It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, July 01, 2022
Waterways in Brazil's Manaus choked by tons of trash
Residents of Manaus, Brazil's largest metropolis in the Amazon rainforest, look out over a river of trash -- a common occurrence in the city -- on June 5, 2022.
In Manaus, the largest city in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, tons of stinking trash fill the canals and streams, giving one the feeling that they're visiting a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
On the west side of the city, in a poor neighborhood where homes have been erected on stilts, a worker uses an excavator to scoop up a bucket-load of bottles, pieces of plastic and even home appliances that have been tossed in the water.
Not far from the city's main port, municipal workers wearing orange uniforms gather garbage from a boat and pile it onto a big barge floating on the Rio Negro, one of the Amazon River's main tributaries.
With the rising water levels signaling an end to the rainy season, the mounds of trash are often intermingled with leaves and tree branches.
Each day, nearly 30 tonnes of debris is plucked from the water. In some areas, the water is almost completely covered.
The massive influx of trash to Manaus's waterways occurs around this time every year, but city authorities believe the situation has gotten worse in recent weeks.
From January to May, city workers have removed 4,500 tonnes of trash, most of which could have been recycled instead of being thrown in the river.
"The people who live on the water's edge throw garbage straight into the streams... few people put it in the trash," says Antonino Pereira, a 54-year-old Manaus resident who complains that the stench is unbearable.
According to the city's undersecretary of sanitation, Jose Reboucas, if the population was more aware of the costs associated with littering, the city could save one million reais (about $190,000) per month.
"The awareness of the population will be very beneficial for our city and especially for our environment," he told AFP.
The Amazonian region is also facing a major threat from deforestation, with more than 3,750 square kilometers (1,450 square miles) of jungle chopped down since the beginning of the year.Manila 'trash bin' waterway choked with plastic
Disinformation a major factor in Brazil election debate
Maria Clara PESTRE, Cecilia SORGINE Fri, July 1, 2022
Three months out from the Brazilian presidential election, disinformation about the two main candidates, President Jair Bolsonaro and ex-leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is having a major impact.
The sheer volume of fake news, creation of new social media platforms and ever more complex content has made it even more difficult to verify information.
The amount of content fact checked by AFP increased by more than fourfold between January and June.
Those producing election fake news first cut their teeth on a very different subject: the coronavirus.
"The election content has taken over the space" previously dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, said Sergio Ludtke, the coordinator of the Comprova information verification collective made up of 42 media outlets, including AFP.
"The pandemic was probably a period of testing for these groups" producing fake news, he added, saying that it subsequently became "a political event."
And as October's election approaches, verification is becoming "much more complicated" than it was four years ago.
Covid disinformation took on "a new form that permeated politics, the economy, science," said Joyce Souza, a specialist in digital communication at the University of Sao Paulo.
From posts casting doubt on the safety of vaccines, the main form of viral disinformation now revolves around distrust in the electoral system, whether that be opinion polls or electronic voting.
Electronic voting was originally implemented throughout the country in the 2000 elections to combat fraud, but Bolsonaro is not a fan and has cast doubt over the method, calling for paper votes and public counting.
- 'Generating doubt' -
The last elections in 2018 featured large amounts of false and misleading information, especially on WhatsApp. But they were easier to identify.
"What we see now is content that is not necessarily false in itself, but which leads to misleading interpretations," said Ludtke.
It is what happened in May in a tweet that questioned an opinion poll for "only" sampling 1,000 people.
That number was true but the suggestion that it was insufficient was inaccurate.
Experts told AFP it was enough to make a projection as long as the sample group accurately represented the population's diversity.
"One of the strategies of the complex scenario of disinformation is to generate doubt in the social media user, mixing things so much that (the user) doesn't know who to trust," said Pollyana Ferrari, a specialist in communication who coordinates fact checking at the PUC Catholic university.
Such strategies also play on emotions, said Souza, distorting even more the facts and facilitating rapid transmission.
