make a lasting impression can also get tattoos of protest slogans, ploughs pulled by bullocks, or ferocious lions.

"This is our way of supporting the farmers. We have designs related to the Punjabi culture," Chetan Sood, one of the tattoo artists, told the Times of India.

When night falls and the temperature plunges, many of the protesters end their long days inside tractor trolleys with six to eight other men sleeping on cotton bedding.

"We dim the lights and sleep cosy. The young boys sleep outside (in the open) with blankets," farmer Kashmir Singh told AFP.

© 2020 AFP

Women on the frontlines of Thailand's democracy movement

Chonticha 'Lookkate' Jangrew (C) is a familiar face at demonstrations and is often the only one trusted to negotiate with police Jack TAYLOR AFP/File


Issued on: 21/12/2020 - 

Bangkok (AFP)

Denouncing sexual violence, demanding abortion reform and destigmatising sex work –- once-taboo issues are finding public expression in Thailand as women take up leadership roles in a youth-led pro-democracy movement.

On the protest frontlines, they are urging for gender equality in a kingdom where workplaces and politics are still dominated by men.

AFP met three of them.

- Chief negotiator -

On the night police tried to stop protesters from marching to the Thai parliament, activist Chonticha Jangrew remembers rallying them to push past the barricades.

"We cut the barbed wire, we approach the parliament as close as we can. We won't back down," she recounts herself saying during the November rally.

Moments later, police fired tear gas and water cannon at the marchers -- a turning point for a movement that has brought thousands onto the streets since July.

Chonticha, 27, is a familiar face at demonstrations and is often the only one trusted to negotiate with police, but her visibility has also led to a spate of criminal charges -- including sedition.

She said she received death threats and "sexual insults" from ultra-royalists who oppose the protest movement but insisted the struggle must continue.

"We must do as much as men if we want equality," she said.

Like the majority of protesters, she is demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, reform to the monarchy and a rewriting of the military-scripted constitution.

She is also fighting for better representation of women in politics -- so far, they make up only 14 percent of lawmakers in parliament and 10 percent of the cabinet.

Chonticha was raised by a military father in a conservative environment.

"I needed to emancipate myself. Today, I don't hide my opinions from my family. They accept them, but they are afraid for me," she said.

- Star attraction -

A star of Thailand's silver screen since her teenage years, Inthira Charoenpura -- better known by her nickname "Sai" -- says she has had movie contracts cancelled since joining the protests.

"In show business, nobody dares to talk about politics for fear of ruining their career," she says.

She faces criminal charges for allegedly insulting the monarchy under Thailand's tough royal defamation laws.

The 40-year-old actress has nearly half a million fans on social media and is one of the few celebrities in Thailand to publicly acknowledge her financial support for the movement, earning her the moniker "Sugar Mama" from young protesters.

She collects donations and distributes meals, helmets, gas masks and inflatable ducks -- which have emerged as a symbol for the movement.

"The demonstrators are so courageous. In our country, protest movements often end in deaths," she says, referring to civil unrest in 2010 that ended in a bloody crackdown.

The protests today have been largely peaceful, with young students coming together demand social change -- including an end to sexual harassment and gender discrimination.

"Women in the protests dare to talk about what they are going through as victims," says Sai.

Born to a director father and film producer mother, Sai considers this year's protests one of the most worthwhile causes she has supported.

"We cannot yet speak of victory, but there is an irreversible change," she says. "This fight is even more important than the cinema that flows through my veins."

- Abortion campaigner -

Chumaporn Taengkliang, known as "Dao", once smuggled 10,000 abortion pills from China into the kingdom, where the drugs were not widely available.

Seven years later she is a frequent presence at protests calling for the decriminalisation of abortion and the legalisation of sex work.

Abortion is legal in Thailand but restricted, except in specific cases such as rape or when the woman's health is threatened -- otherwise women can be prosecuted and jailed for three years.

"It's archaic," says Dao, who welcomes recent news that the government is working on decriminalising abortion even though "we have to go much further to really protect women."

The 34-year-old has also risked criminal charges by criticising the king, who last year became the first Thai monarch to grant himself an official consort in nearly a century.

Dao grew up in Thailand's south to a conservative family where domestic violence was normal, and knew from the age of 12 that she "had to fight against all this".

She urges other pro-democracy leaders, many of them men: "Let us make ourselves heard more. We will never stay in the back seat again, we will always be in the front line."

