This week’s Extra! Extra! returns with some LGBTQ+ news from both sides of the Atlantic; an update on the COVID-19 pandemic, the havoc it’s wreaking in so many areas of life and the vaccine arms race; and rapidly deteriorating situations the world over.
LGBTQ+ News
A New Day for Queer People in the South
Natalie: So, as a queer person living in the South, I want to be optimistic about its future…I want to believe that the end of the HB2 era represents an opportunity for our communities to grow…but the thing about this particular date that you should know…and the thing that makes me more cynical than the activists in this story: it could’ve happened 3.5 years ago.
As the article notes: HB142 was an attempt to “repeal” the bathroom bill that’d brought withering political and economic blowback to the state. It passed with a provision that prohibited local governments from passing their own nondiscrimination ordinances for a period of four years. What the article doesn’t mention is that before that repeal, there had been another compromise put forward: this one with just a six month sunset period. How or why Republicans and Democrats in North Carolina felt justified in passing a four year “cooling off period,” after rejecting a six month one, is anyone’s guess but it’s enough to make a person feel a lot more cynical about the South’s LGBT future.
Laverne Cox recounts transphobic attack in L.A.: ‘Never fails to be shocking’
Rachel: This is so heartbreaking and scary to read, and sobering to process during the same week of Elliot Page’s coming out. Even as trans identity becomes more visible and legible in the national conversation, we have to remain aware of the fact that visibility on its own isn’t a solution; and that in fact visibility can compound danger and harm, especially for Black folks.
UK court rules against trans clinic over treatment for children
Rachel: In a heartbreaking decision that marks the latest development in an extremely concerning trend of anti-trans ideology both culturally and in policy, the U.K. has issued a ruling that requires youth to get a court order if they wish to access puberty blockers, a medically appropriate option trans kids had previously been able to access to prevent unwanted secondary sex changes related to puberty before starting medical transition. The reasons given for this ruling — that puberty blockers are “experimental” with “long-term consequences” that kids can’t consent to — are inaccurate and fearmongering, inconsistent with well-documented science: that the number one factor in trans kids’ health and wellness in the longterm is affirmation and support for their identity, including socially and medically. The decision will be appealed, meaning this issue could land in the Supreme Court, a high-stakes possibility in the midst of a deeply transantagonistic milieu in the U.K.
COVID-19 Update
This Time, My COVID Patients Know How They’re Going to Die
Himani: An utterly heart-breaking read from a doctor in Italy about the second wave. The despair, bitterness and grief is just palpable: “In all this effort and despair, if there is one thing that pisses me off, it is the deniers. Until a few days ago, I was smiling at their bullshit. … Today I no longer laugh. A dull anger rises. Come on, denier, come and see how you die from COVID. Take reporters into hospitals to see patients who can’t breathe, the dead, or our dripping sweat.”
New Report Offers Clearest Picture Yet Of Pandemic Impact On Student Learning
Himani: So there are a few issues with this. First, it’s entirely premised on the belief that testing is actually an accurate measure of student learning which any teacher will tell you is simply not true. But, it’s the quantifiable metric we have so we use it because numbers make us feel safe.
Second and more troublingly, this article leads with comparisons saying that there was a modest drop in math learning and then follows up with a caveat that the most vulnerable students are actually missing from the data entirely. About half way down we learn that actually a quarter of students are missing from the data. A quarter! And who exactly were those missing students? As the NPR article reports: “these children are ‘more likely to be black and brown, more likely to be from high-poverty schools and more likely to have lower performance in the first place.'”
With such glaring holes in the data, how was the previous comparison worthwhile in the least? They’re basically comparing as much of the entire school population you would ever get to students coming from more resourced families to make the claim that “the pandemic-driven jump to online learning has had little impact on children’s reading growth and has only somewhat slowed gains in math.” That statement is only true for the students who were in the data, i.e. students who are in under-resourced schools, a greater proportion of whom are Black and brown.
