First Pfizer and now Moderna announce the development of coronavirus vaccine which is effective but will it be free and available to all? The good thing about Moderna’s is that the vaccine can be stored in a regular refrigerator for a month—as opposed to Pfizer which needs special low, low temp cooling.

Much of Moderna’s doses have already been claimed by wealthy countries. According to Global Justice Now, 780 million doses have been sold to rich governments, or 78% of the billion doses the company says it can produce by the end up next year.

Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, explained,  “Moderna’s is predicted to be the most expensive potential vaccine on the market, at around $35 a dose, even though it has been made with vast public support. The U.S. government has spent over $1 billion in direct support alone. What’s more, well over 78% of what Moderna is likely to produce has already been sold to very wealthy countries.” Dearden went on to say,  “We appreciate that Moderna has said it won’t enforce patents as long the pandemic continues, but this alone is not sufficient to ensure this vaccine benefits humanity. This is truly a taxpayer funded vaccine and should be placed in the public sphere through the World Health Organization so the whole world can benefit.”

Amnesty International detailed in a statement that the United States has paid for 100 million doses from Moderna, with an option of 500 million more, while Canada has ordered 56 million, Japan has ordered 50 million, and the European Commission completed talks with the company for up to 160 million.

“Having already sold most of its potential 2021 vaccine supply to rich countries, Moderna must follow through on its promise to allow others to make the vaccine, and provide the knowledge and technology to do so, once the vaccine has proven to be safe and effective,” declared Stephen Cockburn, head of Amnesty’s Economic and Social Justice Program. Cockburn argued that “companies like Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech have a responsibility to respect human rights, and they should play a leading role towards a global solution to Covid-19 by sharing and ensuring affordable prices. They must not act in a way that allows governments to hoard vaccines for a privileged few. “We can only put an end to Covid-19 if companies ensure that those most in need of life-saving vaccines are not left behind…”

Peter Maybarduk, director of Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines program, put it : “This is the people’s vaccine. The NIH’s vaccine. It is not merely Moderna’s vaccine. Federal scientists helped invent it and taxpayers are funding its development. We all have played a role. It should belong to humanity.”

No more profit before people.

From here

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/16/it-should-belong-humanity-funded-public-promising-moderna-results-bolster-global

Already, 400,000 children go hungry in the capital. He said the number of children living in food poverty will rise by 100,000 as a result of the pandemic unless urgent action is taken. “This is really a tragedy.” 

Mr Read said this “huge figure”  could have a catastrophic impact on education in in the capital, with academic improvements set back by a generation as children struggle to learn without having had enough food. “The issue is massive. We know that food insecurity and hunger has an impact on children’s academic progress, and unless something is done about this now, this is going to set back pupils’ progress for potentially a generation.” He explained, “It is really important that there is action to address issues around food poverty and food insecurity in households. Food poverty has a long-term impact on young people. A healthy diet doesn’t only mean children will do better at school but children who are not well fed are more likely to develop mental health problems and stress, and as they get older they are more likely to suffer from diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity.”

Research shows that when pupils are not hungry, there’s an improvement in levels of pupil concentration in class, readiness to learn and behaviour. Mr Read said that when children are hungry it is harder for them to concentrate and they are tired, which affects their ability to reach their potential. “That is what’s really sad,” he added.

The surging rate of hunger is mirrored across the country – with more than 3 million people reporting that they had gone hungry during the first lockdown. The number of adults who are food insecure in Britain is estimated to have quadrupled due to the pandemic. During the first lockdown 16.2 per cent of adults said they experienced food insecurity. In normal times, 3.8 per cent of adults in Britain are believed to experience it.

As Christmas approaches, the stress that families are under will increase. He said: “Christmas has its own layers – the expectations, what it’s meant to mean and how it impacts on family life. It is already going to be different this year because of the lockdown. If on top of that you are worried about what is going to happen to your children during the holidays if you can’t feed them properly, that just adds layers of anxiety and insecurity.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/helpthehungry/help-the-hungry-child-food-poverty-hunger-london-christmas-south-bank-b1723555.html

 The National Nurses United (NNU) reports that hospitals are raising costs for healthcare by as much as 18 times over the actual cost of services—hitting Covid-19 patients with medical costs amounting to tens of thousands of dollars. 

“These are not markups for luxury condos, they are for the most basic necessity of your life: your health,” tweeted NNU on Monday. 

The 100 most expensive U.S. hospitals charge up to $1,808 for every $100 of their costs. Nationwide, hospitals’ markups for healthcare costs have doubled over the past two decades, with medical centers charging an average of $417 for every $100 they actually spend providing care.

 In another recent study by FAIR Health found that average hospital charges for a Covid-19 patient with no comorbidity or complication were $42,486, while patients with major complications during their treatment are charged an average of $74,310.

Private Health insurance Companies do not provide healthcare – They only pay the bills. For this ‘service’, they skim 20% +/- off the top for themselves, leaving less of your money for your care. 

Private Insurance companies have no incentive to keep prices down in fact the more healthcare costs go up, the more money THEY make.