© 2020 AFP

Cambodia's giant life-giving Tonle Sap lake in peril
THE END OF THE COMMONS AND BIRTH OF FORDIST CAPITALISM


Issued on: 21/12/2020

Floating villages on Cambodia's Tonle Sap have adapted to the ebb and flow of the lake for generations but falling water levels and disappearing fish are now threatening a traditional way of life TANG CHHIN Sothy AFP



Koh Chivang (Cambodia) (AFP)

As night falls over his floating village, fisherman Leng Vann puffs on a cigarette and heaves a sigh for Tonle Sap, the great inland lake that has sustained Cambodia for centuries.

More than a million people live on or around the lake, the world's largest inland fishery, but water levels have plummeted and fish stocks dwindled because of climate change and dams upstream on the Mekong.

Tonle Sap was once renowned for its abundance of fish and wildlife -- 43-year-old Leng Vann recalls catching hundreds of kilos a day in his nets.

His house, which floats on the lake, sits five metres (16 feet) lower than it should in mid-October, at the end of the rainy season, and when he draws his net from the waters, it is empty.

"We fishermen survive by water and fish. When there is no water and fish, what else can we hope for?" said Leng Vann.

"Our future is dark," he said, as he rowed his boat back to his modest home.

- Reversing fortunes -

The lake, a world heritage ecological reserve, depends on an unusual seasonal reversal -- in the dry season, it drains into the Mekong via a fast-flowing river artery.

But when the rains come from May to October, the mighty Mekong is so powerful that the water flows backwards, replenishing the lake.

It swells over four times its smallest size to 14,500 square kilometres (5,600 square miles) at the height of the floods, according to the Mekong River Commission (MRC) -- an area bigger than Lebanon.

But lately the reverse flows have been seriously delayed.

Last year the amount of water that flowed into the lake was down around a quarter from the average levels seen around the turn of the century.

The reverse flow effect has been at its lowest since 1997, leading to "extremely dry conditions", the MRC says.

Weather conditions linked to climate change, such as a major drought last year and the "El Nino" climate effect, have contributed to the crisis.

Environmentalists also point to the dozen or so major dams built across the mainstream Mekong as a factor in slowing the flow, along with smaller irrigation dams built on tributary rivers.

- Habitats lost -

The change in water levels is having a major effect on surrounding wetlands, precipitating a decline in endangered species living around the lake.

Nearly one-third of the Tonle Sap's natural habitats vanished in the 25 years to 2018 and half of the lake floodplain was now under rice cultivation, according to a recent study by the Wildlife Conservation Society.

"Without urgent, coordinated action... the ecosystem that has sustained Cambodia for generations may be lost," it said.

Low fish stocks have pushed most of the 2,600 fishing families living in Koh Chivang -- a community of five floating villages on the lake -- to grow chilli and other crops to supplement their living.

They are now farming land that used to be fish breeding grounds, and the community's deputy leader Hun Sotharith says the illegal clearing of surrounding forests for agriculture was on the rise.

"If we don't protect the remaining natural resources, there will be difficulties in the future," he told AFP.

Rangers also warn that other animal habitats are under imminent threat, including a huge bird sanctuary where desperate fishermen are seeking new places to cast their nets.

- Changing times -

Floating villages have adapted to the ebb and flow of the lake for generations, mostly depending on fishing or rowing around the village in canoes to sell food to earn a living.

Whole communities with schools, hairdressers, coffee shops and even dentist surgeries bob around on Tonle Sap, where fleets of canoes and small motorboats ferry people around.

But drought and disappearing fish are now threatening a traditional way of life in Koh Chivang, where youngsters are leaving for urban jobs while their parents stay to keep their homes afloat.

"Children from this community go to work in factories now because there are no fish in the lake," said fisherman Sim Suom, 59, adding that his daughter now works in a cigarette factory in Siem Reap.

Leng Vann says he may soon need to travel to Siem Reap -- about a one-hour boat ride from his home -- to look for work for a few months.

"We fishermen depend on water, fish and forests, so when these are gone, we can expect nothing," he said. "It's over."

© 2020 AFP

SEE MURDER OF THE DEAD 

Survey: Half of U.S. adults think worst of pandemic is yet to come


A woman wears a face mask and face shield to protect from and prevent the spread of coronavirus. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo


Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Roughly half of adults in the United States believe the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is yet to come, according to the findings of a survey released Friday by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Nearly 70% of the respondents indicated that they are worried that they or someone in their family will get sick from the disease, the data showed.

