True Left

The German government has warned of suspected attempts to disrupt the coronavirus vaccination campaign by foreign intelligence groups as well as conspiracy theorists, according to a media report. "Several suspected attempts to spy on German vaccine manufacturers have already become known," newspapers of the Funke media group quoted the Interior Ministry as saying. The statement was in response to a Green party inquiry. The ministry added that the danger of cyberattacks was "classified as high."  The report said facilities for research, production, and approval of vaccines are considered potential targets for espionage and sabotage by foreign intelligence services. The ministry also warned of possible disruptive action by conspiracy ideologues. Former TV chef turned conspiracy theorist Attila Hildmann, for instance, wrote on his Telegram channel: "the syringes in vaccination centers resemble the bombs of the Dresden bombing," and told his followers that protests are pointless and that they must instead take targeted action "against injustice."

Clashes broke out on Sunday in Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Stein, a small city near the Dutch-Belgium border, over the introduction of a nationwide curfew to curtail the spread of the coronavirus. The violence came hours after a group of young people torched a viral testing center overnight in Urk, a fishing industry city northeast of the Dutch capital. Security forces in both cities used water cannon as well as batons, horses and dogs — and in Eindhoven tear gas — to quell the protests. Vehicles were also set ablaze and shops plundered near Eindhoven's main railway station, reported regional broadcaster Omroep Brabant.

Brazil began distributing the 2 million ready-to-use AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines a day after they arrived from India following a major diplomatic effort. Until now, Brazil's widely criticized vaccine rollout has depended on a shot developed by China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd in partnership with Sao Paulo's Butantan Institute. The government also has a deal with AstraZeneca to locally produce up to 100 million doses, but the delivery of the active ingredient needed to manufacture them has been plagued by delays from China. Meanwhile, support for President Jair Bolsonaro has fallen sharply, a Datafolha poll shows, amid a brutal second wave and a lack of vaccines. With more than 216,000 fatalities, Brazil has the world's second-deadliest coronavirus outbreak.

The European Union's heath commissioner has said AstraZeneca's delay in delivering COVID-19 vaccines is "not acceptable." The EU paid €336 million for guaranteed orders and is angry the company is delivering elsewhere.

EU officials have claimed the contractual right to access company accounts to verify production and delivery numbers. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is reported to have spoken with AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soriot before Monday's meeting to remind him of his company's commitments. A spokesperson for the company said Soriot assured von der Leyen that AstraZeneca was doing all it could to deliver the vaccine.

Last August, the EU made an upfront payment of €336 million ($409 million) to the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company — the bloc's first COVID-19 vaccine deal — in order to expand production and secure 300 million doses of the drug developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. EU officials speaking with Reuters news agency last week said the bloc could expect a 61% cut to its order, meaning it may only receive as few as 31 million doses. AstraZeneca has said "initial volumes will be lower than originally anticipated due to reduced yields at a manufacturing site within our EU supply chain."

Bill Gates famously warned about the risk of a pandemic in 2015, and in 2021 he offers ideas on vaccines and preparing for the next pandemic. Gates stresses that spending in advance is actually quite a “bargain” compared to the cost of reacting to a pandemic once it ravages the world and cripples the economy. Gates also discusses tech regulations, attacks on him and Dr. Fauci, systemic racism, tax policy and his reaction to being cited in so many rap songs, in this debut of The Summit Series, a collection of in-depth interviews with leaders at the summit of their fields by MSNBC’s Ari Melber.

The protesters blocked the entrance to the site, delaying people who were in line waiting to get their shots as it led to a long backup of cars.

Matt Raw, who comes from Cheshire in northwest England, lives in Wuhan with his wife, Ying, and his 75-year-old mother, Hazel, but was advised by the British government to come home with his family at the end of last January because of the pandemic. After evacuating from Wuhan at the start of the COVID-19 crisis, he now says his family "should've stayed" in China and "made a bad choice" by returning to Britain.

the dog
5 hours ago
the British government will never acknowledge that he is a British

danny anderson
5 hours ago
the bbc will call him a paid actor. western media needs to control the narrative or their delicate wall of lies crumble and the people see the truth

Samurai X
5 hours ago
At this point, only one thing can save imperial Britain -- british east india opium.

Donna Duns
4 hours ago
UK media will claim, this person is paid by Beijing

Today I refused to wear the Corona Hijab on a public bus. The driver publicly threatened that he would not start the vehicle till I masked up. I answered him (and everyone) loudly: “There is no pandemic whatsoever; wake up, everyone.” Then I told the driver that “OK, I will put it on; you can start.” So he started the engine. He answered on the loudspeaker (so that everybody could hear it): “OK, but this is the law.” (to wear a mask) Thus he revealed he also knew that this whole Covid thing was only a scam. When the bus started off from the stop, I again took off the mask, so that everyone including the driver could see my unmasked face. We were on the road in heavy traffic in the city between bus stops, so he could not just stop and throw me out.

Soon, as I was looking out of the window with my maskless face, watching the night city lights passing by, the driver spied my trick in the mirror and told me (on the loudspeaker again) that I had to “get off the bus when we reach the next stop” because I had no mask on. I responded loudly, “OK, of course, no problem”. Then, just before we reached the next stop I put on the mask again theatrically. So that he could not expel me, and had to start the bus again, because I was legal again. But when we were driving between two stops again, I took off the hijab again. I played this game a couple of times, until the bus reached my destination.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - In a meeting last week in the Europa building in Brussels, home of the European Union’s political leadership, diplomats for the 27 member states were desperate.
The EU had paid billions of euros toward shots to curb a pandemic that was killing thousands of Europeans every day. Now vaccine-makers had cut back deliveries, and the EU was trapped in a public fight.

“This is a catastrophe,” French ambassador Philippe Leglise-Costa told the Jan. 27 meeting, according to a diplomatic note seen by Reuters.

It was a crucial moment in nearly two weeks of confusion and anger over the EU’s vaccine supply, which were to plunge the bloc into its deepest crisis since Ursula von der Leyen took over the executive European Commission just over a year ago.

A week earlier, the EU had set a target to vaccinate 70% of adults against COVID-19 by the end of summer, a potential ticket out of lockdowns that have cost countries billions. As the impact of the vaccine shortfall became clear, the bloc embarked on a campaign to shame drugmakers hit by production delays into releasing more supply.

But the tactic wasn’t working and details of confidential deals were leaking out, casting doubt on the EU’s ability to enforce contracts it had agreed on behalf of its members.

Reuters has obtained exclusive details of internal EU talks over the past month in diplomatic notes, and interviewed four people present at key meetings to verify them. The notes reveal how the EU’s top executives lurched from satisfaction about the vaccination programme to panic.

Some EU officials were already aware in December of delays in vaccine production, the notes show, but the Commission announced ambitious targets nonetheless. The EU initially kept no track of companies’ vaccine doses leaving the bloc, only realising after its own supplies were delayed it could not trace the millions of doses that had already been exported. And as its attempts to win ground by legal means failed, the Commission faced sharp attacks from EU governments on its public communication strategy.

In a pandemic that has killed over 700,000 people in Europe alone, the delays announced by the companies producing coronavirus vaccines - AstraZeneca PLC and Pfizer Inc. - risked leaving millions in Europe unprotected deep in the winter, just as new, more transmissible, variants were circulating and hospitals were being overwhelmed. Vaccination centres from Madrid to Paris had closed for lack of supply.