COVID politics
he Impact of Censorship on Covid-19 Policy Formation in the United States by Victor Wallis https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/3822 https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/3822/99193546939
Dissident doctors whose response to Covid was censored found a platform with right-wing politicians and media. This gave enhanced political legitimacy, ironically, to the very forces that were most opposed to the kind of regulatory policies and system of universal healthcare....
Contrary to the view advanced by right-wing ideologues, what threatens people’s wellbeing is not public authority as such, but rather public authority shaped by private interests. There is no way the needed improvements in public health can be attained without government playing a role. The Right plays upon people’s fear of government by invoking Orwellian images of totalitarian intrusion into everyone’s private life. But such intrusion is carried out by private as well as governmental entities..
Steven Johnson : I'm disheartened to see an article .. arguing some crucial points about the need for universal health care, mixed in with much more dubious and potentially discrediting points, and published in what appears to be a faux academic publication see http://flakyc.blogspot.com/2020/11/european-society-of-medicine-esmed.html
public health people did what they could to combat the endless B.S. attacks by the Covid denying industry/cult against each and every one of the only tools we have in our toolbox to address the pandemic: masks, distancing, contact tracing and isolation, vaccines, etc. And when they called that life-endangering B.S. for what it was, and refrained from
publishing it in prestigious journals, the B.S. production industry/cult
calls it censorship.
Victor Wallis : Instead of addressing the arguments given and the evidence cited, he targets the author and the venue.... If what the dissidents asserted was simply wrong, the defenders of orthodoxy would be able to refute it. Recourse to censorship suggests that they are unable to do this. Steven Johnson suggests that criticizing a big pharma-driven agenda clashes with the goal (which we share) of working toward universal healthcare. Not so. A holistic approach to health-matters -- challenging big pharma's overemphasis on drugs, pills, and vaccines -- is consistent with a socialist approach to healthcare, which rejects profit-driven choices. Climate, Covid, Class, and Capital Victor Wallis https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10455752.2023.2175974 parallel between the ecosocialist goal of biodiversity and respect for the complexities of the human immune system
Mofwoofoo: there can never ever be an "arbiter of truth". Censorship is a big step towards totalitarianism and the Left should have never gone along with it
Taken from a discuss in WSM
How Bill Gates and partners used their clout to control the global Covid response — with little oversight https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/14/global-covid-pandemic-response-bill-gates-partners-00053969
Armed with expertise, bolstered by contacts at the highest levels of Western nations and empowered by well-grooved relationships with drug makers, the four organizations took on roles often played by governments — but without the accountability of governments. While nations were still debating the seriousness of the pandemic, the groups identified potential vaccine makers and targeted investments in the development of tests, treatments and shots. And they used their clout with the World Health Organization to help create an ambitious worldwide distribution plan for the dissemination of those Covid tools to needy nations, though it would ultimately fail to live up to its original promises.
The largest and most powerful was the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the largest philanthropies in the world. Then there was Gavi, the global vaccine organization that Gates helped to found to inoculate people in low-income nations, and the Wellcome Trust, a British research foundation with a multibillion dollar endowment that had worked with the Gates Foundation in previous years. Finally, there was the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, or CEPI, the international vaccine research and development group that Gates and Wellcome both helped to create in 2017.
Leaders of three of the four organizations maintained that lifting intellectual property protections was not needed to increase vaccine supplies – which activists believed would have helped save lives...
The last three paras of the report.. “You need to have a reckoning on this. The way the G-7, and the G-20, showed up in the pandemic was pretty disappointing, to put it mildly,” said a person who works with one of the four organizations and requested to remain anonymous to speak more freely about the state of global health care. “There was a complete lack of leadership. On this issue of equitable access, people made big statements, but they didn’t follow through at all.”
Without governments stepping in to take the lead on pandemic preparedness, the four organizations, along with their partners in the global health community, are the only entities that are in a position to lead in the world’s response to a devastating outbreak — again.
