AstraZeneca vs South African Variant
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The AstraZeneca vaccine has faltered against the South African Variant, with a new study carried out by the University of Oxford and the University of the Witwatersrand finding that it offers only limited protection. The Financial Times has the details.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine does not appear to offer protection against mild and moderate disease caused by the viral variant first identified in South Africa, according to a study.
Although none of the more than 2,000 mainly healthy and young patients in the study died or was hospitalised, the findings, which have not yet been peer reviewed, could complicate the race to roll out vaccines as new strains emerge. In both the human trials and tests on the blood of those vaccinated, the jab showed significantly reduced efficacy against the 501Y.V2 viral variant, which is dominant in South Africa, according to the randomised, double-blind study seen by the Financial Times.
“A two-dose regimen of [the vaccine] did not show protection against mild-moderate COVID-19 due to [the South African variant]”, the study says, adding that efficacy against severe COVID-19, hospitalisations and deaths was not yet determined.
Worth reading in full.
The revelation prompted South Africa to suspend its rollout of the Oxford vaccine, as AFP reports
South Africa will suspend the start of its COVID-19 vaccinations with the AstraZeneca jab after a study showed the drug failed to prevent mild and moderate cases of the virus variant that has appeared in the country.
Africa’s hardest-hit nation was due to start its campaign in the coming days with a million doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford.
The suspension marks an important setback for the country, but officials said vaccine deliveries from other producers would soon be available and allow the campaign to move forward.
UK Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi has written an article for the Telegraph explaining that the emergence of new variants is a challenge that the country is more than capable of meeting.
Our world-leading genomics capacity has allowed us to identify these different strains when they have appeared in the UK. Where we have seen evidence of the South African variant or other worrying mutations, we have moved to deploy surge testing to try and stop it spreading any further.
It is a timely reminder that currently, even with the vaccine rollout going well, we all need to live by the national restrictions and act as if we might have the virus to stop us spreading it.
AstraZeneca is working on a booster that will provide robust protection against the South African that is due to be ready by the Autumn.
Writing in the same publication, Professor Hugh Pennington provides some perspective.
A vaccine is not an impenetrable barrier in the body through which no virus can pass. It’s more like a superpower, which enables our immune systems to fight better, faster and stronger against an invader.
So the discovery that the Oxford-AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine for COVID-19 is less effective against some new variants of coronavirus than others is no cause for alarm. It’s to be expected…
News that the AZ jab has ‘limited efficacy’ against mild and moderate disease caused by the South African strain of the virus was treated yesterday in some quarters as a looming disaster.
It is not – and I say this not only as an academic with a lifetime’s experience in viruses and vaccines, but as an 82 year-old man who has had his first AZ injection…
Worth reading in full
Stop Press: Muge Cevik provides a good summary of the study on twitter.
Is ‘No Jab, No Job’ Legal?
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Can employers insist that staff get the vaccine? According to the Telegraph, the question is dividing the Government, with some ministers believing that employers who take a ‘no jab, no job’ approach may be protected by Health and Safety legislation.
Employers can insist that all of their staff get vaccinated against Covid under laws governing health and safety at work, ministers believe…
The idea of ‘vaccine passports’ – which would allow employers to insist upon proof of vaccination – have been dismissed by vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi as “discriminatory” and “not how we do things in the UK “.
However, the Telegraph understands that the issue is at the centre of a row in Cabinet, with some ministers arguing in favour of the scheme.
Whitehall sources believe that companies who adopt a “jab for a job” stance are protected by current health and safety laws which require workers to protect not only themselves, but also colleagues from harm.
One Government source said: “If someone is working in an environment where people haven’t been vaccinated, it becomes a public health risk.
“Health and safety laws say you have to protect other people at work, and when it becomes about protecting other people the argument gets stronger.
“If there is clear evidence that vaccines prevent transmission, the next stage is to make sure more and more people are taking up the vaccine.”
Worth reading in full.
But wouldn’t this be a breach of the right to consent, whereby the law protects people from receiving a medical treatment unless they’ve explicitly consented to it? As set out on NHS website, consent must be:
voluntary – the decision to either consent or not to consent to treatment must be made by the person, and must not be influenced by pressure from medical staff, friends or family
informed – the person must be given all of the information about what the treatment involves, including the benefits and risks, whether there are reasonable alternative treatments, and what will happen if treatment does not go ahead
capacity – the person must be capable of giving consent, which means they understand the information given to them and can use it to make an informed decision.
