Sunday, November 21, 2021

COVID curbs spark RIGHT WING protests worldwide

Anger is mounting in Europe and elsewhere at renewed coronavirus restrictions brought in by governments in a bid to tackle another wave of infections. 

Far-right groups have taken part in some demonstrations.


Far-right groups attended protests against coronavirus restrictions in Austria on Saturday


Thousands took to the streets across Europe and Australia on Saturday to protest fresh rounds of COVID restrictions.

Several countries have recently reintroduced tighter measures in a bid to combat a resurgent wave of infections.

Austria on Friday announced a nationwide partial lockdown — the most dramatic restrictions in Western Europe for months.

Other nations on the continent have resorted to less severe restrictions, often choosing to ban unvaccinated people from venues like restaurants and bars.


In Austria, thousands gathered in the capital city Vienna as the country announced a new lockdown

The Netherlands

In the Netherlands, rioters threw stones and fireworks at police, and set fire to bicycles as protests against coronavirus curbs turned violent for a second night in the country.

A day earlier, at least two people were injured after police fired shots at protesters and 51 were arrested at an anti-coronavirus restrictions demonstration in the city of Rotterdam.

Police arrested at least one person during a protest in The Hague.

Earlier in the day, several thousand protesters angered at the latest measures gathered in Amsterdam on Saturday. One group earlier in the day had cancelled their rally because of the previous night's violence.

In the southern city of Breda, near the Belgian border, a musical protest called by local DJs against current COVID-19 measures, which include the 8 p.m. (1900 UTC) closure of bars, restaurants and clubs, attracted a few hundred people.

The Netherlands went back into Western Europe's first partial lockdown of the winter last Saturday with at least three weeks of curbs. It is now planning to ban unvaccinated people from entering some venues.


Protests against COVID-19 restrictions in the Netherlands turned violent for the second day running

Austria

Around 35,000 protesters, many from far-right groups, marched through the Austrian capital Vienna on Saturday.

Among those protesting were members of far-right and extreme-right parties and groups, including the far-right Freedom Party, the anti-vaccine MFG party and the extreme-right Identitarians.

Police said around 1,300 officers were on duty and several protesters were detained, but didn't give specific numbers.

From Monday, 8.9 million Austrians will not be allowed to leave home except to go to work, shop for essentials and exercise. The restrictions will initially last 20 days with an evaluation after 10 days.

The government is making vaccination against COVID-19 mandatory in the country from February 1 next year.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, several hundred people opposed to vaccine passports protested outside the city hall in Belfast.

The government of Northern Ireland voted this week to introduce vaccine certificates for admission to nightclubs, bars and restaurants starting December 13.

Some protesters carried signs that have been widely criticized as offensive, comparing coronavirus restrictions to the actions of Nazi Germany.
Croatia

In Croatia, thousands gathered in the capital of Zagreb. Some carried flags, nationalist and religious symbols, along with banners against vaccination and what they describe as restrictions of people's freedoms.

Thousands of protesters gathered in Croatia's capital Zagreb on Saturday


Italy

In Italy, 3,000 turned out in the capital's Circus Maximus to protest against "Green Pass" certificates, required at workplaces, restaurants, cinemas, theaters, sports venues and gyms, as well as for long-distance train, bus or ferry travel.

"People like us never give up," read one banner, in the red, white and green colors of the Italian flag. Almost no one wore a protective mask.


In Italy, crowds gathered to protests the country's 'Green Pass' that shows proof of vaccination


Australia

In Sydney, some 10,000 marched and there were protests in other major Australian cities against vaccine mandates applied to certain occupations by state authorities.


Around 10,000 people turned out in Sydney to protest a vaccine mandate

Denmark

In Denmark, around one thousand people protested government plans to reinstate a COVID pass for civil servants going to work.

"Freedom for Denmark," cried some of the marchers at a rally organized by the radical Men in Black group who deny the existence of the virus.

Guadeloupe


France sent a group of dozens of elite security force officers to its overseas territory of Guadeloupe on Saturday after protests against coronavirus rules turned violent.

The deployment follows almost a week of unrest on the Caribbean island which included the burning of barricades in the street.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said around 50 agents from the GIGN counter-terrorism and RAID elite tactical forces would be sent to Guadeloupe.

Although almost 70% of the population of mainland France is already fully vaccinated, in Guadeloupe the share is less than 50%.

Violence erupts at Covid curb protest in Brussels


Police officers in riot gear charged the crowd backed by water cannon 
(AFP/Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD)

Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD
Sun, November 21, 2021, 7:44 AM·2 min read

Violence broke out at a protest against anti-Covid measures in Brussels on Sunday, in which police said tens of thousands of people took part.

The march began peacefully but police later fired water cannon and tear gas in response to protesters throwing projectiles, an AFP photographer witnessed.

AFP also saw at least two police injured in the events, as officers in riot gear charged the crowd backed by water cannon. One protester was seen being evacuated by an ambulance near the Berlaymont, the EU headquarters.

Police told Belga news agency that three police officers were injured in the rioting, without giving further details.

Several of the demonstrators caught up in the clash wore hoods and carried Flemish nationalist flags, while others wore Nazi-era yellow stars.

Protesters set fire to wood pallets, and social media images showed rioters attacking police vans with vandalised street signs.

The stand-off with riot police took place throughout the Belgian capital's EU and government district, just metres (yards) from the US and Russian embassies.

Police said 42 people were briefly detained, while two were arrested. By 1700 GMT, authorities said the situation was under control with streets reopened.

Police said 35,000 protesters marched from the North Station in Brussels against a fresh round of Covid measures announced by the government on Wednesday.

The demonstration, called "Together for Freedom", largely focused on a ban on the unvaccinated from venues such as restaurants and bars.

Europe is battling another wave of infections and several countries have tightened curbs despite high levels of vaccination, especially in the west of the continent.

Belgium, one of the countries hit the hardest by the latest wave, on Wednesday expanded its work-from-home rules and strengthened curbs targeting the unvaccinated.