Since the 2018 elections, social media platforms such as Telegram, TikTok and Kwai, which allow the rapid publishing and manipulation of visual content, have gained in popularity.
- 'Vector of disinformation' -
The latest polls last week had Lula in the lead on 47 percent of voter intentions for the October 2 election, compared to Bolsonaro's 28 percent.
But some content targets those polls in a bid to reduce public faith in pollsters.
A video apparently showing Brazilian football fans chanting "Lula, thief!" in a full stadium started doing the rounds recently and was viewed more than 100,000 times on just one platform alongside the question: "Is this the opinion poll leader?"
But the audio had been changed using a tool on TikTok.
For Ferrari, TikTok symbolizes the face of disinformation -- one that is more dynamic and even humorous.
"Like a virus, the fake contaminates the hearing, distorts the vision, settles down in the mind and hides behind the humor of the meme," she said.
In being "inoffensive, it becomes a vector of disinformation."
The supreme electoral tribunal said in a recent document that "false or out of context information affects value judgements, making people decide on the basis of erroneous preconceptions."
Souza believes this content "destroys rational debate in society and makes hate prevail over the public debate."
The problem is that sophisticated disinformation lasts, said Ludtke, and "probably remains in some sectors of society."
csb-mcp/arc/mls/app/dga/bc/st
Libya protesters storm parliament building in Tobruk
Several television channels reported on Friday that protesters had managed to penetrate the parliament building and committed acts of vandalism, while media outlets showed images of thick columns of black smoke coming from its perimeter as angry young protesters burned tyres.
Other media reports said part of the building had been burned. The parliament building was empty as Friday falls on the weekend in Libya.
“We want the lights to work,” protesters chanted.
Earlier on Friday, demonstrations also took place in other cities, al-Wasat reported. In the capital Tripoli, in the west of the country, several hundred people gathered in a central square, where they protested against armed militias and demanded a better electricity supply and lower bread prices.
Images from the protest in Tobruk in the east of the country showed a protester driving a bulldozer that had managed to smash through part of a gate, allowing other demonstrators to enter the parliament building more easily. Other protesters, some brandishing the green flags of the Gaddafi regime, threw office documents into the air.
Libya has endured several days of power cuts, worsened by the blockade of several oil facilities against the backdrop of political rivalries.
Lawmaker Balkheir Alshaab told Libyan channel Al-Ahrar, “We must recognise our failure and immediately withdraw from the political scene”.
Libya’s parliament, or House of Representatives, has been based in Tobruk, hundreds of kilometres east of the capital Tripoli, since an east-west schism in 2014 following the revolt that toppled longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi three years earlier.
Libyan news website al-Wasat reported that the protesters in Tobruk were demanding the dissolution of parliament and new elections. At the same time, the protests were also directed against the poor living conditions in the country.
Recent weeks have also seen repeated skirmishes between armed groups in Tripoli, prompting fears of a return to full-scale conflict.
Two governments are currently vying for power in Libya.
In the capital, Tripoli, the leadership is led by interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. At the same time, the government of former interior minister Fathi Bashagha claims power for itself. The latter is allied with the parliament in Tobruk, in the east.
A peace process beginning in 2020 has tried to knit the country back together. However, after a scheduled election was halted in December, the eastern-based parliament said the interim unity government of Abdul Hamid Dbeibah had expired and it appointed Fathi Bashagha to replace him.
Earlier this month, intense fighting broke out between two influential militias from western Libya. Local media identified the armed groups as the Nawasi Brigade – a militia loyal to Bashagha – and the Stability Support Force, which backs Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.
No motive for the fighting was immediately apparent, but it was the latest violence to rock the country as two rival prime ministers vied for power.
The United Nations said Thursday that talks between the rival Libyan institutions aimed at breaking the deadlock had failed to resolve key differences.
While some progress was made, it was not enough to move forward towards elections, with the two sides still at odds over who can stand in presidential elections, said the UN’s top Libya envoy Stephanie Williams, who facilitated the talks.