This strays into employment law, as well as anti-discrimination law, and it would not be a surprise to see a flurry of lawsuits if an employer insists on workers being vaccinated on pain of dismissal. Economia magazine has a viewpoint on the rules as they currently stand.
According to employment law experts, employers cannot insist that employees are vaccinated unless the circumstances are exceptional. For example, employers in the social care sector may be able to give reasonable instruction for employees to be vaccinated as they are working with high-risk, vulnerable people.
Other sectors such as professional services don’t have the same strength of argument for insisting their workers are vaccinated, as lockdown working conditions have demonstrated that work can often be done effectively from home…
“Employers should encourage, and not compel, employees to have vaccinations”, said Rachel Suff, CIPD Employee Relations Adviser…
“Mandatory vaccination may discriminate on the basis of disability, or religious or philosophical belief. If an employer disciplines or dismisses an individual who refuses to be vaccinated, this carries a risk of exposure to an unfair dismissal claim”, added Rachel Suff.
Employers should always take care that their actions do not breach an employee’s human rights and/or lead to claims for discrimination – particularly on grounds of age, religion, belief, disability, or pregnancy – or for breach of employment contracts…
Leanne Francis, Senior Associate at Pinsent Masons, said: “Mandatory vaccinations could also raise privacy implications. They could be interpreted as interfering with Article 8 of ECHR which gives individuals the right to a private life.
“An employer will need to be able to demonstrate that their interference was proportionate in all of the circumstances and this defence is often nuanced and complex. Employers will also be expected to obtain consent for any work-related medical intervention, in the same way that consent is obtained for referrals to occupational health or drugs and alcohol testing.”
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: See these six Covid vaccination questions for HR in Personnel Today for more info.
Stammering Takes a Hammering
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Whether taking part in a Zoom meeting or an online lesson, or trying to talk through a mask, communicating during lockdown is not easy for those with a stammer. Inews has more.
Approximately 8% of children will stammer at some point, but many find that as they get older the condition improves.
However, under COVID-19 restrictions, a mild to moderate stammer can easily become severe due to compulsory mask-wearing, a lack of in person interaction, and the current over-reliance on technology to communicate with others in lockdown…
William Laven, 22, from Surrey is a Stambassador for Action for Stammering Children, and has experienced the challenges of communicating with a speech impediment during lockdown first-hand.
Speaking to i, he said: “I work in a busy London office and at the start of the pandemic obviously we started working from home – normally my stammer is at its best when I am socialising with people, so it was badly affected…
“Luckily I only need to wear a mask once or twice a week when I go to the shop or have to go to fill up fuel, however it can be quite an anxious experience. You don’t realise how often you lip read, especially to someone with a speech impediment.
“When I stammer I have a slight facial gesture which no one can see when I am wearing a mask. I have had people roll their eyes, take me to the wrong place in the supermarkets because they think I am not responding to them, or that I am saying something completely different.”
Likewise, others have found communicating via Zoom – now an everyday necessity – increasingly off-putting and uncomfortable, as best etiquette requires us all to see our own reflection, and for those with a stammer, confront the visual manifestation of their speech impediment.
Worth reading in full.
The iNews report references the work of Action for Stammering Children, a charity that has seen demand for its services increase markedly through the various lockdowns:
Action for Stammering Children Charity report the number of calls to their stammering helpline have increased by 57.6% over lockdown… Since the beginning of lockdown, the Helpline has seen a surge in the number of calls from concerned parents. 250 Helpline calls were taken in the final quarter of 2019/20, just before the lockdown began. However, over the first quarter of 2020/21, therapists responded to 394 calls from worried parents and therapists seeking advice about how best to offer therapy during lockdown. An increase of 57.6% occurred in the April to June period. Parents have been expressing particular concerns over managing their child’s stammering and increasing anxiety.
No Pubs, Bars or Restaurants = No Nookie
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According to Reuters, lockdown has led to a sharp fall in the birth rate around Europe. The report starts with the situation in Italy where the situation is particularly pronounced.
Maybe it was the stress. Maybe it was being cooped up with the mother-in-law. But the numbers are in, and one effect of the coronavirus lockdown is now clear: people made fewer babies. A lot fewer babies.