With an average of nearly 10,300 new infections per day over the past week, Belgium is back to a rate of spread of the virus that has not been seen for a year.

Belgium also recorded 42 Covid deaths on Friday.

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Tens of thousands protest Belgium’s tighter COVID-19 rules

By RAF CASERT

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Riot police uses a water canon against protestors during a demonstration against the reinforced measures of the Belgium government to counter the latest spike of the coronavirus in Brussels, Belgium, Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. Many among them also protested against the strong advice to get vaccinated and any moves to impose mandatory shots. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys)


BRUSSELS (AP) — Ten of thousands of people demonstrated through central Brussels on Sunday to protest reinforced COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the Belgian government to counter the latest spike in coronavirus cases.

Many among the police estimate of 35,000 at the rally had already left for home when the demonstration descended into violence as several hundred people started pelting police, smashing cars and setting garbage bins ablaze. Police, responded with tear gas and water cannons and sought to restore order as dusk settled on the Belgian capital.

Three police officials and one demonstrator were injured in the clashes. In addition, 42 protesters were detained and two were arrested and charged in the violent spree that followed the march, said police spokesperson Ilse Vande Keere.

The marchers came to protest the government’s strong advice to get vaccinated and any possible moves to impose mandatory shots.

Shouting “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” and singing the anti-fascist song “Bella Ciao,” protesters lined up behind a huge banner saying “Together for Freedom” and marched to the European Union headquarters. Amid the crowd, the signs varied from far-right insignia to the rainbow flags of the LGBT community.

The World Health Organization said last week that Europe was the hot spot of the pandemic right now, the only region in which COVID-19 deaths were rising. The autumn surge of infections is overwhelming hospitals in many Central and Eastern European nations, including UkraineRussiaRomaniathe Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Over the past several days, there have been many anti-vaccination marches in European nations as one government after another tightened measures. Dutch police arrested more than 30 people during unrest in The Hague and other towns in the Netherlands on Saturday, following much worse violence the previous night.

Austria is going into a 10-day national lockdown on Monday for everyone after first imposing a lockdown on the unvaccinated. Christmas markets in Vienna were packed Sunday with locals and tourists taking in the holiday sights before shops and food stalls are forced to close.

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Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

Dutch police arrest dozens over new Covid riots



Dutch police arrest dozens over new Covid riotsThe two nights of unrest in a number of cities came a week after the Dutch government went into a partial lockdown over a surge in cases 
(AFP/Danny KEMP)

Danny KEMP and Julie CAPELLE
Sun, November 21, 2021

Dutch police said Sunday they had arrested 48 people after a second night of violent riots erupted over the government's coronavirus measures.

Prosecutors meanwhile updated to four the number of people shot when police opened fire during an "orgy of violence" in the port city of Rotterdam on Friday night.

The two nights of unrest in a number of cities came a week after the Dutch government went into a partial lockdown over a surge in cases.


In The Hague on Saturday night, officers in riot gear charged demonstrators who set fire to bicycles and an electric moped piled in the middle of a busy intersection.

"The police were also pelted with heavy fireworks and stones thrown from roofs," police said in a statement, adding that water cannon was used to put out the fire.

"Officers made a total of 19 arrests for, among other things, insult."

Five police officers were injured during the unrest while a rock thrown by rioters smashed the window of a passing ambulance carrying a patient, police said.

Thirteen people were arrested in separate riots in the towns of Stein and Roermond in southern Limburg province after fireworks were thrown at officers, police said.

Police also made 16 arrests during clashes in the "Bible Belt" town of Urk, where vaccination rates are very low due to conservative Protestant beliefs, local media said, quoting police.

- 'Going wild' -

Municipal workers surveyed the damage in The Hague's working-class Schilderswijk district on Sunday including a security camera toppled by the rioters and a patch of burned road where the pile of bikes was torched.

Local residents blamed the riots on frustrated youths and uncertainty over whether the government will introduce so-called "2G measures" that would let cafes and bars decide whether to turn away the unvaccinated.

"They don't know (if 2G will be introduced) and so they don't know what to do... They think that is the way to make themselves heard," Mustafa Toprak, 31, told AFP.

"It's a bad way to do it, but hey it's the young people who are going wild."

"They are young people and they have had few freedoms because of Covid-19 for almost two years now so yes I understand somehow -- only I can't approve," said Claudia van der Wijngaard, 60.

"No, I don't really see a solution as long as the government continues to work with sanitary measures, I don't see a solution coming and I'm afraid there will be more (riots)."



- 'Hit by bullets' -


On Friday violence broke out in the port city of Rotterdam after a protest against Covid measures, during which police opened fire and 51 suspects were arrested.

"It now appears that four people have been hit by bullets," the Dutch public prosecutor's office said in a statement, blaming medical confidentiality rules for the delay in getting the correct figure.

Police had previously said three people were wounded by gunshots and were being treated in hospital.

Some of the Rotterdam rioters had links to football hooligans and "groups that often have ties to other forms of organised crime," Justice and Security Minister Ferd Grapperhaus told public broadcaster NPO.


The Netherlands went back into western Europe's first partial lockdown of the winter last Saturday with at least three weeks of curbs under which bars, cafes, restaurants, supermarkets and non-essential shops must shut early.

The government has said it wants to bring in the 2G option -- which would bar unvaccinated people from getting Covid passes for some venues -- after that, but there has been opposition in parliament.

In January the Netherlands suffered its worst riots in decades after the government introduced a coronavirus curfew.

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Dutch police arrest more than 30 amid ongoing unrest

By MIKE CORDER

1 of 6
In this image taken from video, demonstrators protest against government restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, Friday, Nov. 19, 2021, in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Police fired warning shots, injuring an unknown number of people, as riots broke out Friday night in downtown Rotterdam at a demonstration against plans by the government to restrict access for unvaccinated people to some venues. (Media TV Rotterdam via AP)


EDE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch police have arrested more than 30 people during unrest in The Hague and other towns in the Netherlands that followed an “ orgy of violence ” the previous night at a protest against coronavirus restrictions.