Protesters rally in Spain, Morocco over migrant deaths
Issued on: 02/07/2022
Thousands of protesters rallied in Barcelona and other Spanish cities to demonstrate over the migrant deaths
Pau BARRENA AFP
Madrid (AFP) – Demonstrators held rallies in several Spanish cities and in Rabat late Friday to protest over the deaths of 23 African migrants who died in a crush trying to enter the Spanish enclave of Melilla in northern Morocco.
Thousands of protesters gathered in Barcelona, Malaga, Vigo and San Sebastian and in Melilla itself to denounce migration policies and the "militarisation of borders".
In the Moroccan capital, a few dozen representatives of the Collective of Sub-Saharan Communities in Morocco and associations helping migrants demonstrated in front of parliament calling for Rabat to "stop playing the role of EU policeman".
"We demand an end to the migration policy funded by the European Union, the opening of an independent investigation and the return of the bodies to the families," activist Mamadou Diallo told AFP.
"The Europeans colonised us and took everything from us to develop. Today, if we go to them, it means that we have the right to leave," he said.
Spanish enclaves in Morocco AFP
Moroccan prosecutors have initiated proceedings against 65 migrants, mostly Sudanese, accused of having taken part in the mass attempt to enter Melilla from Morocco a week ago.
At least 23 migrants died when around 2,000, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, tried to break through the fence into the Spanish enclave, according to Moroccan authorities, while NGOs say at least 37 lost their lives.
The death toll was by far the worst recorded in years of attempts by migrants to cross into Spain's Ceuta and Melilla enclaves, which have the EU's only land borders with Africa, making them a magnet for those desperate to escape grinding poverty and hunger.
'Borders kill'
The tragedy has provoked international indignation, including an unusually strong response from the United Nations, and the opening of investigations by Spain and Morocco.
In Madrid, several hundred people took up the slogans of the "Black Lives Matter" movement and chanted "No human being is illegal!" and held up signs that read: "Borders kill."
"This country makes me ashamed," said Carmen Reco, 77, attending the protest after this "injustice which resulted in the murder of migrants because they were trying to enter Spain".
Demonstrators also rallied in the Moroccan capital Rabat calling for an investigation - AFP
Renzo Rupay, who works in transport, said he was shocked by "the images of the border".
"I too am a migrant, arrived with a child's travel papers. Not everyone has the possibility of arriving legally in Spain," the 28-year-old said.
"It's not normal that so many people die. We're talking about human lives, people fleeing war and we kill them at the border," said Eva Ruiz, a 24-year-old student.
According to Rabat, the victims died "in jostling and falling" from the top of the metal gate that separates Morocco from Melilla during an attempt to storm the border "marked by the use of very violent methods on the part of migrants".
But images quickly emerged that "show bodies strewn on the ground in pools of blood, Moroccan security forces kicking and beating people, and Spanish Guardia Civil launching teargas at men clinging to fences," according to Human Rights Watch.
The migrant rush in Melilla came after Madrid and Rabat normalised their diplomatic relations following an almost year-long crisis centred on the disputed Western Sahara territory.
For Spain, the main objective of the diplomatic thaw was to ensure Morocco's cooperation in controlling illegal immigration.
Calls for probe into migrant deaths at Spain-Morocco border
By Renata Brito, The Associated Press
Posted Jul 1, 2022,
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Protests are expected across Spain and in the capital of Morocco Friday amid a groundswell of calls for an investigation over the deaths of at least 23 people at the border between the Spanish enclave of Melilla and Morocco.
The deaths occurred on June 24 during repeated attempts by sub-Saharan migrants and asylum seekers to scale the border fence separating both territories.
Morocco’s Human Rights Association contested the official death toll, reporting instead that 27 migrants had died, while the Spanish NGO Walking Borders is reporting 37 fatalities.
Moroccan authorities said the migrants died as a result of a “stampede.”