Births in Italy in December – exactly nine months after the country went into Europe’s first lockdown – plunged by a whopping 21.6%, according to figures from a sample of 15 Italian cities released this week by statistics agency ISTAT.
And the impact is far from over. Marriages fell by more than half in the first 10 months of last year, which ISTAT chief Gian Carlo Blangiardo called “a further factor in a probable decline in births in the immediate future…”
Last year, Britain recorded a plunge in imports of baby carriages, to the lowest level since records began in 2000. (Yes, the Treasury counts imports of baby carriages. In tonnes.)
While its data is not yet complete, the German statistics office said 2020 was probably the first year since 2011 that the population did not grow, both because of declining births and because COVID-19 meant fewer people immigrated.
There are signs, though, that in Germany, at least, the trend is reversing.
Still, there are signs some people who put off making babies in 2020 may be getting down to business at last. Sales of pregnancy tests and pregnancy vitamins in Germany jumped in the last few months, according to a poll conducted for pharmacy news service Apotheke Adhoc.
The US has also seen a sharp drop in the birth rate, according to Alice Broster in Forbes.
In June 2020, the Brookings Institute estimated that the U.S. would see between 300,000 to 500,000 fewer births than in 2019…
A reduction in births was exactly the opposite of what many people anticipated would come out of 2020. Spending more time at home with a partner sounds like the perfect recipe for speeding up family planning. However, with increased job insecurity, health anxiety and the Government encouraging people to stay away from hospitals, it’d seem COVID-19 made people reconsider…
“The economic fallout, persistent health concerns, uncertainty about the safety and availability of medical care and the closure of schools all combine to make this a very unappealing time for couples to start or expand their family,” said Emily Smith-Greenaway, an Associate Professor of Sociology and Spatial Sciences at the University of Southern California on HuffPost. “We certainly anticipate there to be a rebound, but we’re not so sure about an overshoot – a boom that helps to offset the bust.”
The pandemic had a profound impact on fertility treatment plans. Many clinics postponed treatment cycles and closed their doors to new patients throughout 2020 in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Research published in the Human Reproduction journal used data from almost 10,000 people who had already undergone IVF. Researchers were looking at the impact of delays and the backlog of treatment due to being done once clinics opened. They found that patients across the age brackets, from under 30 to 42, had experienced delays of six to 12 months.
Worth reading in full.
Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior Colluded With Scientists to Frighten the Public
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There was an interesting story in yesterday’s Welt am Sonntag based on 200 pages of internal correspondence seen by the paper and obtained by lawyers in the course of an ongoing legal dispute involving the Robert Koch Institute.
In March 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic, the Federal Ministry of the Interior Ministry enlisted scientists from multiple research institutes and universities for political purposes. It commissioned researchers from the Robert Koch Institute and other institutions to create a model, upon which basis the Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer (CSU) wanted to justify tough Corona measures.
This has emerged from more than 200 pages of internal correspondence between the management of the Ministry and the researchers which is available to the Welt Am Sonntag…
In an email exchange, Markus Kerber, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior, asks a researcher to prepare a model upon the basis of which “measures of a preventative and repressive nature” could be planned.
According to the correspondence, the scientists, in close coordination with the Ministry, compiled the contents for a secret paper in just four days. It was then released over various media in the days that followed.
The paper included a “worst case scenario” according to which more than one million people could die from coronavirus in Germany, if social life were to continue as before the pandemic.
Worth reading in full.
Miracle in Singapore
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The Republic of Singapore has not suffered in the way that most other countries have from COVID-19, with fewer than 60,000 cases and 30 deaths. How did the city state do it? Was it the modest lockdown, or was it something else? It remains a bit of a mystery, but Stuart Derbyshire, an Associate Professor of Psychology at the National University of Singapore, has put forward a couple of ideas in Spiked. First, however, he dismisses a couple of other explanations.
Singapore is a major travel hub and welcomes close to 20 million overseas visitors every year. Between October 2019 and March 2020, close to 7.5 million visitors entered Singapore from overseas, with roughly 20% of them coming from mainland China. Singapore did not close its border to tourists until March 24th, one week after Rome closed its main terminal… Tight border control cannot explain Singapore’s extreme outlier status.
Singapore is also densely populated; people live and socialise in close proximity. Few people cook at home because eating out is so cheap, and the weather is conducive to being outdoors… The national lockdown, known here as a circuit breaker, did not come into effect until April 7th, almost a month after Italy, and about two weeks after New York City and the UK. A widespread tendency to distance or an early lockdown cannot explain Singapore’s extreme outlier status.