The violence by groups of youths in The Hague and elsewhere Saturday night wasn’t as serious as Friday night in Rotterdam, where police opened fire on rampaging rioters and arrested 51 people.

Police said Sunday that they arrested 19 people in The Hague and used a water cannon to extinguish a fire on a street.

Two soccer matches in the country’s top professional league were briefly halted when fans — banned from matches under a partial lockdown in force in the Netherlands for a week — broke into stadiums in the towns of Alkmaar and Almelo.

In The Hague, police said five officers were injured as they tried to break up unrest by a group of youths who set at least two fires on streets and threw fireworks. Police said in a tweet that one rioter threw a rock at an ambulance carrying a patient to a hospital.

In the southern towns of Roermond and Stein, police said they arrested a total of 13 people for setting fires and throwing fireworks, and in the fishing village of Urk police arrested eight people for public order offenses, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported.

Earlier Saturday, two protests against COVID-19 measures proceeded peacefully in Amsterdam and the southern city of Breda. Thousands of people marched through Amsterdam to protest COVID-19 restrictions.

Tens of thousands of protesters also took to the streets of Vienna on Saturday after the Austrian government announced a nationwide lockdown beginning Monday to contain skyrocketing coronavirus infections.

There were also demonstrations in Italy, Switzerland, Croatia and Northern Ireland.

Police in Rotterdam said that three rioters were hit by bullets and investigations were underway to establish if they were shot by police on Friday night. The condition of the injured rioters wasn’t disclosed.

Officers in Rotterdam arrested 51 people, about half of them minors, police said Saturday afternoon. One police officer was hospitalized with a leg injury sustained in the rioting, another was treated by ambulance staff and “countless” others suffered minor injuries.

Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb called the rioting in his city an “orgy of violence” and said that “on a number of occasions the police felt it necessary to draw their weapons to defend themselves.”

‘I lost everything’: Guadeloupe riots overtake COVID protest

BY ELODIE SOUPAMA AND SYLVIE CORBET

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Emilie holds her burned passport in her charred home following riots in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe island, Sunday, Nov.21, 2021. French authorities are sending police special forces to the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, an overseas territory of France, as protests over COVID-19 restrictions erupted into rioting. In Pointe-a-Pitre, the island's largest urban area, clashes left three people injured, including a 80-year-old woman who was hit by a bullet while on her balcony. A firefighter and a police officer were also injured and several shops were looted there and in other towns. (AP Photo/Elodie Soupama)


LE GOSIER, Guadeloupe (AP) — Residents in the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, an overseas territory of France, expressed dismay Sunday after protests against COVID-19 restrictions erupted into rioting and looting for the third day in a row, prompting French authorities to send in police special forces.

Road blockades by protesters made traveling across the island nearly impossible Sunday. Firefighters reported 48 interventions overnight into Sunday morning. The island of 400,000 people has one of the lowest vaccination rates in France at 33%, compared with 75% across the country.

In Pointe-a-Pitre, the island’s largest urban area, clashes left three people injured, including a 80-year-old woman hit by a bullet while on her balcony. A firefighter and a police officer were also injured and several shops were looted there and in other towns. A police station in Morne-à-l’Eau was set on fire.

Guadeloupe Prefect Alexandre Rochatte, who has imposed a nightly curfew from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m., said Sunday that 38 people were arrested overnight and denounced the “organized groups now seeking to sow chaos.”

Emilie Guisbert, a 47-year-old Pointe-a-Pitre resident, was sleeping in her home in the building owned by her father when it was set on fire on Thursday evening. Her friend woke her up and she just had time to dress and run out with her dogs, she told The Associated Press.

“I lost everything. Everything. I went out with my cellphone and what I was wearing,” she said, adding that personal belongings of her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were in the house. “It’s 100 years of memory of a Guadeloupean family that went up in smoke in 15 minutes.”

She said she did not receive help from authorities yet. “We are completely left to ourselves. I don’t know who is clearing (the house). Is it us, the insurance, the city hall?”

The protests were called for by unions to denounce France’s COVID-19 health pass, which is required to access restaurants and cafes, cultural venues, sport arenas and long-distance travel. Demonstrators were also protesting France’s mandatory vaccinations for health care workers. In recent days, they broadened their demands to include a general salary increase, higher unemployment benefits and the hiring of more teachers.

Gregory Agapé, 30, who also lives in a Pointe-à-Pitre neighborhood where violence has repeatedly taken place, said he cannot sleep at night.

“We are always upset by the noises, bangs, all the bustle around so nights are very complicated, very short,” he said.

Agapé said he has contradictory thoughts about the COVID-19 protest movement. “I’m well aware of economic, social, cultural difficulties ... but its quite complicated, because I think (the protests) are making Guadeloupean society even more fragile.”

Jacques Bertili, a 49-year-old Le Gosier resident, said “I’m not against nor for the vaccine. But what makes me upset is looting. Because we need to work.”

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin denounced the violence as “unacceptable” in an interview Sunday with Le Parisien newspaper. He said 50 officers from police special forces were arriving Sunday in Guadeloupe, in addition to 200 other police sent earlier.

Darmanin said following an emergency meeting Saturday in Paris that “some shots have been fired against police officers” in Guadeloupe. He also said road blockades created a “very difficult situation for a few hours” during which patients and supplies couldn’t reach hospitals.

Rochatte said some electrical facilities near dams have been damaged, which has caused some power outages, and urged people not to go near downed electrical cables.

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Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic


Failure to send more jabs to Africa is a 'huge mistake'

There are currently far fewer cases of COVID-19 in Africa than in Europe but experts fear that the tide could turn if inoculation programs are not sped up. They say richer countries should not stockpile vaccine doses.



The coronavirus is more likely to mutate if herd immunity is not reached

Though Africa currently has fewer cases of COVID-19 than Europe, experts fear there will be more waves as only about 7% of the continent's 1.3 billion inhabitants are fully vaccinated.