This is the highest percentage since the Kaiser Family Foundation began tracking the statistic in February, the organization said.

The findings are from the Kaiser Family Foundation Health Tracking Poll, a survey of 1,676 adults aged 18 years or older from across the country.

RELATED U.S. sees new record highs for COVID-19 cases, deaths, patients in hospital

The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit organization focusing on national health issues, as well as the role of the United States in global health policy

The most recent round of the survey was conducted Nov. 30 and Dec. 8, before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, according to the foundation.

Similar questionnaires were administered in January, February, April, May, July, September and October, the foundation said.

RELATED Survey: Half of U.S. adults back mandatory COVID-19 shots for schoolchildren

In the latest survey, 51% of respondents said the worst of the pandemic lies ahead, while 70% said they can continue adhering to social distancing guidelines for six months or more, or until a COVID-19 vaccine is widely available, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

About 40% of adults surveyed think their state has about the right amount of restrictions on businesses and individuals designed to limit the spread of the virus, the data showed.

In the most recent survey, 73% of respondents said they wear a mask every time they leave home, up 21% from May, according to the foundation.

RELATED Two-thirds in U.S. report high levels of loneliness as pandemic continues

That same percentage of respondents said wearing a mask to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 is "part of everyone's responsibility," the foundation said.

In comparison, 11% of respondents said they "wear masks only some of the time or never." More than half of these respondents identified as Republican voters.

"Republican denialism mirroring President Trump, even in the face of a growing epidemic in red states, has become a real public health challenge," Kaiser Family Foundation president and CEO Drew Altman said in a statement.

FAA shirked safety protocols, retaliates against whistleblowers, report says


Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 (ET-AVM), the same aircraft that crashed in Ethiopia in March 2019, is seen at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, when it was first delivered to Ethiopia in July 2018. File Photo by Stringer/EPA

Dec. 19 (UPI) -- The Federal Aviation Administration repeatedly allowed Southwest Airlines to continue operating dozens of aircraft in an unknown airworthiness condition, allowed Boeing to coach test pilots in ways counter to safety protocols and continues to retaliate against whistleblowers, according to a federal report released this week.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., called his committee's new findings in Federal Aviation Administration probe after two fatal Boeing 737 Max crashes in April 2019, "troubling."

Wicker, chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, which conducted a 20-month probe, released the findings Friday.

"Twenty months ago, the Commerce Committee launched an investigation into FAA safety oversight," Wicker said in the statement. "We have received disclosures from more than 50 whistleblowers, conducted numerous FAA staff interviews, and reviewed over 15,000 pages of relevant documents."

RELATED Boeing lost 30 737 Max orders in November, delivered just 7 planes

"Our findings are troubling," Wicker continued. "The report details a number of significant lapses in aviation safety oversight and failed leadership in the FAA. It is clear that the agency requires consistent oversight to ensure their work to protect the flying public is executed fully and correctly."

The 737 Max fleet has been grounded worldwide since March 2019 after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people within five months in 2018 and 2019. The aircraft's automated Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System pushed both planes into a nose-dive after a faulty sensor, according to earlier reports.

"FAA and Boeing officials involved in this conduct of this test had established a pre-determined outcome to re-affirm a long-held human factor assumption related to pilot reaction time to a runaway stabilizer," the Senate committee concluded. "It appears, in this instance, FAA and Boeing were attempting to cover up important information that may have contributed to the 737 Max tragedies."

According to the report, FAA senior leaders may have obstructed a Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General review and the agency failed to produce relevant documents Wicker requested.

"We take seriously the committee's findings and will continue to review the report in full," Boeing said in a statement. "We have learned many hard lessons from the Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Flight 302 accidents, and we will never forget the lives lost on board. The events and lessons have reshaped our company and further focused our attention on our core values of safety, quality, and integrity."

Despite repeated findings of deficiencies over several decades, FAA senior managers have not been held accountable for failure to provide adequate training in flight standards, the report also found.

RELATED American Airlines flies Boeing 737 Max in bid to restore confidence

The FAA told NPR in an emailed statement Saturday the report contained "unsubstantiated allegations."

"Working closely with other international regulators, the FAA conducted a thorough and deliberate review of the 737 Max," the FAA told NPR. "We are confident that the safety issues that played a role in the tragic accidents involving Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 have been addressed through the design changes required and independently approved by the FAA and its partners."