The demonstrations are being held under the moniker “Las Vidas Negras Importan” in Spanish or “Black Lives Matter” in English. Videos and photos that emerged in the days following the deaths have sparked outrage and condemnation by several human rights organizations and officials including the United Nations Secretary-General.
In one video shared by the Moroccan Human Rights Association dozens of young Black men, some of them motionless and bleeding are seen strewn on the floor as Moroccan security forces stand over them. One uniformed man is seen poking one body with his baton. In another video published by several Spanish media outlets a group of migrants is seen climbing a fence, some hurling rocks at Moroccan anti-riot police trying to stop them. At one point, the fence collapses, sending them to the ground from a height of several meters.
“I am shocked by the violence on the Nador-Melilla border,” U.N. Chief Antonio Guterres tweeted this week. “The use of excessive force is unacceptable, and the human rights and dignity of people on the move must be prioritized by countries.”
Spain’s state prosecutors announced the launch of a probe “to clarify what happened” given the “significance and seriousness” of the events at the Melilla border.
Authorities in Morocco and Spain also reported that 140 security officers on the Moroccan side and 60 National Police and Civil Guard officers on the Spanish side, were injured.
In an exclusive interview with the Associated Press, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez defended the way Moroccan and Spanish police repelled migrants trying to cross into Melilla calling the attempt “an attack on Spain’s borders.”
Meanwhile, the dead have yet to be identified.
Omar Naji of Morocco’s Human Rights Association in Nador said they have been contacted by the families of Sudanese migrants believed to be among the victims but have not been allowed to see the bodies or the dozens of injured migrants being treated at a local hospital.
“We demand a thorough investigation to clarify who is responsible (for the deaths) as well as the necessary autopsies to identify the causes of their deaths,” he said.
___
Tarik El-Barakah contributed to this report from Rabat.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
Renata Brito, The Associated Press
Thousands protest migrant deaths at Spain-Morocco border Demonstrators hold up a banner during one of many protests across Spain amid for the investigation over the deaths of at least 23 people at the border between the Spanish enclave of Melilla and Morocco, in Pamplona, northern Spain, Friday, July 1, 2022.
(AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)
Catalan parties condemn Spain's reaction to migrant deaths at Morocco border crossing
Barcelona mayor "embarrassed" by PM congratulating African country for handling of situation
27 June 2022
by
ACN | Barcelona
Several Catalan parties have condemned the Spanish government's reaction to the incident at the border crossing between its enclave, Melilla, and Morocco, which resulted in multiple migrant deaths.
On Saturday, hundreds of Sub-Saharans tried to jump the border fence, with 18 to 37 of them losing their lives and 300 sustaining injuries after Moroccan forces tried to stop them from leaving the country, although 133 managed to enter Spain. According to official sources, only 18 people died, but NGOs have raised this figure to 37.
Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, praised the cooperation between Madrid and Rabat, saying the "violent and organized assault" was "well resolved by both Spain's and Morocco's security forces."
"I want to thank the work of the Moroccan government," he said, referring to the attempts to avoid migrants breaking into the border.
There are reports of teargas and stones being thrown at those hoping to make their way to Europe. A video published by outlets such as 'eldiario.es' and 'Público' shows Moroccan officers in Spanish territory sending migrants back to the other side of the border.
Both the incident and Sánchez's reaction sparked outrage among several Catalan parties over the weekend.
For instance, Barcelona's anti-austerity mayor, Ada Colau, an ally of the Spanish government's junior partner, Unidas Podemos, said she was "embarrassed" by Sánchez's words.
Talking to Rac1 station, she said she was appalled at his "lack of empathy" and "coldness" after the deaths.
"The images we have seen are absolutely brutal, chilling, and unbearable," she said, referring to the footage of dozens of migrants lying on the floor at the border with police officers guarding the scene.
Pro-independence Esquerra's president, Oriol Junqueras, tweeted that Sánchez's statement "is a worrying from a human rights perspective."
Calls for an investigation
Both Colau and Junqueras called for an investigation into the events to be launched.