Most African countries depend on vaccine doses from abroad, even if there are efforts to build up local production centers. But, as the number of cases rises in Europe, supplies to Africa will likely suffer. Germany, for example, has already made a decision to retain vaccine doses that were destined for poorer countries. "We have even postponed some of our COVAX donations, international BioNTech donations, from December to January and February so that there will be enough doses in Germany," Health Minister Jens Spahn said this week.

His words came just a few days after World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus criticized certain countries for stockpiling vaccines. "Every day, there are six times more boosters administered globally than primary doses in low-income countries," he said. "This is a scandal that must stop now."

The nonprofit ONE Campaign has called for the German government to reverse its decision and to continue to give doses to COVAX as pledged. "If we don't move fast to ensure that people all over the world have access to vaccines, we will be prolonging the pandemic visibly," ONE Germany director Stephan Exo-Kreischer told DW, before describing Spahn's decision as a "huge mistake and a devastating signal to the world regarding Germany's dependency." Furthermore, he argued, Germany had bought more doses than it needs.

"There are more people in rich countries who have now received a third shot than there are people in poorer countries who have received even a first shot," he continued. "This is the result of bad politics."


South Africa has enough doses of the vaccine, but the challenge is administering shots fast enough

100 million free doses for COVAX

The Health Ministry told DW that Germany was providing a total of 100 million free doses to be distributed mainly via COVAX. According to the ministry, the government has invested €2.2 billion ($2.5 billion) into speeding up the development, production and distribution of tests and materials, including €1.6 billion for the COVAX program.

Despite the low vaccination rates, there is currently a downward trend in new COVID-19 cases in Africa. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has registered a total of 8.5 million cases, of which over 222,000 were fatal. But Exo-Kreischer believs these numbers were probably erroneous: "We have to assume that fewer than 15% of cases on the continent are actually detected. Even if the numbers seem low on paper, the WHO estimates that they are seven times higher."

He said a lack of good qualitative data was the issue, pointing out that South Africa had low rates, whereas infections in Tanzania have not been recorded in a systematic way.

"The good record regarding infection rates is actually related to the fact that there is too little testing and reporting," said Wolfgang Preiser, from South Africa's Stellenbosch University. But he said it was possible to make estimates from excess mortality data: "In South Africa, three times more people have died of COVID-19 than has been reported officially."

"I think that we will only be presented with the bill in years to come," he said, before pointing out that other illnesses were also being neglected because of the pandemic.

Only 23% of South Africa's 59 million inhabitants are vaccinated, and there are almost 3 million cases at the moment.

There are enough doses, as opposed to in most African countries, where there are shortages, but "the biggest challenge is actually vaccinating people: There are more doses than can be used, like in industrialized countries."

Preiser said that there were also anti-vaccination groups in South Africa, who tended to be white, wealthy and educated, but skeptical of the government.

Zimbabwe and Botswana fare reasonably well


In neighboring Zimbabwe, the government has said that the pandemic is under control and only a few new cases and deaths have been reported recently.

Botswana is also doing reasonably well. At the height of a coronavirus spike in the summer, it bought in large quantities of vaccine and launched a major rollout.

According to the country's COVID taskforce, some 56% of the population has now received a first shot and 29% have already had their second. The most recent numbers show 31 cases per 100,000 and 2,416 deaths. Moreover, there are reportedly very few anti-vaxxers, which experts attribute to a general trust in the stable government and the health-care system.



Botswana launched a largely successful vaccination rollout


Mauritania, which has been designated a "champion" by the WHO is also making great efforts to inoculate the population. "We knew that we would not be able to cope with the social and economic consequences of a hard lockdown," Health Minister Sidi Ould Zahaf recently told the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. But for the moment, only 13% of the population has received two shots, so there is still a long way to go.

In the rest of the continent, the situation is much worse: In 30 countries, less than 10% of the population is vaccinated.
UK investigates supplier of NHS PPE over alleged use of forced labour


Malaysia’s Supermax, which has a £316m contract with health service, has been banned from selling in US
Supermax was contracted to supply 88.5m rubber gloves to the NHS. Photograph: Tim de Waele/Getty Images


Denis Campbell 
Health policy editor
THE GUARDIAN
Sun 21 Nov 2021 

The government has launched an investigation into one of the NHS’s main suppliers of personal protective equipment over its alleged use of forced labour.

Officials at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) are investigating Supermax, which won a £316m contract for 88.5m rubber gloves as the Covid pandemic began to unfold.

Last month the US forbade the Malaysian company from selling its products there after an inquiry found “ample evidence” that it had used forced labour in the manufacture of its rubber gloves. Customs officers were told to seize any disposable gloves made by Supermax as part of a government order banning the import into the US of any goods made by forced labour.

The UK government has instigated its own inquiry after Jeremy Purvis, a Liberal Democrat peer, demanded scrutiny of Supermax and action to ensure that products made using modern slavery are not used in Britain.

Rubber glove manufacturers in Malaysia have been accused of forcing employees to work long hours, confiscating staff’s passports, paying them derisory sums and ignoring Covid safety protocols in cramped manufacturing sites. Last year Supermax workers claimed they had to work 30 days in a row without a break and had paid high fees in their home countries to get the jobs. The company denied the allegations.

Speaking in the House of Lords on 21 October, a day after US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) adopted its tough stance, Lord Purvis asked the BEIS minister Gerry Grimstone: “Will the minister instruct an urgent inquiry to ensure that we are not using these products, which are a result of modern slavery in Malaysia?”

Lord Grimstone replied: “I will ensure that that particular company is looked at by my officials.”

Asked by the Guardian for details of the inquiry, a government spokesperson said: “We take allegations of this nature very seriously and we are investigating the claims made against Supermax. We have made strong commitments to eradicate modern slavery from all contracts in the government supply chain.”

The government made clear that the investigation could lead to Supermax being banned from supplying the NHS. “A proper due diligence process is carried out for all government contracts and our suppliers are required to follow the highest legal and ethical standards. If they fail to do so we will remove them from current and future contracts,” the spokesperson said.