“They’re funded by their own capabilities and or endowments and trusts. But when they step into multilateral affairs, then who keeps watch over them?” a former senior U.S. official said. “I don’t know the answer to that. That’s quite provocative.”
A Lockdown Is a Solution. In India, a Lockdown Is Also Its Own Crisis. https://thewire.in/rights/coronavirus-lockdown-authoritarianism-physical-distancing-rights-elite
An authoritarian lockdown offers numerous dividends to the government and the elite in the long run.
Announcing the lockdown, New Zealand’s prime minister said, “ the government will do all it can to protect you. Now I’m asking you to do everything you can to protect all of us."
Contrast this with the Indian government which, going by its actions , seems to say that it .. eaves to its citizens the responsibility of handling the situation, and failing which they will be punished even if it means losing jobs, rights, livelihood, dignity, food, and education.
The authoritarian lockdown
Suppression of data at all levels because of the culture of shaming those who show ‘poor outcomes’ and rewarding those who show ‘good outcomes’. Suppression of data at all levels because of the culture of shaming those who show ‘poor outcomes’ and rewarding those who show ‘good outcomes’
The government has failed to proactively publicise major decisions, whether demonetisation, the reading down of Section 370 or the ongoing lockdown. The idea of people being participating stakeholders is being actively eroded, leading to a corrosion of trust and avoidable delays in response.
Under an authoritarian state, people may function like coerced subjects rather than informed stakeholders, doing only as much as they have to and often tending to breaking boundaries and rules.
To maintain the image of success, the government is likely to be even more authoritarian than is acceptable under normal circumstances but uphold its measures as ‘necessary’
the right to a COVID-19-free world doesn’t automatically trample on rights and civil liberty. The lockdown shows that while the rights of some become limited, for others like the labourers it is an existential right connected to their food, dignity and livelihoods.
a lockdown where essential travel is curbed is bound to impinge, often adversely, on several human rights - as their income depends on it.
Many norms of confidentiality and privacy of patients and their contacts are being violated on the pretext of a lockdown. protect against stigma and discrimination which can potentially lead – among other things – to harassment, denial of care, negligence and loss of employment,
The communal nature of the government and its supporters comes out even in a pandemic.
After lockdown, what?
We need specific rules that define when the government can impose a lockdown, how, for how long and finally how the lockdown can be wound down.
Have the other – especially economic – consequences of an extended or repeated lockdown been adequately assessed? Who decides what damage to society due to the virus as well as the lockdown is acceptable?
Why was overcrowding in slums, buses, garment factories, industries and manufacturing units never seen as a problem until now?
Is the government doing anything to reduce this kind of overcrowding – a risk factor for a host of other infections apart from COVID-19?
AAP Vs BJP Over "Exaggerated" Oxygen Demand: WATCH Debate Between AAP's Jasmine Shah, BJP's RP Singh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxctZEW57E Jun 25, 2021
The Supreme Court audit panel alleges that the Delhi government sought 4 times more oxygen than required during the second wave. Delhi's Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said that there is no such report by Supreme Court Audit Committee. He also said that BJP leaders are lying.
Now, BJP has shared the proof of report being shared with the Delhi Government.
AAP's Jasmine Shah said, "There is no interim report which has the sign or approval of members of the committee."
BJP's RP Singh said, "Things move digitally in the times of pandemic. They can keep denying, but they are caught now."
Modi government versus Arvind Kejriwal over Report that Delhi “exaggerated” Oxygen need in COVID https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxk2wtKlUAs The Delhi government exaggerated its demand for Oxygen by four times, says a report that has triggered a war of words between the Kejriwal government and the Modi government. The Centre says these are the findings of a Supreme Court audit, the AAP says the findings are "malicious and false" Barkha Dutt discusses the matter with Sanjay Hegde (Senior Advocate), PKD Nambiar (Political Analyst), Ruchika Gupta, MD Gupta (Batra Hospital), and Saket Tiku (All India Oxygen Manufacturers).
https://youtube.com/embed/A3g37btQr7o?start=30&end=139 AIIMS chief Dr Randeep Guleria, who heads the sub group that led the audit on Delhi oxygen, said that the final report is not out yet. Dr Guleria also said that it would not be correct to say that Delhi "exaggerated" its oxygen needs by four times during the second wave of Covid. "I can't say for sure about the four times exaggeration of oxygen demand." The observations of the report has set off a new clash between the Centre and Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the capital.