Catalan government ministers appointed by the Catalan cabinet's junior coalition partner, Junts per Catalunya, also condemned the incident.
For instance, foreign minister Victòria Alsina said also on Twitter that she was still hoping Sánchez would "regret the events and give an explanation."
Violant Cervera, the social rights minister, believes the incident has breached "all human rights" and decried the Spanish leader's comments, while also asking for an investigation.
Far-left CUP MP Dolors Sabater called the deaths "killings" and said both Spain and Morocco "are racist, anti-black people."
Other groups, such as the Catalan council of lawyers, have also issued statements calling for an independent investigation.
Hundreds rally against Melilla incidents
Officials from several Catalan parties took part in a protest that was held on Sunday in Barcelona and gathered hundreds of people.
'Las vidas negras importan,' or 'black lives matter' in Spanish, was the motto of the rally that took place at the city's Idrissa Diallo square. This plaza was named after Antonio López, a 19th-century businessman with ties to slavery, for decades but was recently changed to that of a migrant who jumped the fence in Melilla and died in a Barcelona hospital after being sent to the migrant detention center (CIE) in the Catalan capital.
WE ARE STILL IN A PANDEMIC WHO: COVID-19 cases rising nearly everywhere in the world
Pediatrician Emy Jean-Marie, center, holds her nine-month-old son Adedeji Adebayo, Emiola Adebayo, 3, on her lap as Dr. Nizar Dowla, right, administers a vaccine while Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health, Admiral Rachel Levine, left, looks on, Tuesday, June 28, 2022, at the Borinquen Health Care Center in Miami. Florida is the only state that didn't pre-order the under-5 vaccine, and state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo has recommended against vaccinating healthy children.
(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Thu, June 30, 2022
GENEVA (AP) — The number of new coronavirus cases rose by 18% in the last week, with more than 4.1 million cases reported globally, according to the World Health Organization.
The U.N. health agency said in its latest weekly report on the pandemic that the worldwide number of deaths remained relatively similar to the week before, at about 8,500. COVID-related deaths increased in three regions: the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Americas.
The biggest weekly rise in new COVID-19 cases was seen in the Middle East, where they increased by 47%, according to the report released late Wednesday. Infections rose by about 32% in Europe and Southeast Asia, and by about 14% in the Americas, WHO said.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said cases were on the rise in 110 countries, mostly driven by the omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5.
“This pandemic is changing, but it's not over,” Tedros said this week during a press briefing. He said the ability to track COVID-19's genetic evolution was “under threat” as countries relaxed surveillance and genetic sequencing efforts, warning that would make it more difficult to catch emerging and potentially dangerous new variants.
He called for countries to immunize their most vulnerable populations, including health workers and people over 60, saying that hundreds of millions remain unvaccinated and at risk of severe disease and death.
Tedros said that while more than 1.2 billion COVID-19 vaccines have been administered globally, the average immunization rate in poor countries is about 13%.
“If rich countries are vaccinating children from as young as 6 months old and planning to do further rounds of vaccination, it is incomprehensible to suggest that lower-income countries should not vaccinate and boost their most at risk (people),” he said.
According to figures compiled by Oxfam and the People's Vaccine Alliance, fewer than half of the 2.1 billion vaccines promised to poorer countries by the Group of Seven large economies have been delivered.
Earlier this month, the United States authorized COVID-19 vaccines for infants and preschoolers, rolling out a national immunization plan targeting 18 million of the youngest children. American regulators also recommended that some adults get updated boosters in the fall that match the latest coronavirus variants.
For the last 18 months, the original COVID-19 vaccines — first as a two-dose series, then as boosters — have done an extraordinary job shielding us from illness, hospitalization and death. Globally, they saved nearly 20 million lives in 2021 alone. Even today, unvaccinated Americans are twice as likely as vaccinated Americans to test positive for COVID — and six times as likely to die from the disease.
But viruses evolve, and vaccines should too.