CBP issued a “withhold release” order against three wholly owned Supermax subsidiaries preventing them from selling rubber gloves in the US, after an inquiry found evidence of Supermax and its subsidiaries’ “use of forced labour in manufacturing operations”.

The inquiry identified 10 of the International Labour Organization’s 11 indicators of forced labour. These guidelines are designed to help “criminal law enforcement officials, labour inspectors, trade union officers, NGO workers and others to identify persons who are possibly trapped in a forced labour situation, and who may require urgent assistance.”

Purvis said: “I am pleased that after my request in parliament an investigation is now under way. Given this company has signed contracts of over £300m from the British taxpayer, we deserve full facts and reassurance that people have not been systematically abused in order to fulfil them.”

He said BEIS’s inquiry should look at the evidence on which the US authorities based their ban. “I hope full reassurances are provided by the company as we also need to stand ready to ban the imports of goods made by forced labour.”

Supermax did not respond to requests to respond.

The Military-Industrial Complex Needs

 Perpetual Confrontation


 
 NOVEMBER 19, 2021
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Photograph Source: MC3 Huey D. Younger Jr. – Public Domain

At the recent semi-successful United Nations COP26 conference on climate change there was an unexpected revelation that the US and China had engaged in some thirty virtual meetings on the subject over the past year.  Their decision to “jointly strengthen climate action” was very welcome from the environmental point of view, and even more welcome because it demonstrated that Washington and Beijing could actually get along in one aspect of international relations. It also raised the question as to whether they could ever sit down together and discuss the equally pressing problem of looming conflict.

When US climate envoy John Kerry announced the agreement he acknowledged that although “the United States and China have no shortage of differences” it seemed that “on climate, cooperation is the only way to get this job done.” In this, however, he seemed to be taking a different track to President Joe Biden, who played into the ever-welcoming hands of Washington hawks on November 2 when he castigated Presidents Xi and Putin for non-appearance at the COP gathering.  This, he declared, was a “big mistake” and contrasted with the fact that “we showed up” but “they didn’t show up . . .  It is a gigantic issue and they just walked away. How do you do that and claim to have any leadership mantle?”

It is barely credible that the President of the United States would state that the Presidents of the world’s other most important countries are not effective leaders.  The BBC’s record of his diatribe is disturbing, as it demonstrates a desire for confrontation rather than a genuine preparedness to calm things down.  He said that “the fact that China is trying to assert, understandably, a new role in the world as a world leader — not showing up, come on.”  He continued by declaring that Russia’s wilderness was burning while President Putin “stays mum” about the problem.  He did not know, or deliberately ignored the fact that, as the BBC reported, “before Mr Biden’s speech Mr Putin virtually addressed a meeting on forest management at the COP26 summit on Tuesday, saying that Russia takes the ‘strongest and most vigorous measures to conserve’ woodlands.”

There was little surprise that as COP26 was drawing to a close, President Xi warned against a return to “Cold War-era” divisions when it was made known that he and President Biden would speak together on November 15.  He said plainly that “attempts to draw ideological lines or form small circles on geopolitical grounds are bound to fail,” and China’s Ambassador to the United States, Qin Gang, expanded on the subject at a function in Washington of the National Committee on US-China Relations, saying that China “always bears in mind the fundamental interests of the people of both countries and the whole world, and handles China-U.S. relations from a strategic and long-term perspective”.

Most people are aware that China has a long-term view on its place in the world, and even President Biden, in his message to the gathering, declared that “from tackling the Covid-19 pandemic to addressing the existential threat of climate crisis, the relationship between the US and China has global significance. Solving these challenges and seizing these opportunities will require the broader international community to come together as we each do our part to build a safe, peaceful and resilient future.”  He did not, however, place any emphasis on bilateral negotiations, which was left to President Xi, who wrote that “China-US relations are at a critical historical juncture. Both countries will gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation. Cooperation is the only right choice.”

President Xi’s desire that China should get together with the United States specifically to plan a joint way ahead for a peaceful future has not been echoed in Washington where, as reported by the Straits Times, “the White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated that Washington and Beijing had ‘an agreement in principle’ to have a virtual summit before the end of the year.”  Her explanation was that “this is part of our ongoing efforts to responsibly manage the competition between our countries,” while stressing that it was “not about seeking specific deliverables.”  In other words, don’t let anybody get their hopes up that Mr Biden would pursue collaboration that will lead to improved bilateral relations.  He might not go so far down into the insult sewer as to reiterate his previous public declaration that Mr Xi doesn’t have a “leadership mantle”, but it is unlikely there will be long-term substance.

It is not surprising that Mr Biden is reluctant to compromise, because the Pentagon and its associates have already notified the world they consider China to be menacing and that the United States should “meet the pacing challenge presented by the PRC’s increasingly capable military and its global ambitions”.

In its November 3 Report to Congress, the Pentagon details “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China” and presents the Pentagon’s case for continuing to expand the US military and acquire even more staggeringly expensive weaponry.  As the New York Times reported, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, said that China “is clearly challenging us regionally, and their aspiration is to challenge us globally . . . they have a China dream, and they want to challenge the so-called liberal rules-based order.”  The Washington Post noted the Report’s concern about China’s global vision, in that it “already has established a military base in Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa. To support its goals, it wants to build more facilities overseas and is considering more than a dozen countries that include Cambodia, Pakistan and Angola. Such a network could interfere with U.S. military operations and support offensive operations against the United States.”

The Pentagon’s warning that China’s establishment of a military base in a foreign country constitutes a threat is absurd to the point of risibility, especially in the context of the US military footprint which extends to “750 military base sites estimated in around 80+ foreign countries and colonies/territories.”  Further, it is calculated that the US spends more on its military than the combined defence budgets of eleven major countries: China, India, Russia, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Australia.