विज्ञापन के लिए करोड़ों? जनता के लिए ठेंगा? Jun 21, 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXesURYHsYg मोदी सरकार ने सुप्रीम कोर्ट मे दायर हलफनामे में कहा है के वो कोरोना में मारे गए लोगों के परिवारों को चार लाख रुपये नहीं दे सकते क्योंकि ख़ज़ाने में इतना पैसा नहीं है।अभिसार शर्मा आज न्यूज़ चक्र में सवाल उठा रहे हैं के जब सरकार मोदी की वाहवाही में करोड़ों खर्च सकती है तो जनता के लिए क्यों नहीं ?
One argument was that if we give for Corona, then what about other
diseases..
Corona deaths have been due to failure of govt. no action from March to Oct 20. In UP CM in Uttarakhand was changed to get a more plaint Cm on the Kumbh restrictions..
Death Count In 24 UP Districts 43 Times More Than Official Covid-19 Toll https://www.article-14.com/post/untitled-60cf605395758 21st June
https://thedialogue.co.in/article/DIgaoJgONSbJd8JBj1j0/exclusive-ugc-asks-universities-iits--colleges-to-put-up-banners-thanking-pm-on-day1-of-18-above-vaccination On Monday, the UGC shot off another email to the institutions seeking an “action taken report” by the end of the day, which has put all universities into a race against time. Some universities like Delhi University have done the needful by Monday morning, many haven't. ..A similar incident took place early this month when the CBSE had decided to cancel the board examination for class 12 after a meeting chaired by the PM. Several social media posts of students were shared on social media thanking PM Modi for the same.
What is the new narrative to stop "criticism" or even "comment" ? Here's example 1..
Arvind Panagariya concluded his edit page article "Absolute Disaster Averted" in ET 11th June 2021 : "critics who consider themselves responsible need to do some soul searching.. they need to, minimally they need to come forward and acknowledge their error in attacking a policy that was working smoothly.." .. " it was.. a barrage of criticisms and pressure from State governments that forced the hand of the central government that forced the decentralisation of vaccination".
First this statement conflates all the criticism (and "suggestions" I may add,) to result in "abdication" of Centre's responsibility to the "States" and to the private sector to the tune of 50%.
(Alt News: India has 28 states and eight union territories. Out of the eight UTs, Delhi and Puducherry have elected assemblies and Kashmir is under the President’s rule. BJP governs 12 of these directly and six others in coalition governments....
Feb 24: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee wrote a letter to PM Modi on February 24, requesting that the state be allowed to purchase vaccines for inoculation ahead of the assembly elections. .
March 30: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had written a letter to PM Modi on March 30, requesting that COVID vaccines be made available outside the government supply chain in open markets for those who can afford to buy...
On April 8, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope accused the centre of “discrimination” in the distribution of vials of Covaxin and Covishield. He alleged that BJP-ruled states were provided more doses. .
( on Apr 18: before he was CM, Stalin urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take a policy decision swiftly for universal vaccination.. it was equally important to allow independent procurement of drugs, vaccines and medical equipment by state governments...
Apr 19 - decentralisation was announced on April 19
After that: Chhattisgarh Health Minister said the next day that the availability of scarce resources like COVID-19 vaccines should not be decentralised. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan requested PM Modi to reconsider his decision and supply vaccines to states free of cost. Former Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja said that the Left would have nationalised healthcare if it was in power at the centre.