The Senate committee also found the FAA repeatedly permitted Southwest Airlines to operate dozens of aircraft in an unknown worthiness condition for several years, putting millions of passengers at rises.

"We are aware of the committee report and have utilized many of these past references to improve our practices and oversight," a spokeswoman said in a statement to The Verge. "All applicable aircraft underwent visual inspections, and Southwest completed physical inspections, from nose to tail, on each of the pre-owned aircraft by January 2020 -- fully satisfying FAA requests."

"Our actions did not stem from any suspected safety concerns with the aircraft, but were an effort to reconcile and validate records and previous repairs," Southwest added in the statement.

Large crocodile spotted in Florida woman's back yard


An American crocodile was spotted sunning itself on the floating dock in a Florida woman's back yard. Experts said the species, native to the southern tip of Florida, is rarely seen as far north as the Punta Gorda area. Photo courtesy of the Punta Gorda Police Department


Dec. 18 (UPI) -- A Florida woman who spotted what she initially thought to be a large alligator in her back yard was shocked to find out it was actually a rare crocodile.

Mona Vieregg, 70, said the reptile had been spotted a few times in recent days by neighbors, but it was only when the animal exited the water to sun itself on Vieregg's floating dock that it was identified as an American crocodile.

Vieregg, knowing crocodiles don't normally live in the area, contacted the Punta Gorda Police Department.

Police estimated the crocodile's size at 10 to 15 feet.

The department contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which sent trapper Tracy Hansen to the scene.

Hansen said the crocodile was one of the largest of its species that he had ever seen. He said the animal could be up to 70 years old.

American crocodiles are known to live on the southern tip of Florida, but are rarely seen as far north as Punta Gorda.

Hansen said the crocodile will be left alone for the time being, as the protected species requires trappers to receive federal permission to relocate the animals.

Mystery monolith installed outside Florida bar



Dec. 18 (UPI) -- A metallic structure that appeared via unknown circumstances outside a Florida bar is drawing comparisons to the mysterious monoliths that popped up around the globe.

The Pierced Cider bar in Fort Pierce posted photos to Facebook of the 10-foot-tall metal monolith that was first spotted outside the business Wednesday morning.

The business said security camera footage failed to record the structure's installation.

The object bears a resemblance to the monoliths that have been spotted in various locations around the globe after the first was discovered in November in the Utah desert.

The bar put tape up around the Fort Piece monolith to keep the public at a safe distance.

The Fort Pierce Police Department said investigators have no information about the object.

World War I-era cannon found buried under Canadian baseball field

Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Construction crews digging up a baseball field in Ontario made a surprising discovery -- a World War I-era German cannon buried under the pitcher's mound.

Officials in Amherstburg said crews were digging up the ballpark, which is to become the site of a new public school, on Monday when they discovered the forgotten cannon that was formerly on display at Centennial Park.

VIDEO

 https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/12/18/World-War-I-era-cannon-found-buried-under-Canadian-baseball-field/4611608323984/

City officials said the cannon was brought to the town in 1922 and was displayed alongside a cenotaph at General Amherst High School. The cenotaph was moved to Centennial Park in 1971 to make way for an expansion to the school and the cannon, which was determined to be in poor condition, was buried underneath the monument.

The cannon was forgotten when the cenotaph was moved again in the 1980s and the area was turned into a baseball field with the gun still buried underneath.

The Greater Essex County District School Board said the cannon is being donated to the Town of Amherstburg.

"[We've] already received communication from a number of military historical associations that are interested in what we're doing with it and have even offered to help restore it," Amherstburg Mayor Aldo DiCarlo told CBC News. "The historical significance I think just can't be overstated, it is really something."

Kevin Fox, Amherstburg's manager of policy and committees and the former operator of a Kingsville military museum, said the cannon is one of very few of its type to remain intact.

"During the Second World War, when there was a need for scrap metal, many of the war trophies were actually destroyed to contribute to the war effort. So while there were numerous examples that existed and were spread throughout the country, many of them do not survive," Fox said.

US needs clear vaccine distribution strategy to defeat coronavirus

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY'S MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Research News

December 17, 2020 -- An opinion piece published today online in BMJ by Nina Schwalbe in the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, calls for a national vaccine strategy now that COVID-19 vaccines are available. Schwalbe writes that a lack of clarity on a distribution plan sets unrealistic expectations among the public and could undermine public trust. But even with a clearly defined strategy in place, vaccinating hundreds of millions of Americans will not be easy. Read the full article here.