It is not surprising that William Hartung and Mandy Smithberger wrote in CounterPunch that “The arms industry’s lobbying efforts are especially insidious. In an average year, it employs around 700 lobbyists, more than one for every member of Congress . . . A 2018 investigation by the Project On Government Oversight found that, in the prior decade, 380 high-ranking Pentagon officials and military officers had become lobbyists, board members, executives, or consultants for weapons contractors within two years of leaving their government jobs.”  And of even more concern for the workings of democracy it is sinister, in the words of Dan Auble, that “defence companies spend millions every year lobbying politicians and donating to their campaigns. In the past two decades, their extensive network of lobbyists and donors have directed $285 million in campaign contributions and $2.5 billion in lobbying spending to influence defence policy.”

Good luck to Mr Biden. Let us hope that he will sacrifice popularity for peace and that he will bear in mind the words of his illustrious predecessor President Eisenhower, sixty years ago, that “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”  Indeed it has risen.  But the world would benefit enormously if Joe Biden terminated its ascent by coming to terms with China and Russia.

The problem for the world is that the military-industrial complex will continue to profit if confrontation continues.

Brian Cloughley writes about foreign policy and military affairs. He lives in Voutenay sur Cure, France.

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

GOP embraces natural immunity as substitute for vaccines

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to supporters and members of the media before a bill signing Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, in Brandon, Fla. DeSantis signed a bill that protects employees and their families from coronavirus vaccine and mask mandates. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)


TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Republicans fighting President Joe Biden’s coronavirus vaccine mandates are wielding a new weapon against the White House rules: natural immunity.

They contend that people who have recovered from the virus have enough immunity and antibodies to not need COVID-19 vaccines, and the concept has been invoked by Republicans as a sort of stand-in for vaccines.

Florida wrote natural immunity into state law this week as GOP lawmakers elsewhere are pushing similar measures to sidestep vaccine mandates. Lawsuits over the mandates have also begun leaning on the idea. Conservative federal lawmakers have implored regulators to consider it when formulating mandates.

Scientists acknowledge that people previously infected with COVID-19 have some level of immunity but that vaccines offer a more consistent level of protection. Natural immunity is also far from a one-size-fits-all scenario, making it complicated to enact sweeping exemptions to vaccines.

That’s because how much immunity COVID-19 survivors have depends on how long ago they were infected, how sick they were, and if the virus variant they had is different from mutants circulating now. For example, a person who had a minor case one year ago is much different than a person who had a severe case over the summer when the delta variant was raging through the country. It’s also difficult to reliably test whether someone is protected from future infections.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in August that COVID-19 survivors who ignored advice to get vaccinated were more than twice as likely to get infected again. A more recent study from the CDC, looking at data from nearly 190 hospitals in nine states, determined that unvaccinated people who had been infected months earlier were five times more likely to get COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people who didn’t have a prior infection.

“Infection with this virus, if you survive, you do have some level of protection against getting infected in the future and particularly against getting serious infection in the future,” said Dr. David Dowdy of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “It’s important to note though that even those who have been infected in the past get additional protection from being vaccinated.”

Studies also show that COVID-19 survivors who get vaccinated develop extra-strong protection, what’s called “hybrid immunity.” When previously infected person gets a coronavirus vaccine, the shot acts like a booster and revs virus-fighting antibodies to high levels. The combination also strengthens another defensive layer of the immune system, helping create new antibodies that are more likely to withstand future variants.

The immunity debate comes as the country is experiencing another surge in infections and hospitalizations and 60 million people remain unvaccinated in a pandemic that has killed more than 770,000 Americans. Biden is hoping more people will get vaccinated because of workplace mandates set to take effect early next year but which face many challenges in the courts.

And many Republicans eager to buck Biden have embraced the argument that immunity from earlier infections should be enough to earn an exemption from the mandates.

“We recognize, unlike what you see going on with the federal proposed mandates and other states, we’re actually doing a science-based approach. For example, we recognize people that have natural immunity,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who has been a chief critic of virus rules, said at a signing ceremony for sweeping legislation to hobble vaccine mandates this week.

The new Florida law forces private businesses to let workers opt out of COVID-19 mandates if they can prove immunity through a prior infection, as well as exemptions based on medical reasons, religious beliefs, regular testing or an agreement to wear protective gear. The state health department, which is led by Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who opposes mandates and has drawn national attention over a refusal to wear a face mask during a meeting, will have authority to define exemption standards.

The Republican-led New Hampshire Legislature plans to take up a similar measure when it meets in January. Lawmakers in Idaho and Wyoming, both statehouses under GOP-control, recently debated similar measures but did not pass them. In Utah, a newly signed law creating exemptions from Biden’s vaccine mandates for private employers allows people to duck the requirement if they have already had COVID.

And the debate is not unique to the U.S. Russia has seen huge numbers of people seeking out antibody tests to prove they had an earlier infection and therefore don’t need vaccines.

Some politicians use the science behind natural immunity to advance narratives suggesting vaccines aren’t the best way to end the pandemic.

“The shot is not by any means the only or proven way out of the pandemic. I’m not willing to give blind faith to the pharmaceutical narrative,” said Idaho Republican Rep. Greg Ferch.

U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican and physician, along with 14 other GOP doctors, dentists and pharmacists in Congress, sent a letter in late September to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, urging the agency, when setting vaccination policies, to consider natural immunity.

The White House has recently unveiled a host of vaccine mandates, sparking a flurry of lawsuits from GOP states, setting the stage for pitched legal battles. Among the rules are vaccine requirements for federal contractors, businesses with more than 100 employees and health care workers.

In separate lawsuits, others are challenging local vaccine rules using an immunity defense.

A 19-year-old student who refuses to be tested but claims he contracted and quickly recovered from COVID-19 is suing the University of Nevada, Reno, the governor and others over the state’s requirement that everyone, with few exceptions, show proof of vaccination in order to register for classes in the upcoming spring semester. The case alleges that “COVID-19 vaccination mandates are an unconstitutional intrusion on normal immunity and bodily integrity.”