So what is the real story here? What this article should’ve said is this: The latest testing data confirms what many have been suspecting all along. The pandemic appears to have the greatest impact on students from high poverty schools who are more likely to be Black and brown because many of them did not even take assessment tests in fall 2020 when their peers did. We don’t know how these students are faring academically or what kind of education they have or have not received since March. Among the students we do have data on (again, who are more likely to be white and from better resourced schools), reading growth has remained the same as previous years and math has dipped modestly.
[As a side note, to actually get at what I’m saying in the last sentence requires another analysis that isn’t reported on by the NPR article, and I don’t know if the testing nonprofit that did this analysis looked at that but just didn’t talk about it. In any case, now I’m getting way too far into the weeds.]
Framing is everything, y’all. How you say this has policy implications.
Natalie: The caveat of this study — “Many of the nation’s most vulnerable students are missing from the data” — is I think the most important part of this article examining NWEA’s research. It’s hard to square the rosy data with other reports I’ve seen during the pandemic like about 25% of secondary students in one of North Carolina’s largest school districts having at least one F. In Maryland’s largest school district, the situation is even worse. The same goes for Texas and California.
The kids are not alright and the most unfortunate thing? I don’t think that anyone has a good plan for how to make the situation better.
Mitch McConnell’s Relief Offer Is Actually Worse Than Doing Nothing
Himani: I feel like every article I read where Mitch McConnell’s name shows up in the headline (or where he’s mentioned in passing in the text) just makes me hate him more and more and more. The upcoming Georgia Senate races are our last hope of wresting power from the claws of this truly horrible human being. Phone bank, text bank, knock on doors, donate — do whatever you can because this matters so, so much for everything we care about.
Natalie: A few weeks ago, in this very column, we highlighted a story about a lawsuit against Tyson Foods for their capricious and malicious response to COVID-19 at their meat packing facilities. That article reported that managers were cavalierly betting on which of their employees would get COVID. There’s new reporting out that Tyson managers lied to interpreters about COVID-19 risks.
I mention all this to say: this is who Mitch McConnell is protecting. This is the hold up on the second stimulus that American families need so desperately to be able to eat and keep a roof over their heads. McConnell wants immunity for companies like Tyson Foods (or Publix) that forced their employees to work in unsafe conditions. He’s protecting the people who bet on their employees.
Like Himani said, those Georgia Senate races are crucial if we want to put an end to McConnell’s tyranny.
Why are you voting in Georgia’s January 5 runoff elections? I’m voting for my nieces and nephews who want to see bold action on climate change; my parents who depend on reliable healthcare; and my brother who, like many others, deserves true criminal justice reform. pic.twitter.com/uT82cjj9wA
— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) December 3, 2020
Justin Trudeau Promised a Feminist Economic Recovery. So Where’s the Plan?
Natalie: I will say, as someone who’s not that familiar with Canadian politics…and whose knowledge about Justin Trudeau comes from folks fawning over him over social media, this was illuminating.
The Vaccine Arms Race Ramps Up
Himani: The U.K. was the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine (the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine which we shared some reporting on a few weeks ago), meaning the vaccine could start being given to people as soon as next week. Hours later, Putin ordered the start of mass immunization in Russia using the Sputnik V vaccine.
Neither vaccine has actually completed clinical trials (which, as we have covered previously can sometimes lead to devastating consequences). Also, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine hasn’t actually demonstrated that it doesn’t prevent transmission of the disease… I’m going to stop here before I start catastrophizing this situation because it’s just that kind of day, but… I can’t be the only person reading this and shaking my head in dismay, right?
Natalie: I’m trying to remain optimistic about the vaccine but, as we start moving into thinking about distribution — which may include paying people to get vaccinated — I’m starting to worry about how we avoid replicating existing systems and their deficiencies. Are the countries with the most money going to get prioritized? What does distribution to marginalized communities look like? How do we prioritize the incarcerated?