It is far more likely, he reckons, that the low death toll is due to an effective track and trace system and the swift and decisive action taken in care homes.
Around 12,000 Singaporean citizens live in care homes, compared with around 418,000 UK citizens. That equates to about 0.3% of Singapore’s population (citizens only) and about 0.6% of the UK’s. Outbreaks of Covid in care homes in the UK and elsewhere have had a devastating impact, but that has clearly been avoided in Singapore.
Indeed, shortly after the first case of Covid was detected in a care home on March 31st, Singapore’s Ministry of Health moved around 3,000 nursing home employees into hotels to isolate them from the wider community, and tested all 9,000 nursing-home staff. Positive tests were followed by contact tracing and quarantine. Those measures were in addition to a month-long ban on visitation, safe-distancing in all homes, and zoning. Singapore has reported only three Covid-related care-home deaths, compared with estimates of 25,000 Covid-related deaths in the UK.
Worth reading in full.
Round-up
- “The lockdown debate – a further reply to Toby Young” – Christopher Snowdon replies to yesterday’s post from Toby in their ongoing debate
- “PSNI miss three deadlines to justify Covid regulations power of entry claim” – The PSNI have missed three proposed dates to respond to a legal challenge over whether officers have the power to enter private homes to enforce Covid rules, reports the Belfast Telegraph. Stormont’s Department of Health has also not explained how the regulations give police this power
- “Vision problems arise in young school kids in COVID-19 quarantine” – The University of Minnesota’s Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Policy report on yet another unintended side-effect of COVID-19 restrictions
- “The poisonous, empathy-free lockdown debate shames our national discourse” – A gentlemanly piece from Dan Hannan in the Sunday Telegraph decrying the ‘gotcha’ mentality of most participants in the lockdown debate
- “Forget individual vaccine passports, our country needs a collective one” – Ross Clark argues in the Telegraph that every British citizen should automatically be given a vaccine passport once a certain percentage of the population has been vaccinated
- “Will young people ever work again?” – Recent graduates are facing an uncertain future says Maria Albano in Unherd
- “Why greens love lockdown” – Some see lockdowns as the beginning of a bright new era of global environmental consciousness and good international governance writes Ben Pile in Spiked
- “Hold Hands, Show Face, Give Grace” – A new website set up by a Lockdown Sceptics Reader who has autism. It calls for a swift return to the old normal
- “Downfall, the Covid version” – The Conservative Woman features Ivor Cummins’s Downfall parody, a response to the one taking the Mickey out of him written by Christopher Snowdon
- “As COVID-19 vaccines raise hope, cold reality dawns that illness Is likely here to stay” – A dose of realism from the Wall Street Journal; new variants and the limits of vaccination programs mean that COVID-19 will be around for years
- “Masking America’s greatest natural monuments” – The National Park Service (NPS) has mandated wearing face masks on all National Park Service lands. It will spur endless, pointless arguments says James Bovard on the AIER blog
- “Federal Government delays plan to forcibly confine travellers after public backlash” – Good news for Canada, as the federal government delays its plan to charge travellers $2,000 for forced hotel quarantine. Credit for this U-turn goes to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedom
- “The results are in: Lockdowns don’t work” – Listen to Sharyl Atkinson talking to Professor Jay Bhattacharya about the data that proves lockdowns don’t work
- “Defeating life threatening COVID-19” – A powerful video showing a patient’s recovery from COVID-19 after receiving ivermectin in the United Memorial Medical Centre in Houston
- “Lockdowns are unlawful and should never be attempted” – A twitter thread from Abir Ballan, a member of Panda, considering whether lockdown would be justified in the event of a pandemic with a far higher fatality rate.
- Police in Greater Manchester assault a coffee shop owner in the most alarming instance of over-zealous enforcement of lockdown rules so far
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
Four today: “Seven Year Ache” by Rosanne Cash, “I Want to Break Free” by Queen, “One in Ten” by UB40 and “Tell Ms It’s Not True” by Barbara Dickson.
Stop Press: A public-spirited reader has created a Spotify playlist of all the theme tunes nominated in this slot (at least, for those that are available on Spotify). It is presently 511 songs and clocks in at 33 hours. If you’re on Spotify, just search for “Lockdown Hits”.