Another case, filed by workers of Los Alamos National Laboratory, challenges their workplace vaccine mandate for civil rights and constitutional violations, arguing the lab has refused requests for medical accommodations for those workers who have fully recovered from COVID-19.

A similar lawsuit from Chicago firefighters and other city employees hit a bump last month when a judge said their case lacked scientific evidence to support the contention that the natural immunity for people who have had the virus is superior to the protection from the vaccine.

___

Associated Press Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report.

Why Moderna won't share rights to the COVID-19 vaccine with the government that paid for its development


Ana Santos Rutschman, Assistant Professor of Law, Saint Louis University
Fri, November 19, 2021,

The U.S. government funded a significant portion of the R&D behind the Moderna vaccine. Peter Endig/picture alliance via Getty Images


A quiet monthslong legal fight between the U.S. National Institutes of Health and drugmaker Moderna over COVID-19 vaccine patents recently burst into public view. The outcome of the battle has important implications, not only for efforts to contain the pandemic but more broadly for drugs and vaccines that could be critical for future public health crises.

I teach drug regulation and patent law at Saint Louis University’s Center for Health Law Studies.

Moderna recently offered to share ownership of its main patent with the government to resolve the dispute. Whether or not this is enough to satisfy the government’s claims, I believe the dispute points to serious problems in the ways U.S. companies bring drugs and vaccines to market.

US was a major funder of the Moderna vaccine

Vaccines have played a crucial role in the response to the pandemic.

In December 2020, Moderna became the second pharmaceutical company after Pfizer to obtain authorization from the Food and Drug Administration to market a COVID-19 vaccine in the United States. People have since grown so used to talking about the “Moderna vaccine” that a crucial element in the history of how it was developed risks being overshadowed: Moderna was not the sole developer of the vaccine.

Unlike many of the other pharmaceutical companies involved in the COVID-19 vaccine race, Moderna is a newcomer to drug and vaccine commercialization. Founded in Massachusetts in 2010, the company had never brought a product to market until the FDA authorized its COVID-19 vaccine last year.

Throughout the 2010s, Moderna focused on the development of mRNA technology, attracting over US billion in funding from pharmaceutical companies and other investors. It went public in 2018.

Even before the pandemic, research on both coronaviruses and vaccine candidates against emerging pathogens was a priority for agencies operating in the public health space. In 2015, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, an institute within the NIH, signed a cooperative R&D agreement with Moderna on basic research, including the development of new vaccines. The agreement resulted in an undisclosed amount of funding and assistance with research.

In addition, after the COVID-19 outbreak began Moderna also

received almostThe U.S. government funded a significant portion of the R&D behind the Moderna vaccine. Peter Endig/picture alliance via Getty Images

A quiet monthslong legal fight between the U.S. National Institutes of Health and drugmaker Moderna over COVID-19 vaccine patents recently burst into public view. The outcome of the battle has important implications, not only for efforts to contain the pandemic but more broadly for drugs and vaccines that could be critical for future public health crises.

I teach drug regulation and patent law at Saint Louis University’s Center for Health Law Studies.

Moderna recently offered to share ownership of its main patent with the government to resolve the dispute. Whether or not this is enough to satisfy the government’s claims, I believe the dispute points to serious problems in the ways U.S. companies bring drugs and vaccines to market.
US was a major funder of the Moderna vaccine

Vaccines have played a crucial role in the response to the pandemic.

In December 2020, Moderna became the second pharmaceutical company after Pfizer to obtain authorization from the Food and Drug Administration to market a COVID-19 vaccine in the United States. People have since grown so used to talking about the “Moderna vaccine” that a crucial element in the history of how it was developed risks being overshadowed: Moderna was not the sole developer of the vaccine.

Unlike many of the other pharmaceutical companies involved in the COVID-19 vaccine race, Moderna is a newcomer to drug and vaccine commercialization. Founded in Massachusetts in 2010, the company had never brought a product to market until the FDA authorized its COVID-19 vaccine last year.

Throughout the 2010s, Moderna focused on the development of mRNA technology, attracting over US$2 billion in funding from pharmaceutical companies and other investors. It went public in 2018.

Even before the pandemic, research on both coronaviruses and vaccine candidates against emerging pathogens was a priority for agencies operating in the public health space. In 2015, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, an institute within the NIH, signed a cooperative R&D agreement with Moderna on basic research, including the development of new vaccines. The agreement resulted in an undisclosed amount of funding and assistance with research.

In addition, after the COVID-19 outbreak began Moderna also received almost $1 billion in funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which operates within the Department of Health and Human Services. This funding was specifically targeted to the development of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Researchers have calculated that, collectively, the U.S. government has provided $2.5 billion toward the development and commercialization of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
US, Moderna scientists working side by side

In addition to providing financial support, the federal government was instrumental in the development of Moderna’s vaccine for other reasons. Namely, federal scientists worked alongside Moderna scientists on different components of the vaccine.

These contributions included working on dosing mechanisms, and the NIH said federal scientists created the stabilized spike proteins that are a key component of the vaccine made by Moderna.

The importance of the role played by federal scientists in their work with Moderna would soon become apparent. A 2019 agreement with a third party explicitly acknowledged this, alluding to mRNA vaccine candidates “developed and jointly owned by NIAID and Moderna.” And by late 2020, the U.S. government was calling it the “NIH-Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.”

While the U.S. government has spent money on COVID-19 vaccines made by other companies, its close involvement in the R&D stages of Moderna’s sets it apart.
How it became a patent dispute

As development of the vaccine progressed, Moderna applied for several patents, each one covering different components of the vaccine. U.S. law allows inventors to apply for patents on products or methods that are new, not obvious and useful. While some early modern vaccines – like the polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk’s team – were not covered by patents, from the late 20th century onward it became very common for one or multiple patents to cover a newly developed vaccine.

In applying for some patents related to its vaccine, Moderna named National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases scientists as co-inventors alongside Moderna scientists. This was the case, for example, in a patent application dated May 2020 for a relatively minor component of the vaccine.