+ The UK has approved a COVID vaccine — here’s what scientists now want to know
+ Putin Orders Mass Coronavirus Vaccination in Russia ‘Next Week’
The Growing Threat of Terrorism
“This Keeps Me Up at Night”: Radicalization Experts Fear What Trump’s Fringes Will Do Now
Rachel: I’m not always a huge fan of discourse that compares harmful large-scale power structures to abusive interpersonal relationships, but at the same time there are I think some kernels of parallel truism there about patterns of power and control in general. One thing I’ve been thinking about a lot since election night (lol, election week and a half) is how abusers become most dangerous to their targets when their target has a chance of freedom from them; statistically, most violence to IPV survivors is enacted when those survivors were trying to leave their abuser. I think we’re entering a really dangerous period, and I’m concerned that there may be less attention paid and therefore pressure applied around the issue of far right domestic terrorism because some folks hope that a Biden presidency means they can stop having to think about this stuff all the time — a scenario where we have increased violence against people of color and immigrants, and white folks with political and social currency largely don’t respond to it because it doesn’t feel like it directly affects them.
Natalie: I’m scared about this too but more so because I actually don’t think the Trump family is going anywhere and, without the office as a constraint (such that it ever was), I think there’s an interest in continuing to sow chaos. Already, there are rumors of another run for Trump in 2024, his son running to head the most powerful lobby in Washington, the National Rifle Association and his daughter-in-law mounting a bid for the Senate in 2022. They are determined to keep their place on the national stage because they believe it inoculates them from facing the consequences of their illegal actions.
She witnessed the aftermath of the Kyle Rittenhouse shootings. Now she’s scared for herself.
Scores Killed In Massacre Of Farmers In Nigeria
“Making Peace with Nature Is the Defining Task of the 21st Century.”
Humanity is waging war on nature, says UN secretary general
Photography campaign shows the grim aftermath of logging in Canada’s fragile forests
Himani: These pictures were incredibly devastating. That was a giant, ancient tree reduced to a stump in a matter of what… hours? How many decades or possibly even centuries had that tree born witness to? How many catastrophes had it survived to be felled by humans for what? A few sheets of paper or maybe a table — both of which will rot some day in a landfill, unable to decompose and complete the cycle of death and rebirth? The world was in uproar over the fires in the Amazon rainforest last year but a first world country is doing essentially the same thing and it largely flies under the radar — is this really all that different?
Trump kick-starts oil drilling licence sales in Arctic refuge
Escalating Situations Around the World
Ethiopia’s unfolding humanitarian crisis, explained by top aid official Jan Egeland
Himani: I was hesitant to include this article in today’s round up because (1) I have linked a lot of Vox articles today, (2) we’ve talked about the crisis in Ethiopia a few times recently and (3) the interview is with a white European aid worker. However, I am including it in because Jan Egeland makes this incredibly important point while noting just how many refugees have fled Ethiopia for Sudan in response to the violence in Tigray:
People come every day, but fewer now than a couple weeks back, when there were more people coming to Sudan than a European country would get in a year. Sudan received more people in three weeks from Tigray than the United States is willing to take as its quota of refugees in a year.
It just goes to show that, in our time and age, nearly all refugees come from one poor country to another poor country. It’s the poor countries that give protection, give safe havens to refugees in our time and age.
Immigration and asylum are increasingly the catalyst for white supremacy to gain political power in Europe and the U.S. And yet while immigrants and asylum-seekers are villainized across the Western world, the Western world isn’t even doing its part to actually offer refuge to people.
And speaking of refugees….
