Epidemics

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – With the Delta variant of Covid 19 now producing escalating case counts and hospitalizations, talk among pundits has turned to the possibility of a federally imposed vaccination mandate. Many of these discussions and debates have revolved around familiar albeit simplistic dichotomies, such as voluntary choice versus government […]

Children

As Florida’s cases Spike to Unprecedented 21,683, Ron “Satan” DeSantis wants to Kill your Kids

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Jeffrey S. Solocheck at the Miami Herald reports that Florida governor Ron DeSantis on Friday issued a royal decree forbidding school districts to require that pupils wear a mask and threatening to cut funding from any that defied him. DeSantis has also banned Florida municipalities from putting in renewed mitigation […]

Displaced and Refugees

Refugees and Asylum-Seekers are at high risk of COVID-19 infection, but low priority for vaccines

The Conversation

By Yvonne Su | – ( The Conversation ) – In June, the G7 pledged 870 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, or COVAX, to help it meet its two billion vaccine goal for lower- and middle- income countries by the end of 2021. The global vaccine-sharing initiative is pooling funds and […]

Anti-Vaccination

It is Time to Call Republican Rejection of Vaccines and Masks what it is: Selfish

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Washington Post reports that the rate of coronavirus infections is twice as high in Trump-voting counties as in Biden-voting ones. And ABC News reports that the US now has the highest average daily number of new coronavirus cases in the world.. Only about 57% of Americans ages 12 and […]

Anti-Vaccination

Anti-Vaxxer Trumpian Pols are Killing their own Constituents for Profit — and Endangering us All

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment) – Tennessee Governor Bill Lee is killing his constituents by pandering to Donald Trump. He’s following the leads of Texas’ Greg Abbott and Florida’s Ron DeSantis, as state executives, reading the tea leaves of the Tea Party and blowing in the political wind – lives of their citizens be […]

Anti-Vaccination

The inherent racism of anti-vaxx movements

The Conversation

By Paula Larsson | – We are currently experiencing a worldwide vaccination effort that’s being impeded by rising pockets of anti-vaccination sentiment. There has been a recent increase in anti-vaccination conspiracy theories, misinformation campaigns and protests in various countries. And while many accuse anti-vaxxers of a selfish disdain for the health and safety of others, […]

Donald Trump

As CPAC Tinfoil Hat Crowd Decries Vaccines, Delta Variant ‘Velociraptor’ Menaces US Red States with India-Style Wave

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Delta variant of SARS-CoV-II is to the original vanilla COVID-19 strain as velociraptors were to gentle plant-eating sauropods. And it is coming for America. What is worse, the Republican Party and its media arms such as Fox, Newsmax and OAN, are playing the wicked witch to GOP voters’ Hansel […]

Epidemics

An All-American Horror Story: How we Sacrificed our Health on the Altar of useless Nuclear Arsenals

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Yes, once upon a time I regularly absorbed science fiction and imagined futures of wonder, but mainly of horror. What else could you think, if you read H.G. Wells’s War of the Worlds under the covers by flashlight while your parents thought you were asleep? Of course, that novel was a […]

Africa

The Wealthy Countries are getting Past the Pandemic, but the Poor are in Catastrophe, which is a looming Catastrophe for the Wealthy

Tomdispatch

By Rajan Menon | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Fifteen months ago, the SARS-CoV-2 virus unleashed Covid-19. Since then, it’s killed more than 3.8 million people worldwide (and possibly many more). Finally, a return to normalcy seems likely for a distinct minority of the world’s people, those living mainly in the United States, Canada, the […]