Private-based insurance companies make their money by DENYING Healthcare NOT by PROVIDING healthcare.

For Profit insurance means Less healthcare = more profit. How will that motive affect their decisions for you and your family?

Private-based insurance still leaves you with Corporate Death Panels. Their requirement for profit sits between you and your doctor and dictates what care is available to you, or not.

Private-based insurance still includes co-pays, deductibles, limits, MEDICAL BANKRUPTCY, and for most, ties you to your employer. If you lose your job, you probably lose your healthcare care.

  David Beasley told  the Paris Peace Forum that  “When I arrived at the WFP as Executive Director three years ago, the number of people on the brink of starvation was 80 million. That number spiked up to 135-145 million people in the last few years because of man-made conflict,” he said.  “Now, COVID comes on the scene and with economic deterioration and the ripple effect around the world, we’re moving from 135 million people on the brink of starvation to 270 million.”

 The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize-winning agency continues  “providing more aid than ever before”. 

The WFP spent over $8 billion in humanitarian assistance in 2020, but Beasley estimates that it will need twice that amount next year. He says the international community must put more resources into combating starvation.  He said. “Let me be clear – if we don’t get the money we need in the strategic locations, you will have famine, destabilisation and mass migration. It’s that simple.”

http://www.ipsnews.net/2020/11/wfp-focus-on-starvation-destabilisation-and-migration-to-avert-a-covid-19-global-food-crisis/

 Hate crimes in the United States rose to the highest level in more than a decade.

The FBI’s annual report defines hate crimes as those motivated by bias based on a person’s race, religion or sexual orientation, among other categories.

There were 7,314 hate crimes last year, up from 7,120 the year before – and approaching the 7,783 of 2008.  There was a nearly 7 percent increase in religion-based hate crimes, with 953 reports of crimes targeting Jews and Jewish institutions last year, up from 835 the year before. The FBI said the number of hate crimes against African Americans dropped slightly to 1,930, from 1,943. Anti-Hispanic hate crimes, however, rose to 527 in 2019, from 485 in 2018. And the total number of hate crimes based on a person’s sexual orientation stayed relatively stable, with one fewer crime reported last year, compared with the year before, though there were 20 more hate crimes against gay men reported.

 Margaret Huang. president of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which tracks hates groups, said, “Hate crimes are consistently under-reported due to the federal government’s failure to mandate hate crime data collection at the state and local levels.” 

Last year, only 2,172 law enforcement agencies out of about 15,000 participating agencies across the country reported hate crime data to the FBI, the bureau said. A large number of police agencies appeared not to submit any hate crime data. While the number of agencies reporting hate crimes increased, the number of agencies participating in the program actually dropped from the year before. In 2016 found that more than 2,700 city police and county sheriff’s departments across the country had not submitted a single hate crime report for the FBI’s annual crime tally during the previous six years.

“The total severity of the impact and damage caused by hate crimes cannot be fully measured without complete participation in the FBI’s data collection process,” the Anti-Defamation League’s president, Jonathan Greenblatt, said.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/16/hate-crimes-rise-to-10-year-high-killings-highest-ever-fbi

In a week tech entrepreneur Elon Musk personal fortune has shot up by more than $15bn (£11.3bn). Musk is poised to become the world’s third richest person.

On Monday, it was announced that his electric car company Tesla has been accepted into the S&P 500, a major US stock market index. The California-based car firm would be the biggest new entrant onto the US index, with a stock market value of over $400bn. Musk’s 20% stake in Tesla his net worth rose to $117.5bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

His wealth has jumped $90bn this year

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54958293

 Belling the cat: Marx and Engels on the practical organization of socialism

Bill Martin, 12th November 2020

Online talk hosted by the Oxford Communist Corresponding Society

 Executives who sold combustible insulation for use on Grenfell Tower perpetrated a “fraud on the market” by rigging a fire test and making “misleading” claims about it, the public inquiry has heard.

Celotex, a subsidiary of the French construction materials company Saint-Gobain, behaved in a “completely unethical” way, admitted Jonathan Roper, its former assistant product manager. Roper worked on two fire tests of the foam panels and subsequent sales plans as the company tried to grab a slice of a £10m-a-year insulation foam market.

In the Grenfell fire on 14 June 2017, the foam, known as RS5000, fuelled the flames and released toxic gases and smoke. The foam was withdrawn from the market nine days later.

Roper said the firm had been “dishonest” by “over-engineering” a cladding fire safety test to achieve a pass. A first test in February 2014 failed in 26 minutes, with flames engulfing the rig. But after changing some of the materials used around the insulation, including adding concealed fire-retardant panels, a second test three months later passed and was used to market the foam boards as safe for high-rise buildings.

“Did you realise at the time that … this would be a fraud on the market?” asked Millett.

“Yes, I did,” replied Roper.” Asked if he could have gone to the senior management with his concerns, he replied that they were all in the meeting about the marketing strategy. “I was 22 or 23, first job, I thought this was standard practice, albeit it did sit very uncomfortably with me.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/16/fire-test-for-grenfell-foam-cladding-panels-was-rigged-admits-ex-employee