May 8: .Thackeray wrote a letter to PM Modi on May 8 which said, “The State of Maharashtra is willing to procure the requisite stock of vaccines in a single procurement if possible, so as to safeguard our citizens and to give a boost to India’s vaccination program. However, the producers do not have enough stocks. If the States are allowed to procure from other manufacturers as well, we would be able to cover a larger population in a shorter time: https://www.altnews.in/had-states-demanded-decentralized-vaccine-procurement-as-claimed-by-pm-modi/ )
(opediindia counters Alt news: Alt News edits fake fact-check claiming states did not demand decentralisation of vaccine procurement, continues to obfuscate. Alt News now claims that even though non-NDA state govts demanded decentralised vaccine purchase, that does not matter and Modi is still lying. https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/alt-news-edits-its-fact-check-on-vaccine-decentralisation-continues-to-lie/ Op
ed says that It seems like requests from Mamata Banerjee, Rahul Gandhi, the Maharashtra government, and Stalin does not matter for Alt News. It goes on to declare that PM Modi was cherry-picking statements of some of the Chief Ministers to blame them for the decentralised process of vaccine procurement.
The question is why would a decisive PM, feel "pressure from the states". Is there no space for criticism by the press, the public, by political parties? Does a strong leader get swayed by criticism, or does he get strengthened by it by taking all views into account. Is there no space for joint responsibility or shared responsibility or genuine dialogue? Does independent procurement, mean that the Centre coudl not also do its part?
Perhaps the main reason is that the advisors to PM consists of the "laterally inserted" advisors and managers of public policy. It is the CEO mentality, and not Federal "leadership" that is dominating the current situation.
The centre was aware that Moderna and pFizer who perhaps had the capacity to fulfill this had a problem with the indemnity issue, and that only the "sovereign" could give that, which again does not mean, states cannot negotiate. It perhaps means that the centre which has even now not fully settled this issue, could assure that state that it the centre is willing to negotiate and give sovereign approval to the indemnity". I dont see any reason why Moderna and pFizer would have refused any state if they were in a position to assure centres sovereign indemnity. There was also no reason why centre could have have encouraged state to joint bid for better leverage.
So in my book, I put the extreme swings in vaccination policy to the Centres failure to work out a federal arrangement. Perhaps this is the meaning "One Nation One System" slogan!
My views and references here are "free". Use them if you agree in anyway you like, or critique them, if you dont..
Muslim Covid warrior victimised by Tejasvi Surya is still jobless and scared https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXXVtL5sLHo
On May 5, BJP MP #TejasviSurya barged into a #Covid war room in #Bangalore and read out the names of 16 Muslim men. He accused them of being involved in a bed allocation scam. The men were immediately removed from their jobs.
When the police found no evidence against any of the men, the city's municipal corporation, which runs the war room, claimed to have reinstated the men. This is not true.
The men are still jobless. One of the men agreed to speak to us about what happened, how he lost his job, and the toll Surya's baseless communal attack has taken on him.
Bhagwat's decision to call out 'unmindfulness' (gaflat) of the shasan and prashasan (government and administration) after the first wave of COVID is the first instance of public criticism by the RSS during the pandemic. Rumbles heard in private so far, has now breached the hush-hush world of the Sangh Parivar.
the Delhi High Court dismissed a plea seeking direction to suspend all construction activity in view of the second wave of the COVID19 pandemic. The petition was filed citing the reasons that workers involved in the construction work can be infected with Coronavirus
“Since workers at the project at staying on sight, no question of suspending the work arises,” the court said. The concern DDMA order in question nowhere prohibits construction work, the Court further added. https://news.abplive.com/news/india/delhi-hc-dismisses-plea-to-stop-construction-in-central-vista-project-imposes-1-lakh-fine-on-petitioner-1461039
After Delhi High Court dismissed a petition on the Central Vista Project Hardeep Singh Puri Union Urban Development and Civil Aviation minister says: There is no shortage of money for COVID related programmes. Is Central Vista project of national importance? | Frankly Speaking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VNLO0cjuFc All opponents are anti-development. No binary between the expenditure of the Central Vista and the COVID expenditure for vaccine, oxygen, .Did not give a single interview while the case was sub-judice..