Bangladesh Begins Moving Displaced Rohingya Muslims To Island
Himani: This latest relocation of the Rohingya Muslims is horrifying. But in the context of Egeland’s observation above, it feels a little rich for Western aid organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and the U.N. to tell Bangladesh it has to stop when these organizations and the powerful Western countries that rule them have done little to support the Rohingya Muslims or offer Bangladesh some kind of assistance in supporting them over the last three years. There’s about a million Rohingya Muslim refugees living in Bangladesh. Even during Obama’s presidency, the U.S. was accepting less than 100,000 asylum seekers in any single year. And obviously, asylum was completely gutted under Trump, but even raising admissions to the pre-Trump levels would not nearly address the scope of the problem.
China and Australia are in a nasty diplomatic spat over a fake tweet — and real war crimes
Himani: It’s incredible to me how Australia’s Brereton report has also largely flown under the radar in the U.S. (and I’m guessing Western, more broadly) news cycle.
3 Hong Kong pro-democracy icons were sentenced to prison in huge blow to protest movement
Himani: This is truly horrendous. Unfortunately, I think a lot of us who have been following the deteriorating situation in Hong Kong for the last year and more saw this coming.
The assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist, briefly explained
The War Criminals Trying to Prevent a Genocide
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has completed all 3 of the clinical trials required for vaccine distribution (at least in the US). The Phase 3 round included 43,000 people across age, gender, race demographics.
I understand concerns about quick rollout and efficacy in preventing transmission, but it is incorrect to say that the vaccine has not completed clinical trials. (I can’t speak to the Russian one.)
According to the Nature article linked above: “The vaccine has only completed a few months of its two-year clinical trial period — which it will need to complete before it is approved to be sold freely on the market — so health officials, clinicians and people receiving the vaccine will be watching closely for as-yet unobserved signs of danger.”
I stand corrected! Maybe this is a UK requirement? And I was in a US centric frame of mind. As I understand it the FDA required monitoring period post vaccine is 2 months after the final dose, which I believe has been completed.
Though Pfizer (and the world I’m sure) has said they’ll continue monitoring for at least 2 years after to check severity of side-effects and effectiveness.
In any case thanks for following / reporting on this news week over week.
As a frontline healthcare worker I just received confirmation today on my upcoming expected first vaccination dose (Dec 16). I don’t know what to do but I plan to cry, celebrate, cut my hair and imagine a better 2021 the day I get my first dose. Hang in there! It is rolling out as we speak. It almost doesn’t feel real. And yes, I would get Pfizer or Moderna based on current completed trial data
Hi guys,
I was meeting up with a bunch of friends from college over zoom Sunday, two weeks ago, and we discussed whether or not we would get ourselves vaccinated.
One of my friends is a new mom and a Nephrologist in Denver, Colorado another is a children’s psychiatrist working in a hospital setting, two are GPs and I’m an ER doc in a big University Hospital in a metropolis.
All of us would be first in line to get vaccinated.
As we discussed, I realized one thing: To be able to be sceptical and “rather not” on a vaccination is a sign of privilege.
The nephrologist and I were counting the days until a vaccination would be available, because it would mean protection in a very hazardous environment. The GPs felt safer and far more removed and would hold out. The Psychiatrist was laid back and would get vaccinated when it would be available.
While the mechanism (mRna coding stuff) and speed of the current vaccines seem eerily reminiscent of pretty much every zombie apocalypse origin story, the mechanism has been a tool that’s been around for a few years albeit in other applications, like cancer therapies. The trials have involved tens of thousands of people and BioNtech started inoculating people in April.
Every scientist, doctor, journalist and politician has been eagle eyeing the processes for months, and when they will be released,the studies will have had droves of scientists and experts combing through every page of data. The European commission has a rolling review, which means that they have been monitoring and checking the data for weeks and months. Usually it’s the funding, approval and enrollment that takes up months and years alone.
Am I a bit sceptical? Of course, yes. But at some point, one has to trust the science. The Britons will start to get vaccinated next Tuesday, and I trust that every rash and possible side effect will make its way onto instagram, so there’s that.