Love in the Time of Covid
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We have created some Lockdown Sceptics Forums, including a dating forum called “Love in a Covid Climate” that has attracted a bit of attention. We have a team of moderators in place to remove spam and deal with the trolls, but sometimes it takes a little while so please bear with us. You have to register to use the Forums as well as post comments below the line, but that should just be a one-time thing. Any problems, email Lockdown Sceptics here.
Sharing Stories
Some of you have asked how to link to particular stories on Lockdown Sceptics so you can share it. To do that, click on the headline of a particular story and a link symbol will appear on the right-hand side of the headline. Click on the link and the URL of your page will switch to the URL of that particular story. You can then copy that URL and either email it to your friends or post it on social media. Please do share the stories.
Social Media Accounts
You can follow Lockdown Sceptics on our social media accounts which are updated throughout the day. To follow us on Facebook, click here; to follow us on Twitter, click here; to follow us on Instagram, click here; to follow us on Parler, click here; and to follow us on MeWe, click here.
Woke Gobbledegook
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We’ve decided to create a permanent slot down here for woke gobbledegook. Today, from MailOnline, we bring you broadcaster Andrew Neil’s battle against the woke warriors who are trying to blow up GB News on the launch pad.
Andrew Neil today slammed “woke warriors” for trying to cancel his new GB News channel before it even starts.
The former BBC presenter laid into activists after they launched a sabotage campaign against his soon-to-be-launched TV channel.
Twitter activists are urging firms not to advertise with the new station under the hashtag “Don’tFundGBNews”, because they fear the channel will be “like America’s Fox News” – a comparison bosses have rejected.
And those backing the campaign, including equality campaigner Femi Oluwole, have threatened to cancel their phone contracts if companies such as EE and Vodafone pay for advertising spaces on the channel.
But Mr Neil, who is the chairman of GB News, today hit out at those behind the campaign…
In a tweet he said: “The woke warriors trying to stir up an advertising boycott of GB News, a channel that hasn’t even started broadcasting, are hilarious.
“Even funnier is their threat to cancel mobile phone contracts of operators who dare to advertise on GB News.
“I mean have they ever tried to cancel a mobile contract?! But GB News will be ready to help. We will campaign for easier cancellation.”
The row erupted last night when campaign group Stop Funding Hate – previously criticised as a “hard-left censorship group” – urged people to join the hashtag Don’tFundGBNews.
The group, founded by a former Amnesty International worker, said on Twitter: “If you want to help stop ‘Fox News style’ TV in Britain: Tweet your mobile phone company using the hashtag #DontFundGBNews.
“Urge them not to advertise with GB News or any ‘Fox News style’ channel, & explain why this matters to you.”
GB News officials have repeatedly hit back at the Fox News comparison, with some media experts expecting the channel to be “right-leaning” rather than right wing.
The hashtag was backed by LBC Presenter Natasha Devon, who threatened to quit Vodafone, as well as Mr Oluwole, a political activist and co-founder of the pro-European Union advocacy group Our Future Our Choice, who threatened to quit EE if its advertises with GB News.
He said: “Hi EE, I was on Orange since I started using mobile phones and switched to you almost as soon as you took them over.
“But I will switch service provider immediately if I hear of one EE advert placed on that channel. #DontFundGBNews.”
But while the Tweet received support from some, many quickly criticised his backing of the campaign, saying it amounted to “mass censorship”.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: The Minneapolis Star Tribune is warning Minnesotan parents that they may be about to see a “woke revolution” at their child’s school, thanks to new standards set by the local Department of Education.
By 2022, as your first-grader is learning that two plus two is four, the Minnesota Department of Education intends to mandate that she also learn to recognise “stereotypes”, “biased speech”, and “injustice at the institutional or systemic level”.
Your middle schooler will be drilled in how his identity is a function of his skin colour.
Your high schooler will be required to explain how Europeans invented “whiteness” and that America’s 19th-century westward expansion was the shameful product of “whiteness, Christianity and capitalism”.
Stop Press 2: John McWhorter has written a blog post examining the N-word as slur vs. the N-word as a sequence of sounds. He focuses on the case of Donald McNeil, who recently lost his job at the New York Times when he used the N-word to describe an insult, rather than using it to insult anyone.