HSP https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/for-central-vista-project-no-heritage-building-will-go-hardeep-singh-puri-1809229-2021-05-31 https://twitter.com/i/status/1399394800164474888
| Implications | |
| In a pandemic, when you need economic activities, if you're able to create a bubble... |
Is this being applied for other economic activity? What about Protests? What about Religious function? The wedding in the plane? |
| No heritage building is being brought down. | Will the nomenclature of buildings like .. be changed before being brought down, then? repeat of 370? |
| Everything may not be more than Rs 14,000 crore. Why are we picking on this? We need a new Parliament. Vaccination? There is no binary between the two. Rs 35,000 crore was set aside for vaccines. If you need more money for vaccines, it will be provided. We have already met the oxygen demand. This is a perception narrative being falsified by the Congress. | So, if money was not issue, Not ordering vaccine before May 2021, was for other reasons? negotiations? |
‘Entire families’ wiped out by Covid’s carnage in rural India May 18, 2021 https://economictimes.indiatimes.com//news/india/e
Entire-families-wiped-out-by-covids-carnage-in-rural-india/articleshow/82728273.cms In interviews with representatives from more than 18 towns and villages in different parts of the country, officials outlined the scale of the carnage — from entire families wiped out to bloated bodies floating down the Ganges River to farmland left untended due to a lack of workers.
Baijayant “Jay” Panda, a senior official with Modi’s BJP, told Bloomberg the latest virus wave has been a “humbling experience,” but pointed to a significant vaccination rollout and the provision of shots to more than 80 countries in a global outreach effort. He defended Modi’s response, saying election authorities made the decision to proceed with polls and states were responsible for building oxygen plants that received federal funding. “It’s not just the prime minister who thought we had overcome the biggest ravages of corona — the consensus in India by early January was that we had done so,” Panda said. “Many of the epidemiologists who are today criticizing are on the record back in October saying the worst was over and that we should not have as many restrictions.” https://youtube.com/embed/hasmSajRFhY?start=1&end=410
Chetan Bhagat: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/The-underage-optimist/3-mistakes-of-the-pandemic-and-lessons-from-it/
It’s okay to make mistakes. The point is not to humiliate or shame anyone, but to change for the better. We need to change the way we think...
1. ‘Us vs them’ is a primitive, exploitable and harmful human trait. As kids, we love comics, with a clear set of good and bad guys. The hero and the villian. Such movies do good business too. The entire Hindu vs Muslim narrative in India is driven by this primitive instinct... This defines the politics of our country at the cost of healthcare, education, economy and governance. Never, ever mix religion with politics — a recipe for complete disaster. Governments are not God. God is about faith. Governments need to be questioned and kept accountable. Never mix the two
2. Respecting modern scientific thinking and capital investments. Today, the countries coming out of the pandemic are those who respect science and capital. We don’t. Science is admitting we don’t know everything, that the future holds the answers not the past. Most of the pseudo-scientific Indians are stuck in the past — the very definition of unscientific
3. Don’t be in a rush to get medals. Wanting India to succeed is a good thing. However, premature celebrations or glorifying it without true substantial accomplishment is not.
https://www.altnews.in/covid-toolkit-attributed-to-congress-created-on-forged-letterhead/
An analysis by Alt News has revealed that the AICC Research Department letterhead has been tampered with in the toolkit document, raising questions about its authenticity. An examination of the content of the document, meant to strategise a future course of action, reveals that it refers to events that have already taken place in the past. BJP till now has only shared screenshots of the alleged toolkit and has failed to produce the original – either the PDF version or the Microsoft Word version. Without the original document, BJP’s claims come across as inauthentic, especially because the ‘toolkit’ is made on a poor copy of the original letterhead used by the AICC’s research wing.
Check out what Suhel says https://youtube.com/FbJZhpmVaGM
and Shezad:Poonawala: why is it that everything that the congress ecosystem have done?