I’m really hoping that the vaccines will be delivered speedily to those who need it most, nurses and aides and the elderly and sick, that Astra Zeneca will get its act together and churn out the much cheaper and temperature stable vaccine for the countries that already suffer so much, where the disease means hunger and abject poverty.
I also hope that the world will pull together and help those countries wrestle up the funds to get their people inoculated.
Personally, for me, the approval dates and that entire discussion about vaccinations have become moot.
I got infected last week (no idea how, I was anal about PPE and contact minimization) and I’m in that awkward place of “will this get better some time or will I become another statistic?”
I mean, with all the uncertainties of the vaccines, at least scientists have pored over them and one kind of knows what one’s up against? It’s just that paranoid subjective feeling of not knowing, of being unsure and doubtful.
But those vaccinations are not mandatory punishments, they are voluntary relief from a disease that’s highly contagious, a disease that’s like rolling a d20 on the symptoms and outcome and where you really fucking do not know what the fuck is going to happen to you and your loved ones and everyone else.
Amidola, I was kind of hoping you would comment on this post with your medical knowledge – thank you for sharing it with us! I deeply wish that you have only a mild case of Covid and that you get well soon.
@amidola sending lots and lots of love and wishes for you to recover quickly and with no lasting effects.
Thank you for sharing all this, I’ve been thinking of you and wondering how you were doing. Can’t begin to imagine what this year has been like for you. Hope you have support of whatever kind you need 💜
I really appreciate your perspective here. I had heard about mRNA being a new vaccine type, and I did a bit of research myself to understand the implications of that, but it’s good to know more about it from someone with a medical background.
I am really, really dismayed and sorry to hear that you are ill, and I hope for the best possible outcome for you. <3
Sorry to hear that you’re ill, @amidola. Sending all the positivity and light your way in hopes of a speedy recovery.
And thank you for, in the midst of all of that, sharing your perspective on things. That knowledge is so clarifying.
Thank you! It is really helpful to get independent confirmation like this.
:(
sending you my best hopes. i have been grateful for your comments these past months. i’m so sorry that people who should know better are criminally willing to put frontline workers in general, and healthcare people specifically, in jeopardy. you deserve better Amidola.
people seem to have a collective disregard for problems they aren’t directly experiencing, and the current climate of fomenting hate makes it exponentially worse. it’s so disheartening, but when someone like you takes them time to provide more information to the public understanding, as you have here, it really helps. thank you.
Thanks to all of you for your well wishes!
I’m glad to be of help!
Thinking about you! I know the stress of waiting to see if I am infected and hoping I took enough precautions. The self blame is real even when we’ve done our best. I hope that you recover quickly. We get tested every Monday. I agree that it is a privilege to even have to consider whether you would take the vaccine. You need to weigh that against the very real risk of contracting the virus and the possible long term side effects of the virus itself. I also have to protect the vulnerable that I live with at home. These vaccines have been in development for years after SARS and MERS. This isn’t just a one year research project.
You know, the past few times every time I got tested it felt like I was in a game of Russian Roulette and every time I read the “Negative” it was like I could hear the click of the hammer and the roll of another empty chamber.
I was actually relieved when I read the “positive” last week.
It’s been horrible and I was really sick, even then, but a part of me was relieved.
If anyone wonders whether or not they should get a vaccination, is unsure about weighing the risks and side effects (and the vaccination will have side effects like myalgias and fatigue and stuff like that), I’d recommend it for that reason alone.
I completely understand. I have used that exact description (Russian Roulette) for every test. I can also understand the relief that can come from just being able to let go of that tension of anticipation.
Hi All! Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and experience in this area. One thing I want to clarify — my concern is less about the safety of the vaccine and more how people will respond to it.
The lack of knowledge about whether or not it prevents transmission is particularly concerning to me because I worry that all the governments are looking at these vaccines as miracles that will stop the spread of COVID so that they can continue to be lax on their social distancing and economic shutdown protocols (measures that in the U.S. and U.K., in particular, are already accepted grudgingly at best) and rush to reopen economies without actually knowing if transmission is stopped. This will necessarily harm the most vulnerable people who cannot get vaccinated. And, if such a scenario does play out, it could even cause swathes of the public to be skeptical about the “point” of vaccines since this one “did not work.”