That was the big-picture takeaway from a pivotal meeting this week of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s expert advisory panel. The question before them was simple: Ahead of an expected winter surge, should vaccine manufacturers tweak their forthcoming booster shots to target Omicron — the ultra-infectious variant that has spent the last seven months surging throughout the world in one form or another — or should they stick with the tried-and-true 2020 recipe?
The panel voted 19-2 on Tuesday in favor of Omicron boosters. The question now, however, is which version of Omicron the next round of shots should target.
A health worker administers a dose of a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Norristown, Pa., in 2021. (Matt Rourke/AP)
For anyone who hasn’t been paying attention, the Omicron strain that triggered last winter’s massive COVID wave (BA.1) is now extinct. In March, it was supplanted by the even more transmissible BA.2 … which was supplanted in May by the even more transmissible BA.2.12.1 … which is now being supplanted by the (you guessed it) even more transmissible BA.4 and BA.5.
Experts say BA.5 is the one to worry about: “The worst version of the virus that we’ve seen,” as Dr. Eric Topol, the founder of Scripps Research Translational Institute, recently put it. Together, the closely related BA.4 and BA.5 now account for the majority of new U.S. COVID cases, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — but BA.5 (36.6%) is spreading a lot faster than BA.4 (15.7%). By early July, it will be the dominant strain in the U.S.
That’s troublesome for several reasons. To our immune system, the distance from BA.1 to heavily mutated BA.4 and BA.5 is “far greater,” Topol writes, than the distance from the original BA.1virus to previous blockbuster variants such as Alpha and Delta — which makes them harder to recognize and respond to. According to the latest research, that could mean:
More symptoms. BA.4 and BA.5 are also better at replicating in lung cells than BA.2 — a shift that could mean, according to one experimental model, that they’re more “pathogenic” as well (i.e., more likely to make you sick).
More resistance to treatments. At the same time, BA.4 and BA.5 appear to be 20-fold more resistant than BA.2 to Evusheld — an important monoclonal antibody treatment that has been providing preemptive protection for immunocompromised people.
None of this will set the U.S. back to square one. Despite elevated case levels, there are now fewer U.S. COVID patients in intensive care units than there were during previous phases of the pandemic, and the national death rate (about 300-400 per day) is near the all-time low. Acquired immunity, multiple rounds of vaccination and improved treatment options are helping — a lot.
It could also endanger vulnerable Americans in the months ahead.
A sign seen in March in New York City outlining the CDC’s guidelines to control the spread of COVID. (John Minchillo/AP)
In late April, BA.5 hit Portugal; by June, more Portuguese people were dying of COVID each day than during the country’s winter Omicron peak. To be sure, Portugal has a larger senior population (23%) than the U.S. (16%), but not by much. And the vaccination rate there is 87%, compared to just 67% in America. Portugal’s booster rate, meanwhile, is nearly twice as high as ours. Infection and hospitalization rates are now rising across much of the rest of Europe as well.
At Tuesday’s FDA advisory meeting, Justin Lessler, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, presented a series of projections about how the virus could affect the U.S. in the months ahead. The most optimistic scenario? About 95,000 new deaths between March 2022 and March 2023. The most pessimistic? More than 200,000.
So given that BA.5 — which, again, is outcompeting its cousin BA.4 — will soon be everywhere, it seems logical that the next version of the vaccine should be tailored to fight it.
Yet that hasn’t necessarily been the plan. Both Pfizer and Moderna have already launched clinical trials for redesigned fall boosters … but those boosters are optimized to counter the now-nonexistent BA.1 rather than the soon-to-be-dominant BA.5. According to data presented Tuesday by Pfizer, their existing BA.1 booster generated a significantly lower level of neutralizing antibodies against BA.4 and BA.5 than against BA.1.
Vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are prepared for packaging in 2021. (Pfizer via AP)
Yet in mice, at least, a booster containing BA.4 and BA.5 produced a higher neutralizing response to all Omicron variants (including BA.4 and BA.5) than the original vaccine.
