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This is a strange moment in the pandemic. At the same time everyone keeps talking about the vaccines and finally listening to science, few seem to be comprehending what's actually going to happen next.
Imagine the US does manage to vaccinate everyone in the country, finishing in early 2022. Then what? If we focus on our entire population this year and don't help the rest of the world, the pandemic will just continue, elsewhere, for years.
In this scenario, everyone in the US is vaccinated, but elsewhere around the world COVID continues spreading and mutating for years. So do we close the borders? Stop international flights? Or test and quarantine everyone who enters? What is the scenario the US is imagining?
There is no future where the US only focuses on vaccinating everyone inside the country and then life somehow returns to anything like it was before the pandemic. Because it's a global crisis, we're all in it together.
Every choice we make now is choosing a particular future.
Every choice we make now is choosing a particular future.
Let's say it takes one year from now to vaccinate everyone in the US.
And then a few months later a new variant arrives. A politician or business traveler brings it back from a trip overseas. A tourist brings it with them on a trip to New York City. And then we're back to today.
And then a few months later a new variant arrives. A politician or business traveler brings it back from a trip overseas. A tourist brings it with them on a trip to New York City. And then we're back to today.
Suddenly again after everyone was vaccinated we have to shut everything down, stop the spread, test, trace, and isolate, and distribute a new vaccine. We're right back where we are now, and it starts all over again.
Because we didn't actually change anything.
Because we didn't actually change anything.
Scientist keep talking about this, pointing it out, and no one seems to be listening. The US, Europe, and other wealthy countries are blocking India and South Africa's proposals to share vaccine technology. Wealthy countries are buying up more vaccine than they could ever use.
Our governments are making choices right now that mean the pandemic won't end.
They're choosing a future where we have to live in isolation from the world.
They're choosing a future where millions more die because we wanted people to go back to the malls again.
They're choosing a future where we have to live in isolation from the world.
They're choosing a future where millions more die because we wanted people to go back to the malls again.
This is the moment we can choose a different path. We could fundamentally restructure our society and economy, pay people to stay home, assist the world in vaccinating the most vulnerable everywhere, and overcome the pandemic as a species, as a planet, instead of as capitalists.
"I need to be blunt: the world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure – and the price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries."
— @DrTedros, Director-General of the World Health Organization https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1351108443042684930
— @DrTedros, Director-General of the World Health Organization https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1351108443042684930
The 3 biggest vaccine corporations are only producing enough vaccines for 1.5% of the global population.
We must have a #PeoplesVaccine for everyone, everywhere.
No one is safe until everyone is safe. https://twitter.com/peoplesvaccine/status/1357720643895058432
We must have a #PeoplesVaccine for everyone, everywhere.
No one is safe until everyone is safe. https://twitter.com/peoplesvaccine/status/1357720643895058432
Overriding monopolies on COVID-19 drugs, vaccines, tools and equipment will allow uninterrupted global collaboration to scale-up manufacturing and supply.
We need no monopolies, no patents. The Biden administration must change position and support this. https://msfaccess.org/5-reasons-new-proposal-india-and-south-africa-could-be-gamechanger-covid-19-response
We need no monopolies, no patents. The Biden administration must change position and support this. https://msfaccess.org/5-reasons-new-proposal-india-and-south-africa-could-be-gamechanger-covid-19-response
"The only way you can stop new variants is by stamping out the virus because the more the virus is allowed to spread … the more chances it has to evolve and form new variants." https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/05/what-are-covid-variants-and-should-we-be-worried
Something we should be talking about more in the US is the difference between:
trying to suppress COVID-19 and accepting deaths as inevitable (3,000 every day right now)
vs.
trying to eliminate it (what we should be doing)
#ZeroCovid https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2021/jan/28/all-countries-should-pursue-a-covid-19-elimination-strategy-here-are-16-reasons-why
trying to suppress COVID-19 and accepting deaths as inevitable (3,000 every day right now)
vs.
trying to eliminate it (what we should be doing)
#ZeroCovid https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2021/jan/28/all-countries-should-pursue-a-covid-19-elimination-strategy-here-are-16-reasons-why
Experts know our current strategy means the pandemic will continue for years, but everyday people aren't getting that message.
"The Biden administration proposes an investment of billions in covid-19 therapeutics over the next five years." https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/05/vaccines-alone-wont-solve-pandemic-here-are-3-other-things-we-must-do/
"The Biden administration proposes an investment of billions in covid-19 therapeutics over the next five years." https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/05/vaccines-alone-wont-solve-pandemic-here-are-3-other-things-we-must-do/
10 years from now, will we look back and say we should have done more to stop the profiteers from dictating our COVID policy?