Alt News: However, most of the directions of the toolkit refer to events that have already taken place. A document meant for suggesting courses of action for May 2021 and beyond, has several events which have already occurred in the month of April.
https://www.altnews.in/covid-toolkit-attributed-to-congress-created-on-forged-letterhead
Twitter labels Sambit Patra’s ‘Congress ToolKit Exposed’ tweet as manipulated media https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/twitter-labels-sambit-patras-congress-toolkit-exposed-tweet-as-manipulated-media/2256118/
Forged" Toolkit By BJP??? Twitter Labels Sambit Patra's Tweet As "Manipulated Media" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTCbPrXjWgg On Tuesday BJP released what it called a “toolkit” by the Congress to tarnish Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Centre over the handling of the Covid pandemic. BJP president J P Nadda first talked about Congress’s ‘Toolkit Models’ in a tweet. Subsequently, the allegation was taken up by Union minister Smriti Irani, BJP general secretary B L Santhosh, and spokesperson Sambit Patra. The BJP leaders shared a document seemingly printed on the letterhead of the ‘AICC Research Department’. Soon after the BJP leaders' tweet accusing congress of circulating the toolkit, Congress defended itself. It said the the document was fake and it was an attempt of forgery and fraud. The party also filed a complaint with the Delhi Police demanding an FIR against all the four BJP leaders.
The party also filed a complaint with the Delhi Police demanding an FIR against all the four BJP leaders. It said it would also write to social media platforms for action against the BJP leaders for “propagating” a”forged and fabricated letter”
Mathematician Murad Banaji By analyzing total excess deaths – i.e., the difference between total deaths in Mumbai one year, compared with the year before — he estimates that the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 would have to have been undercounted by at least two-thirds to account for the higher 2020 death tally.. "My optimistic estimate then was that for every death [from COVID-19] that was recorded during the year [2020], two more were missed."
Those calculations are based on data from Mumbai, India's richest major city, where access to health care is better than elsewhere. So the number of undercounted deaths could be even higher in less well-off parts of the country .
“Not all those excess deaths may have been from Covid-19,” explained Banaji. “But from what we can gather from international data and studies, most probably were, and in Mumbai’s’s case, my estimate is a minimum of 60% to 70% of those additional excess deaths were from Covid.”... However, Banaji emphasised that for rural and impoverished areas of India, in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, which have limited health infrastructure, death recording and Covid testing, the number of unreported Covid deaths was “likely to be huge, much greater than in a city such as Mumbai”.
“If we don’t have the data to fully understand what’s happening with this pandemic now,” said Banaji, “how can India possibly prepare for the future?”
India's Public Domain Covid Data Is Embarrassing, It's Irresponsible Not to Share If More Exists' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzNMl6aXksQ Dec 27, 2021
Bhramar Mukherjee, who is a Professor of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Global Public Health at the University of Michigan and has done extensive work on Covid-19 projections in India which has been internationally recognised, was asked if she was saying India does not have data on the number of people who have been re-infected after an original infection, the number who have experienced breakthrough infections after two vaccinations, and how many went on to be seriously ill, how many required hospitalization and, within that, what number needed oxygen, ICU handling and ventilators and Prof. Mukherjee bluntly said: “if such data exists it’s privileged”. She said it’s not available in the public domain.
Prof. Mukherjee also agreed that it’s simply a presumption that such data exists. The truth is we don’t know whether it exists at all. Certainly, it makes no sense for the government not to make it public and not to extensively cite and refer to it when announcing policies on boosters for different categories of people.
Prof. Mukherjee told The Wire India simply does not have data – or it has not been made public, which is bizarre – that would assess and establish the efficacy of the vaccinations it has given. We, therefore, also do not know which vaccination would make the best booster – another one of the same or a mix and match approach.
- Ravish Kumar - 28th May 2021
- what exactly is going wrong for the government
- How the Plot was Lost
- Positivity Unlimited
- How India’s Covid Crisis Got Out of Control
- Covaxin - Biotech and Brazil deal alleges Congress
- adverts and headlines on vaccinations
- Grim COVID picture is a political effort, say Foreign Minister
- Political Economy of COVID