Despite concerns about “scant” data about whether bivalent boosters (equal parts original strain and Omicron) work better than monovalent boosters (100% Omicron), and about whether it’s worth waiting for Novavax’s promising non-mRNA vaccine to hit the market, the panel mostly agreed that BA.4/BA.5 boosters make sense. The FDA is leaning that way as well. Pfizer said it was “prepared” to deliver the new boosters by the first week of October; Moderna, by the last week of October or early November — “assuming no clinical data requirements.”
That means no human trials — just animal trials and laboratory tests. That might sound scary to some, but regulators already use the same accelerated process to update the flu vaccine each year — and there is no mechanism by which minor mRNA tweaks will make revised Pfizer and Moderna shots any less safe than the billions of doses administered so far worldwide. Otherwise, the U.S. will miss its fall-winter deadline, and the fast-evolving virus will continue to outrun the vaccines.
The FDA itself will decide “very rapidly” what to recommend; manufacturers will follow their lead.
A syringe is prepared with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Chester, Pa., in 2021. (Matt Rourke/AP)
In the future, chasing variants may not prove to be the most effective or efficient approach to COVID vaccination. As Topol put it, “by the time a BA.5 vaccine booster is potentially available, who knows what … the predominant strain” will be? That’s why it was welcome news Wednesday when Pfizer and BioNTech announced that they plan to “start tests on humans of next-generation shots that protect against a wide variety of coronaviruses in the second half of the year,” according to a Reuters report.
These include “T-cell-enhancing shots, designed to primarily protect against severe disease if the virus becomes more dangerous,” and “pan-coronavirus shots that protect against the broader family of viruses and its mutations.” Nasal vaccines meant to stop infection before it starts are promising as well.
But those are all longer-term propositions. This year, at least, a BA.5 booster is probably our best bet to minimize infection, illness and death during another likely winter surge.
“I fully expect further evolution to occur in the coming months, but that this evolution will most likely be on top of BA.4/BA.5 — and so [it] shouldn’t dissuade vaccine updates,” virologist Trevor Bedford of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle wrote earlier this week. “I believe that the decision making process can be boiled down to: of vaccine compositions that can be manufactured in time for fall distribution, which do we expect to generate the highest [protection] against BA.4/BA.5?”
WE ARE STILL IN A PANDEMIC
Covid air war being lost, experts warn, urging mass ventilation
The world is still not using one of its most effective weapons against Covid -- properly ventilating public spaces -- more than two years into the pandemic, experts warn.
At the moment there is a "fragile, armed peace" with Covid-19, said Antoine Flahault, director of the Institute of Global Health at the University of Geneva.
"In the hopes of stemming the tide of the pandemic and reducing mortality, we need to reduce the level of contamination, which the vaccine cannot do alone," he told AFP.
"We need a new phase -- improving the quality of indoor air."
Covid-19 is primarily transmitted through the air. It is carried in large droplets or fine aerosols when an infected person breathes -- and even more so when they talk, sing or shout.
In a closed off or poorly ventilated room, these aerosols can remain in the air for some time, moving around the space and greatly increasing the risk of infection.
While it is generally accepted that Covid can be transmitted within two metres (6.5 feet) via both droplets and aerosols, there is still no consensus on the importance of long-distance airborne transmission indoors.
A team of researchers from the UK Health Security Agency and the University of Bristol reviewed 18 studies in several countries on airborne transmission.
In research published in the BMJ this week, they found that people can infect each other when they are more than two metres apart.
- Open that window -
We know one thing for sure: if you open a window, or well-ventilate a space, the virus-carrying aerosols dissipate like smoke.
But experts say that nowhere near enough is being done to ventilate public and private spaces across the world.
"On the whole, this is an issue that governments have not yet taken up," Flahault said.
He called for massively increased funding to ventilate many public spaces, starting with schools, hospitals, public transport, offices, bars and restaurants.
"Just as we knew to filter and treat drinking water" in homes at the beginning of the 1900s, "one can imagine some households will equip themselves with air purifiers and consider opening their windows," Flahault said.