We're re-opening, keeping "the economy" open, and trying to suppress instead of eliminate COVID. But we could fundamentally change our economy instead.
We're re-opening, keeping "the economy" open, and trying to suppress instead of eliminate COVID. But we could fundamentally change our economy instead.
Billionaires got richer during the pandemic.
Pharmaceutical companies are lined up to make billions more over the next decade as they vaccinate and treat people in a never-ending pandemic.
All those trillions could be used to work for #ZeroCovid instead of just suppressing.
Pharmaceutical companies are lined up to make billions more over the next decade as they vaccinate and treat people in a never-ending pandemic.
All those trillions could be used to work for #ZeroCovid instead of just suppressing.
You might think what Biden is doing right now is just the best way to fight the pandemic. He's just doing what the experts say, right?
But he's actually choosing between two strategies: eliminating it or just suppressing it.
And he's not choosing the one his experts suggested.
But he's actually choosing between two strategies: eliminating it or just suppressing it.
And he's not choosing the one his experts suggested.
Andy Slavitt, now the White House Senior Advisor for COVID Response, explains in this thread how an elimination strategy works and why we need to do it. https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/1287524301499965441
Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and member of Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board, also explained repeatedly last year why we need a shutdown to eliminate COVID-19. https://twitter.com/OmanReagan/status/1356069114922459138
Tom Frieden, Obama's CDC Director, has also repeatedly pointed out the deadly impact of re-opening when we should be keeping things closed. https://twitter.com/DrTomFrieden/status/1355329473814650882
When Biden chooses to 'suppress' instead of 'eliminate' COVID-19 he's choosing to accept thousands of deaths every day as "collateral damage" to keep "the economy" open. Who does that benefit?
Shouldn't we be having a public debate about that strategy?
Shouldn't we be having a public debate about that strategy?
Despite campaigning on eliminating the virus, nothing the Biden administration has done so far adopts any of the known strategies for elimination, it's all about suppression.
Where is the public discussion about this decision? https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1319448963443982337
Where is the public discussion about this decision? https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1319448963443982337
The second decision the Biden administration is making without discussion right now is to not massively increase vaccine production capability. But we can do this, despite popular reports saying otherwise.
How do we know? We've already seen it. https://twitter.com/jbkrell/status/1357702724863860738
How do we know? We've already seen it. https://twitter.com/jbkrell/status/1357702724863860738
But why do we need to massively increase vaccine production?
Because even if everything currently happening goes just as planned, the current vaccine production will be insufficient for global vaccination.
Here's a plan to fix that. https://twitter.com/PrEP4AllNow/status/1349406942171721728
Because even if everything currently happening goes just as planned, the current vaccine production will be insufficient for global vaccination.
Here's a plan to fix that. https://twitter.com/PrEP4AllNow/status/1349406942171721728
An Australian nightmare is the U.S. reality.
How did they avoid what's happening in the US?
They aimed to eliminate COVID-19, not just suppress it. https://twitter.com/MFWitches/status/1358998936388657153
How did they avoid what's happening in the US?
They aimed to eliminate COVID-19, not just suppress it. https://twitter.com/MFWitches/status/1358998936388657153
Consider Melbourne:
"The goal was not just to slow Covid-19 down. It was to eradicate the virus."
“Ideally, lockdowns are only done once and done well. The benefit of zero is to reduce the risk of ‘yo-yoing’ between flare-ups and further lockdowns...” https://www.vox.com/2020/12/4/22151242/melbourne-victoria-australia-covid-19-cases-lockdown
"The goal was not just to slow Covid-19 down. It was to eradicate the virus."
“Ideally, lockdowns are only done once and done well. The benefit of zero is to reduce the risk of ‘yo-yoing’ between flare-ups and further lockdowns...” https://www.vox.com/2020/12/4/22151242/melbourne-victoria-australia-covid-19-cases-lockdown
How could Biden sell the public on a #ZeroCOVID strategy?
Easy: send everyone #2kChecks every month. Explain that China, Australia, and other countries did it and ask if people really think the Exceptional USA isn’t capable of doing something as well as those countries.
Easy: send everyone #2kChecks every month. Explain that China, Australia, and other countries did it and ask if people really think the Exceptional USA isn’t capable of doing something as well as those countries.
