Nothing makes better sense to the political classes than small time demagoguery when matters turn sour. True, the United Kingdom might well be speeding ahead with vaccination numbers, and getting ever big-headed about it, but there is still good reason to distract the voters. Coronavirus continues to vex; the economy […]
Tag: Pandemic
Now’s The Perfect Time For Global Cyberspace & Pandemic Treaties
There are a multitude of problems that require multilateral solutions which have hitherto remained unresolved due to the lack of the political will and trust that are needed to make progress on them. Two visionary proposals were recently floated for promulgating global cyberspace and pandemic treaties. The first was presented […]
COVID-19: Failure Of The Western Approach
The Covid-19 epidemic affects the whole world, yet its mortality varies from 0.0003% in China to 0.016% in the United States, i.e. more than 50 times higher. This difference can be explained by genetic differences, but above all by differences in medical approach. It shows that the West is no longer the centre of Reason and Science.
Green Passes And Dark Inequalities: The Push For COVID Immunity Passports
Sensible, ideal, wonderful – if you happen to be in the European Union. This is the air of confidence surrounding the March 17 proposal for a digital COVID immunity passport, or what is officially being called the Digital Green Certificate. The Digital Green Certificate is actually a bundle of three: […]
Matters Of Communication: Handelsblatting The Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine
The Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is fast becoming a subject of notoriety. First, will States obtain it? Second, will they use it? The first answer has generally been affirmative, given the vaccine’s ease of storage and relative cheapness. The second is becoming increasingly difficult. Orders have been made and supplies – […]
COVID-19 Vaccines, Access And The Intellectual Property Wars
By now, anybody speaking about vaccine equality and equity of access must surely be coming across as slightly deranged. In the field of COVID-19, traditional proprietorial instincts remain. Add to this the disparity in terms of manufacture, bureaucracy and the nasty flavour of politics, and we would all be entitled […]
Brawling Over Vaccines: Export Bans And The EU’s Bungled Rollout
The European Union has been keeping up appearances in encouraging the equitable distribution of vaccines to combat SARS-CoV-2 and its disease, COVID-19. Numerous statements speak to the need to back the COVAX scheme, to ensure equity and that no one state misses out. And EU member states could be assured […]
Morons, Vaccines And Tennis: Booing At The Australian Open
It was a fittingly poor conclusion to a tournament that risked being cancelled, run to ground, or even rendered stillborn. The tennis world number one, Novak Djokovic, had captured his eighteenth grand slam against would be usurper Daniil Medvedev, whose winning streak of twenty matches was conclusively blotted. The victory […]
Facebook Unfriends Australia: The Triumph Of Epistemic Chaos
Creepy and ruthless Facebook has again impressed with its steely indifference to civic responsibility, as if a company established by a sociopath could ever be a model of human improvement. On February 18, Mark Zuckerberg’s antisocial company took aim at Australia by blocking those in that country from sharing local […]
Snap Decisions: Victoria’s Third Lockdown
The Queen Victoria Market in Australia’s second largest city, Melbourne, is usually a thriving affair. Like any ancient agora, people travel to meet there, purchase fresh produce, and natter. The fruit and vegetable vendors are all colour, a profusion of smells and noise. The meat market heaves with patrons keen […]
Trouble In Vaccine Land: The Wiliness Of South Africa’s Coronavirus Variant
It began as a shudder through the scientific and public health establishments. A new variant of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 had been found, mutating in South African climes, potentially outwitting human responses to it. Vaccines such as Oxford-AstraZeneca’s would have to be brushed up. Rollouts would have to be reconsidered. […]
Going Airborne: Coronavirus And Hotel Quarantine
It has happened again. This time, a diligent worker, having followed all the protocols given to him, had returned a positive result for COVID-19. The 26-year-old had been serving as a resident support officer in the Australian Open quarantine program in Melbourne, Victoria. Yet for all that, he still could […]
Comments