Vaccines don't deliver themselves," notes Schwalbe, who is also a Principal Visiting Fellow at the United Nations University International Institute of Global Health. "Vaccines require a safe, trusted and accessible immunization system."

To address the high covid-19 death rates in the medium to long term, Schwalbe recommends the following:

Set realistic expectations on the role of vaccines in the COVID-19 response and communicate those clearly. For example, given limited supply, the immediate focus seem to be to reduce mortality of individuals in high-risk groups and transmission in health care settings. It is not to reach herd immunity.

Call upon the Biden administration to enact a parallel commitment to universal health coverage to help protect those people vulnerable to underlying conditions, like diabetes and heart disease, that put them at risk of severe covid-19 disease in the first place.

Work directly with communities to devise a plan that addresses their fears, and engages them to figure out the logistical challenges.

###

Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Founded in 1922, the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health pursues an agenda of research, education, and service to address the critical and complex public health issues affecting New Yorkers, the nation and the world. The Columbia Mailman School is the seventh largest recipient of NIH grants among schools of public health. Its nearly 300 multi-disciplinary faculty members work in more than 100 countries around the world, addressing such issues as preventing infectious and chronic diseases, environmental health, maternal and child health, health policy, climate change and health, and public health preparedness. It is a leader in public health education with more than 1,300 graduate students from 55 nations pursuing a variety of master's and doctoral degree programs. The Columbia Mailman School is also home to numerous world-renowned research centers, including ICAP and the Center for Infection and Immunity. For more information, please visit http://www.mailman.columbia.edu.

Operation Warp Speed chief: Pfizer vaccine rollout 

had 'miscommunication'

Army Gen. Gustave F. Perna takes responsibility for "miscommunication" about allocation of COVID-19 vaccine doses to states Saturday. File Photo by Chris Kleponis/Pool | License Photo

Dec. 19 (UPI) -- The head of Operation Warp Speed on Saturday said a "miscommunication" about COVID-19 vaccine doses means some states will receive fewer doses than they expected.

Army Gen. Gustave Perna said he took full responsibility for the issue during a news briefing.

"I want to assure everybody, and I want to take personal responsibility for the miscommunication," Perna said during the briefing. "Here is the bottom line, I want to make sure that we are 100% committed to fair and equitable distribution to everybody in the United States of America."

Perna is the chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. government's public-private partnership to accelerate work on COVID-19 vaccines.

The acknowledgement came after more than 10 states said that the number of Pfizer COVID-19 doses they had been expecting to receive had been cut without explanation.

Perna said he had to revise down the number of vaccine doses allocated to certain states after he got more information from Pfizer about the amount of vaccine available.

Perna added that the "miscommunication" happened because he did not understand all the steps "with exactness" that needed to happen before releasing all the vaccine available.

"There is no problem with the process," Perna said. "There is no problem with the Pfizer vaccine. There is no problem with the Moderna vaccine. It was a planning error, and I am responsible."

Perna referred to the Food and Drug Administration as "the gold standard not just in America but around the world," and said he has to wait until the vaccine doses are releasable in accordance with the agency.

He apologized to the state governors who may have started planning based on the initial doses forecast.

"Please accept my personal apology if this was disruptive to your decision-making," Perna said, adding that he would personally brief governors Monday.

Perna added that Operation Warp Speed would not "cut corners" in vaccine distribution.

Pfizer released a statement Thursday saying they were not having any production or distribution issues and more doses were available.

RELATED WHO's COVID-19 vaccine drive doubles global supply to 2 billion doses

"This week, we successfully shipped all 2.9 million doses that we were asked to ship by the U.S. government to the locations specified by them," the statement said. "We have millions more doses sitting in our warehouse but, as of now, we have not received any shipment instructions for additional doses.

"We remain confident in our ability to deliver up to 50 million doses globally this year and up to 1.3 billion next year, and we look forward to continuing to work with the U.S. government to deliver our vaccine to the American people," Pfizer added.

While the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has not been fully approved by the FDA, it has been authorized for emergency use to prevent COVID-19 in individuals 16 years of age and older.

The FDA issued an emergency use authorization for a second COVID-19 vaccine -- one made by Moderna.