The second thing I worry about is exactly the fact Amidola raised about every rash, etc being on instagram. If there are side effects, even mild ones, that are currently unknown that become clearer during the roll out this will affect vaccine compliance of all vaccines, not just this one. This is already a huge problem in the U.S. with the growing strength of the anti-vaxx movement as it is. The fact that it is approved without completing trials (which I’ll return to in a minute) is an easy thing for anti-vaxxers and other skeptics to point to and say “this is why we cannot trust Pharma at all,” thus calling into question vaccines like MMR, Polio, Tetanus, Chickenpox and on and on when there really is no question to be had about any of them.
To be clear, though, when a COVID vaccine is available in the States and when it is my turn to get it, I would get it without any hesitation. As Amidola says, it is a matter of privilege to be skeptical about this. And that is true of every vaccine, not just this one.
When it comes to the trials, so I looked into this a bit and I think a couple things might be going on, but I’m not super well versed in this. First, while it’s true that the trials only involve 2 months of follow up in Phase 3 (which as Longtime Lurker says, has happened with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine), I’m wondering if the two-years referenced in the Nature article is in reference to having sufficient sample? Yes, the vaccine has been given to something like 47,000 people but only a couple hundred of those got infected so, at least based on the articles I’ve read, that’s where the data limitations come in, in terms of knowing efficacy in different populations and such.
I realize now that I should’ve said all of this more explicitly because based on what I wrote above, I left it open in a way that conveyed far more and a different type of skepticism than I actually hold about any of this.
Also, Amidola – I hope your case is mild and that you recover quickly. So sorry to hear that you have contracted this horrible, horrible disease.
These are all important points to consider. I have also been wondering whether when the time comes for vaccine distribution schedules to be decided by “most vulnerable”, will that include demographics based on race and income level, as it should? Somehow I doubt it, and many of the people hardest hit by this virus will continue to be pushed to the sidelines while rich white people rush to get their dose.
Actually this is a tough question. There has been interest in offering the vaccine to high risk groups including Native and Black communities. This was widely advocated for by multiple groups. Unfortunately, this has also caused some fear in those communities that they were being given it first as an “experiment” to see how it works (untrue). This fear comes from a long history of how those communities have been treated by Medicine historically. So we’re stuck between these two ideas-
I do worry about the fact that the elderly are the first people in the UK receiving these vaccines and I think it will encourage skepticism. This is a demographic guaranteed to have major health issues due to aging/other comorbidities, and people may blame the vaccine for inevitable ailments/events. If an 80 year old gets the vaccine and has a stroke 2 weeks later, who can tell if that’s a drug-related adverse event or if it would have happened regardless?
@himani, please don’t let complaining make you question your efforts. this is a valuable discussion and autostraddle is one of the few places it can happen openly without Godwin’s law resulting.
it’s hard to trust pharma, who are documented to place quarterly earnings above sound health science/public benefit*. you raised points people were going to have anxiety around on this topic, and the community has provided insight and logic. we may not all know each other personally, but we do get an idea of who we are communicating with. that familiarity is helpful – at least it has been to me. i’m grateful you gave us a place to discuss it. i hope you have a beautiful sunday.
*ex: off-label marketing, patent evergreening, price gouging…
Yes exactly, thank you. There is nuance lacking from this discussion almost everywhere else it happens, and I for one am grateful to see that nuance here at AS.
I generally trust medical professionals to give sound advice, and I will certainly be jumping on board to get a reasonably safe covid vaccine once one is available. But questioning the motives and ethics of governments / the pharmaceutical industry / etc in how they approach this rollout, given the cavalier irresponsibility and greed we’ve witnessed from them time and time again, is hardly unreasonable scaremongering.