“Mask Exempt” Lanyards
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We’ve created a one-stop shop down here for people who want to obtain a “Mask Exempt” lanyard/card – because wearing a mask causes them “severe distress”, for instance. You can print out and laminate a fairly standard one for free here and the Government has instructions on how to download an official “Mask Exempt” notice to put on your phone here. And if you feel obliged to wear a mask but want to signal your disapproval of having to do so, you can get a “sexy world” mask with the Swedish flag on it here.
A reader has started a website that contains some useful guidance about how you can claim legal exemption. Another reader has created an Android app which displays “I am exempt from wearing a face mask” on your phone. Only 99p.
If you’re a shop owner and you want to let your customers know you will not be insisting on face masks or asking them what their reasons for exemption are, you can download a friendly sign to stick in your window here.
And here’s an excellent piece about the ineffectiveness of masks by a Roger W. Koops, who has a doctorate in organic chemistry. See also the Swiss Doctor’s thorough review of the scientific evidence here and Prof Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson’s Spectator article about the Danish mask study here.
Stop Press: There can, apparently, be such a thing as too masked up. In a happy twist of event, airlines have now been kicking passengers off the flight for wearing too much protection, according to Travelpulse.
United Airlines removed a New Jersey man and his brother from a recent flight leaving Newark Liberty International Airport when they boarded a plane wearing a Narwall Mask. Unlike an N95 mask or a cloth face covering, the Narwall Mask is a full face shield that filters air in and out using a design inspired by scuba diving gear.
Problem: United doesn’t accept that kind of personal protection, saying it was not in compliance with their mask policy, and Rob Joseph and his brother were kicked off the flight before it left…
The brothers were asked to replace their Narwall masks with cloth coverings. They declined, and United did not allow them to fly.
The Great Barrington Declaration
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The Great Barrington Declaration, a petition started by Professor Martin Kulldorff, Professor Sunetra Gupta and Professor Jay Bhattacharya calling for a strategy of “Focused Protection” (protect the elderly and the vulnerable and let everyone else get on with life), was launched in October and the lockdown zealots have been doing their best to discredit it ever since. If you googled it a week after launch, the top hits were three smear pieces from the Guardian, including: “Herd immunity letter signed by fake experts including ‘Dr Johnny Bananas’.” (Freddie Sayers at UnHerd warned us about this the day before it appeared.) On the bright side, Google UK has stopped shadow banning it, so the actual Declaration now tops the search results – and Toby’s Spectator piece about the attempt to suppress it is among the top hits – although discussion of it has been censored by Reddit. The reason the zealots hate it, of course, is that it gives the lie to their claim that “the science” only supports their strategy. These three scientists are every bit as eminent – more eminent – than the pro-lockdown fanatics so expect no let up in the attacks. (Wikipedia has also done a smear job.)
You can find it here. Please sign it. Now over three quarters of a million signatures.
Update: The authors of the GBD have expanded the FAQs to deal with some of the arguments and smears that have been made against their proposal. Worth reading in full.
Update 2: Many of the signatories of the Great Barrington Declaration are involved with new UK anti-lockdown campaign Recovery. Find out more and join here.
Update 3: You can watch Sunetra Gupta set out the case for “Focused Protection” here and Jay Bhattacharya make it here.
Update 4: The three GBD authors plus Prof Carl Heneghan of CEBM have launched a new website collateralglobal.org, “a global repository for research into the collateral effects of the COVID-19 lockdown measures”. Follow Collateral Global on Twitter here. Sign up to the newsletter here.
Judicial Reviews Against the Government
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There are now so many legal cases being brought against the Government and its ministers we thought we’d include them all in one place down here.
The Simon Dolan case has now reached the end of the road. The current lead case is the Robin Tilbrook case which challenges whether the Lockdown Regulations are constitutional. You can read about that and contribute here.
Then there’s John’s Campaign which is focused specifically on care homes. Find out more about that here.
There’s the GoodLawProject and Runnymede Trust’s Judicial Review of the Government’s award of lucrative PPE contracts to various private companies. You can find out more about that here and contribute to the crowdfunder here.
Scottish Church leaders from a range of Christian denominations have launched legal action, supported by the Christian Legal Centre against the Scottish Government’s attempt to close churches in Scotland for the first time since the the Stuart kings in the 17th century. The church leaders emphasised it is a disproportionate step, and one which has serious implications for freedom of religion.” Further information available here.