Only a few countries have announced ventilation plans since the start of the pandemic.
In March the US government called on all building owners and operators, as well as schools and universities, to "adopt key strategies to improve indoor air quality".
The plan, dubbed the Clean Air in Buildings Challenge, is covered by previously announced Covid funding and also includes a review of existing ventilation, heating and air conditioning systems.
The European Union has not issued any binding statements on improving air quality in light of Covid.
However Belgium has announced a plan to have a carbon dioxide meter situated in all places open to the public. Having such a meter is voluntary until the end of 2024, when it becomes mandatory.
Stephen Griffin of the School of Medicine at Britain's University of Leeds lamented that the UK had not acted more on ventilation.
"Sadly, the UK has not embraced the opportunity to safeguard its citizens in public spaces, its children in schools, or the longevity of the vaccination programme in this way," he told the Science Media Centre.
He said that setting minimum safety standards for ventilation in public buildings would also "greatly mitigate the impact of other diseases".
"Better ventilation also improves cognition by reducing carbon dioxide levels and, along with filtration, can reduce the impact of pollen and other allergies."
GM subsidiary workers at Michiganplants prepare to strike
Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press
General Motors subsidiary employees at four Michigan plants have set a strike deadline for 10 a.m. Thursday if the automaker and the United Auto Workers cannot reach an agreement.
If the subsystem employees do walk off the job, the impact on production could be felt within hours, said a union leader who was not authorized to speak for the union so they spoke to the Detroit Free Press on the condition of anonymity.
"If they walk off it's going to affect the GM workers within hours," this person said. "I don't know if GM will have their supervisors run parts to the line. The subsystems people sequence the parts for the orders and when the line runs out those workers take them to the line."
Dean Franks, center, stands on an overpass above U.S. 31 in Spring Hill picketing on the second day of a national strike of General Motors by the United Auto Workers on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019.
According to the person, the subsystem workers who could strike are at the following plants:
Flint Assembly, represented by UAW Local 598. GM builds its top-selling and profitable heavy-duty pickups there.
Lansing Grand River Assembly, represented by Local 652 where GM builds Cadillac CT4, Cadillac CT4-V, Cadillac CT5, Cadillac CT5-V and Chevrolet Camaro.
Factory ZERO in Detroit and Hamtramck, represented by Local 22. GM makes the 2022 GMC Hummer EV pickup there and will start on the Hummer SUV.
Orion Assembly plant in Orion Township, represented by Local 5960, which makes the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV.
"It could shut down production in a matter of hours depending on what GM's plan is," the person said. "That means it could idle the 500 workers at Lear and 300 to 400 at Flint Metal and ... 5,500 at Flint Assembly."
The subsystem workers have been working on a contract that expired more than a year ago and, "GM won't come to terms with a contract for them," the person said.
In a statement, GM spokesman Dan Flores said, "We are continuing to negotiate in good faith and we are hopeful we can reach an agreement that positions our team members and our business for success."
The UAW did not comment immediately.
Subsystem employees work for GM but are represented by a different contract that represents assembly line workers and skilled trades employees.
"This is GM, but they're (parts-expediting) people who fill the lines at the plants. It's like how we have outside sanitation," the person said.
That means the thousands of regular GM hourly workers represented by the UAW will have to keep workers in the event the subsystem people walk out.
In a letter dated Wednesday, UAW Vice President Terry Dittes wrote: "As a General Motors employee covered by Paragraph 117 of 2019 UAW-GM National Agreement, you must continue to report to work in the event of a strike by the Subsystems unit. In addition, you may not take part in the picketing that will accompany a strike."
The union person said crossing a picket line would be tough for many UAW members, but it is required.
"Our GM people will still be required to work; they have to cross the picket line," the person said. "The national agreement covers the workers who work for GM and what they would be striking for is the GM LLC, which is a different variant and the national agreement doesn't cover these people."
Update: A previous version of this story misidentified the local that was representing workers at Lansing Grand River assembly. That UAW Local is 652.