However, in July 2021, Moderna made it clear that it would not name government scientists as co-inventors in a patent application covering a much more significant component of the vaccine: the mRNA sequence used to produce the vaccine, known as mRNA-1273.

Moderna’s position was that Moderna scientists alone had selected the sequence. The company informed the Patent and Trademark Office of its position in a 2020 statement.

In November 2021, government officials publicly challenged the company’s decision after months of failed negotiations with the company. Moderna then took to social media to defend its position, tweeting:

“Just because someone is an inventor on one patent application relating to our COVID-19 vaccine does not mean they are an inventor on every patent application relating to the vaccine.”




By contrast, the National Institutes of Health argued that three NIAID scientists – Kizzmekia Corbett, Barney Graham and John Mascola – had meaningfully contributed to the invention, though they’ve declined to publicly specify how. If true, patent law says they should be named co-inventors.

But this dispute is not merely about scientific principles or technical aspects of the law. While patents are also regarded as proxies for measuring scientific reputation, their most immediate and powerful effect is to give patent holders a significant amount of control over the covered technology – in this case, the main component of the vaccine made by Moderna.

From a practical perspective, excluding federal scientists from the application means that Moderna alone gets to decide how to use the vaccine, whether to license it and to whom. If, by contrast, the government co-owns the vaccine, federal patent law allows each of the joint owners to engage in a variety of actions – from making and selling the vaccine to licensing it – without the consent of the other owners.

This is especially relevant in cases of product scarcity or potential pricing issues in connection with the commercialization of the vaccine. For instance, the U.S. would have the ability to allow more manufacturers to produce vaccines using the mRNA-1273 technology. In addition, it could direct vaccine doses wherever it likes, including to lower-income countries that have received few vaccines so far.

Broader implications


A graphic shows how its mRNA technology works

The ongoing battle between the government and an emerging star in the pharmaceutical industry is yet another episode in a complicated relationship between actors with complementary yet distinct roles in the production of drugs and vaccines.

On the one hand, the federal government has long played a critical role in both performing and funding basic research. On the other, it does not have the resources and capacity to bring most types of new drugs and vaccines to market on its own.

The pharmaceutical industry thus plays an important and necessary role in drug innovation, which I believe should be rewarded – although not boundlessly.

If the NIH is correct about co-ownership of the vaccine, then Moderna is unduly using a legal tool to achieve a position of market control – a reward it does not deserve. This position of sole control becomes even more problematic in light of the significant amounts of public money that funded the development of this vaccine. This offset some of Moderna’s financial risk, even as the company projects to make $15 billion to $18 billion in revenue from vaccine sales in 2021 alone, with much more expected in 2022.

However, even if the NIH prevails in the patent dispute, it is important to understand the limitations of such a “win.” The U.S. would be in a position to license the vaccine, for example, and could do so by requiring that licensees agree to equitable distribution of vaccine doses.

But co-ownership would not enable the government to fix any of the other problems that currently affect the manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, such as scaling up production or building infrastructure to deliver vaccine doses.

In my view, the dispute is a reminder of the many problems embedded in how vaccines are made and delivered in the U.S. And it shows that when taxpayers fund basic research of a drug, they deserve more of the control – and rewards – when that drug succeeds.


This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Ana Santos Rutschman, Saint Louis University.


Read more:
US vaccine rollout was close to optimal at reducing deaths and infections, according to a model comparing 17.5 million alternative approaches

How mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna work, why they’re a breakthrough and why they need to be kept so cold

Ana Santos Rutschman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
A majority of Gen Z investors think crypto will make them millionaires, new survey shows


Isabelle Lee
Sat, November 20, 2021

Getty Images


The majority of Gen Z investors think crypto will make them millionaires, a recent study by Engine Insights showed.


"This generation has a greater acceptance and comfort with all things digital," an expert told Insider.


"They feel that everything financial is harder for them than it was for previous generations," an expert said.

It sometimes seems crypto is minting new millionaires by the day, particularly those with the stomach to dabble in the risky world of altcoins. The most famous of these — like doge and shiba inu — have produced some eye-watering returns in 2021.

It's no surprise then that investors are flocking to the space with dreams of quick riches, and Gen Z investors in particular think crypto will make them millionaires, a recent study by data analytics firm Engine Insights showed.

Nearly two thirds — 59% — of Gen Z respondents to the survey believe they could become wealthy by investing in cryptocurrencies.

"This generation has a greater acceptance and comfort with all things digital, so not surprising that would be more comfortable with crypto," Kathy Sheehan, SVP at Cassandra, a division of Engine Insights, told Insider. "This generation has a lot of concerns about debt and finances."

A confluence of factors, from the rising costs of real estate to college education could be to blame, Sheehan told Insider. Inflation reaching 30-year highs has only reinforced the appeal of crypto as the weakening of fiat money dominates headlines.

"They feel that everything financial is harder for them than it was for previous generations," Sheehan said. "Couple that attitude with more of an appetite for risk, it is not surprising that they are hoping for a quick fix or return."

Gen Z, a group of about 72 million people in the US born between 1997 and 2012, is the most diverse generation in American history in terms of race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.

Broadly, this generation is progressive, pro-government, and activist-minded. They have also grown up in a period of watershed cultural moments including #MeToo and the post-George Floyd era, weathering a disruptive global pandemic on top of it all.

The survey, whose findings are based on responses from 1,027 people in November, also found that if offered $2,000 to invest, Gen Z respondents are three times more likely to buy digital assets compared to baby boomers, and twice as likely to consider virtual currency a "legit currency."

The crypto market has fluctuated wildly this year, but has generally been trending higher. The crypto market capitalization hit $3 trillion recently.

Bitcoin has gained 100% since the start of the year, while ether is up 480%. Meme coins have had it better, with dogecoin rising 4,835% year-to-date and shiba inu skyrocketing 63,490,000%.

Many retail investors poured multiple rounds of government stimulus checks into stocks and crypto, helping fuel the surge in both markets seen during the pandemic.

Read the original article on Business Insider