There’s the class action lawsuit being brought by Dr Reiner Fuellmich and his team in various countries against “the manufacturers and sellers of the defective product, PCR tests”. Dr Fuellmich explains the lawsuit in this video. Dr Fuellmich has also served cease and desist papers on Professor Christian Drosten, co-author of the Corman-Drosten paper which was the first and WHO-recommended PCR protocol for detection of SARS-CoV-2. That paper, which was pivotal to the roll out of mass PCR testing, was submitted to the journal Eurosurveillance on January 21st and accepted following peer review on January 22nd. The paper has been critically reviewed here by Pieter Borger and colleagues, who also submitted a retraction request, which was rejected in February. UPDATE: The retraction request has been rejected.
And last but not least there was the Free Speech Union‘s challenge to Ofcom over its ‘coronavirus guidance’. A High Court judge refused permission for the FSU’s judicial review on December 9th and the FSU has decided not to appeal the decision because Ofcom has conceded most of the points it was making. Check here for details.
Samaritans
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If you are struggling to cope, please call Samaritans for free on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. Samaritans is available round the clock, every single day of the year, providing a safe place for anyone struggling to cope, whoever they are, however they feel, whatever life has done to them.
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And Finally…
Chase Dreams, a lockdown anthem by the new band Dreamdrive, documents the experience of life in Melbourne, Australia in the year 2020. It’s not pretty.
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Dr Tedros must be unbelievably thick if he thinks that vaccinating 70% of the world’s population will end the pandemic. Has nobody told him it doesn’t work, especially against this latest ‘variant’ which could be something quite different anyway?
Not thick, bought.
And signed up to the agenda.
Yes, Gates and GAVI – the long dreamed of Global Mass Vaccination Agenda.
And covering up the role of his CCP masters in giving Wuflu to the world
“Owned”
THICK and Bought
What do you mean by “works”?
There is literally no epidemic right now other than the annual cold season.
They can call this off any time they like.
He’s just dangling a carrot in front of our noses and plenty of gullible slave-drones will believe him.
If there really is a respiratory virus floating round killing less than 0.1% of the population, you wouldn’t inject something into your bloodstream to fight it off.
This is the key argument. Why would we expect it to work? The true purpose of this injection is not to protect people. The people who claim to want to protect us are openly eugenicists with a great desire to reduce global population to a fraction of what it currently is.
We needn’t go further than Pfeffel’s own dad for proof. He’s written one book about ‘The Virus’ many years ago, and another about depopulation. There’s many interviews with him bashfully admitting to having these views as well.
Could have called it off and cried victory when all of the vulnerable were jibjabbed back in Feb. They didn’t.
“The Walrus and the Carpenter” describes the mentality of these people perfectly.
Notwithstanding this little “plandemic” is not the real story.
The so – called vaccines don’t work, well except to kill and maim, so injecting 70% of the world’s population will achieve nothing but more misery.
Interesting that this Tedros bloke is keen on learning lessons so that we can be better prepared “in the future;”got another brew on the go then have we Tedros?
And let’s not forget, the Moronic scariant is nothing but a common cold. It isn’t killing people.
More fear propoganda intended to undermine health.
FO.
He’s obviously not unbelievably thick: This goal can never be achieved, not the least because new people keep getting born all the time. Hence, there isn’t even a need to move this goalpost. Insofer Tedros goes, Chinese-style virus management through population control is here to stay forever. That’s his message.
Who made WHO, WHO? Do you really think anyone needs you?
A useful idiot? A well-paid useful idiot?
Yes, because restrictions have been so effective at ‘halting the spread’ so far, haven’t they? May as well try to stop the tide coming in for all the impact it has. FFS.
Join the dots ….Fauci…..Schwab “Great Reset”…the “New Normal”… “You will own nothing and be happy” …’transhumanism’ …Mass vaccination with an mRNA Gene Therapy with unprecedented levels of side effects and deaths…eugenics and population control ….all revealed in RFK J’s comprehensive, fully documented exploration of 50 years of Fauci’s ‘career’ and his partnership with Bill Gates since 2000 .
“The Real Anthony Fauci” (chilling!)
Who are you? I really wanna know…
Meet the new boss….
Jabbed and it still spreads,” but the symptoms aren’t as bad if you’ve been jabbed”, how do they know that? Last year we had nothing to jab into anyone, this year we have and allegedly the situation is worse. You could almost think it was a plandemic for a reset.