Yeah, the thing that made me decide that I definitely want to get the vaccine ASAP was a conversation with a friend where we discussed that the risk is NOT zero. We don’t trust big pharma. BUT when comparing the risks from a vaccine to the other risks of COVID, we both decided that we really want the vaccine. That conversation really helped me feel grounded in this decision and explain it to others, rather than taking it on blind faith. That conversation also motivated me to sign up to participate in a clinical trial.
thank you, Chandra and P. i’d rather not criticize other people for their concerns, but himani really helped with this, and i really want people to be able to think through what they’re worried about.
the point about weighing the prevalence and potential harm of the virus vs that of the vaccine is something everyone should be encouraged to sort through. i think it’s easier to trust something that you are able to understand.
Hey @msanon, @chandra and P – Thanks so much for your comments here. They really mean a lot to me. I did start to question what I had written and if I had left open space for anti-vax perspectives when that was not my intention at all. What you said is so, so valuable, msanon: “it’s easier to trust something you are able to understand.” And P, thanks so much for sharing your experience of your own journey through these questions and landing in the place of participating in clinical trials! That’s so incredible, thank you!
Did not expect to see what is effectively anti-vax scaremongering on autostraddle of all places lol – I understand feeling a bit personally/emotionally freaked about the vaccine despite all the reassuring science, but to say it publicly on a website with a massive platform seems like a bad idea to me! I‘m kind of shocked an editor didn’t look at that and cut it before publication as irresponsible. Caveats in the comments don’t count (who reads the comments?! The damage is done).
“I can’t be the only person reading this and shaking my head in dismay, right?” Uh, no, you’re not, there are famously A LOT of people doing this, they have Facebook groups and some of them think phone masts caused the pandemic…
Thank you. Also, people seem to think that caring about the economy makes you some kind of super Capitalist monster. When the economy tanks, more people die untimely deaths. It’s just harder to measure.
Vaccines. They are bloody brilliant. Seize them, and be grateful. Fight scepticism everywhere you find it, it’s based on fear and ignorance, and it might indirectly kill you and your family.
Remaining checks have been happening on Sunday on the deliveries of the coronavirus vaccine developed by American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech earlier than its rollout to hospitals throughout the UK in super-cold containers.
Round 800,000 doses of the vaccine are anticipated to be in place for the beginning of the immunization program on Tuesday, which would be the nation’s greatest ever and which is being carefully watched all world wide. British Well being Secretary Matt Hancock has reportedly dubbed Tuesday as “V-Day,” a nod to triumphs in World Battle II.
“Regardless of the large complexities, hospitals will kickstart the primary part of the biggest scale vaccination marketing campaign in our nation’s historical past from Tuesday,” stated Professor Stephen Powis, NHS England’s nationwide medical director. “The primary tranche of vaccine deliveries will likely be touchdown at hospitals by Monday in readiness.”
https://newstaza.com/uk-gears-up-for-enormous-vaccination-plan-watched-by-the-world/
I have read more than once here on Autostraddle how we don’t pay the same attention to terror attacks outside the western world as inside. And since the Hanau attack, the Paris attack and the Vienna attack have all had coverage in this section this year, I was surprised to find that this year’s most violent terror attack so far (at least 110 deaths) has not been discussed.
The more so since Autostraddle did cover the protests in Nigeria (which I was very happy about, because I didn’t read too much about it in the other media I read).
Hi, thanks for raising this. I try to keep an eye out for international news but I do miss things from time to time. Would you mind sharing the specifics of what you’re referring to? (ie what country, to the extent that you know what happened, etc.)
@himani I believe they’re referring to this: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/29/nigeria-attack-boko-haram-farm-workers-killed
Thanks, @chandra! It’s buried in there, but there was a link from NPR in this round up about the Boko Haram attack (the death toll as of the NPR reporting was lower, which is why I wasn’t sure if they were talking about the same thing).