Category COVID-19

News and hard-hitting, insightful, thoughtful, evidence-based, provocative, and progressive analysis of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The virus of COVID-19 vaccine “apartheid” is challenged as U.S., Pope Francis back waiving patents on life-saving vaccines

The United States will endorse a motion at the World Trade Organization seeking to waive draconian patent and related intellectual property protections that have thus far prevented the world from achieving global COVID-19 vaccines equity, the Biden-Harris administration announced this week. Pope Francis announced his support of “universal access to the vaccine” and condemned the “virus of individualism” that “makes us indifferent to the suffering of others”.

Obert Madondo
May 8, 2021

The West must start treating vaccines as a global public good – before it’s too late

"It is not surprising, therefore, that there is now a vast global coalition of NGOs, states and UN agencies that favour the recognition of vaccines (and health in general) as a public good and not a business, and the consequent temporary suspension of patent rights."

The Canadian Progressive
April 29, 2021

COVID-19 vaccine “apartheid”, deadly virus variants and vaccine pauses

This week, the global death toll from COVID-19 topped 3 million, and cases topped 140 million, two heartbreaking milestones accompanied by burgeoning global COVID-19 vaccine “apartheid”, emerging deadly virus variants and mutations, increasing prevalence of vaccine “blood clots” and side-effects, vaccination pauses and restrictions, and the racist politics around the global distribution of life-saving vaccines.

Obert Madondo
April 18, 2021

Stop Blaming Tuskegee, Critics Say. It’s Not an ‘Excuse’ for Current Medical Racism.

The "Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male," a U.S. government-sponsored unethical study on 399 Black men from Alabama that was conducted between 1932 and 1972, is not responsible for current medical racism, health inequities and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.

The Canadian Progressive
April 13, 2021

New COVID variants have changed the game, and vaccines will not be enough. We need global maximum suppression”

The ongoing global rollout of life-saving vaccines no longer guarantees victory over COVID-19 as new "variants of concern" are now emerging and rapidly spreading worldwide, "putting current pandemic control efforts, including vaccination, at risk of being derailed," a group of leading health experts from around the world argues in this joint op-ed.

The Canadian Progressive
April 6, 2021

Do more to combat COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, U.S. state attorneys general tell Facebook and Twitter

A coalition of U.S. state attorneys general is calling on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to implement aggressive measures against the anti-vaccination conspiracy theories, lies and alarmist disinformation and misinformation thriving on their platforms, undermining public confidence in COVID-19 vaccines.

Obert Madondo
March 31, 2021

Official Information About COVID-19 Is Reaching Fewer Black People on Facebook

According to data from The Markup’s Citizen Browser project, there are major disparities in who is shown public health information about the pandemic.

The Canadian Progressive
March 28, 2021

How COVID-19 exposed China’s anti-Black racism

Draconian containment measures introduced by Chinese authorities as the COVID-19 pandemic spread in early 2020 exposed Chinese society's underlying anti-Black African racism, sexism, toxic masculinity, and conservative nationalism.

The Canadian Progressive
March 3, 2021