It’s a totally illogical statement. If you have the illness before the jab, you can never say how effective the jab was. If you have the jab before the illness, you’ll never know how your natural immune system would have coped by itself.
Exactly.
The thing about the pharmaceutical industry is that they can be quite effective at reducing the symptoms of something, but are pretty hopeless at actually making you well and preventing disease (and possibly not interested in a completely healthy population). So I am prepared to believe that their new medication reduces symptoms a bit, but at the same time am not surprised by reports that there is “no reliable evidence that the ‘vaccines’ reduce all-cause mortality”.
A relative of mine has been paranoid about catching Covid from the very beginning to the point where her family have feared for her sanity. She has sanitised and disinfected constantly, worn her mask religiously and avoided socialising completely. She had her booster jab last Friday and has now tested positive for Covid !
Ironically excessive sanitising is bad for your immune system (appparently intolerance to milk ihas been rising remorselessly as a result of the pasteurised muck commonly consumed today).
It reminds me of that fable where a couple’s daughter was prophesied to die from a tiger. The poor girl never went outside just in case – and ended up dying after a picture of a tiger fell and cut her, and the wound went bad.
Almost?
Well if we don’t like the way the WHO are governing us we can always just vote them out and elect someone else.
Oh, wait…
Gates wants the WHO to have increased Global Powers to direct all Health policy for all nations.
Worried? We ought to be!
It is a good job they had an effective vaccine for the black death or the human race would not have survived.
Scientists are working hard on a Black Death variant – it should be ready sometime next year…
Yes this is true – now why would anyone want to develop a ‘vaccine’ against a disease that is extremely rare (couple of thousand cases worldwide per year) and that can be successfully treated with antibiotics?
As if anyone with half a brain would follow such nonsensical advice, over Xmas especially! Mind you, the vast majority of the zombie masses have been doing a grand job of complying with any bullshit instructions thrown their way thus far. Nothing surprises me any more!
I would expect BBC interviews over next couple of days with people who are ‘sadly’ following that crap advice to the letter – “just to be safe” – because, after all ‘a cancelled event is better than a cancelled life’. What a soundbite.
He wants to try that line with all the “cancelled lives” of the people whose elderly relatives died in a care home when they weren’t allowed to visit to say goodbye and the people whose relatives died because they didn’t receive the care and treatment they needed for cancer, heart disease etc.
Forget the BBC… watch GB News!
We could say the same for every day of the year because simply being alive puts people at risk.
Every winter past lives have been “cancelled” while everyone just got on with Christmas.
With no real objectives this can never end.
“New year at Trafalgar Square cancelled.”Hardly surprising. But the real test is: how many people will party outside anyway? The police might be able to block off Trafalgar Square, but they can’t block off every open space in the capital, try as they might. If the public feel safe enough to party, they will find a way.
As will the politicians, who are bound to party when they think nobody is looking, as they did last year. I wonder if the government’s indecision is partly because somebody is blackmailing them, about other “events” from last year which have not come to light yet?
It does look as if the government might be trying to persuade people to stay apart, using the tried-and-tested campaign of fear, so they can gleefully say “we didn’t lock down over Christmas”. Perhaps the government knows Omicron isn’t as bad as they are telling us it is; or are they afraid of riots, while using “cabinet revolt” as the reason? Even if they get away with not locking down, people won’t forget how they destroyed the hospitality industry this time round. I don’t know if Saint Boris will ever be able to enter a pub again.
Khan loves nothing more than canceling London two years running – it fits with his wider cultural agenda. Besides, it surely hardly affects his core vote?
Joy is like kryptonite to Marxists.
My dad just said that he’d be dropping his grandkid’s presents off tomorrow, while wearing a mask.
I’ve told him that he’s more than welcome to visit, but not if he’s wearing a muzzle.
We had all that last year with certain family, refusing to come in, refusing to let us in. And they’re doing the same this year! It’s becoming quite a tradition now. However, we’re having some new friends round and we’re having some Yuleride celebrations with all the trimmings. We’re all through with this.
That will be Christmas plans not cancelled then…
he’s also on a list that has, earlier this week, been presented as a complaint at the International Criminal Court on charges of Genocide.
But this site can’t be bothered sourcing stuff like this and maintains its’ managed opposition status
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/the-international-criminal-court-fighting-for-the-people-part-i/
We pretty much all understand this now, we’ve got the agenda, this is boring. I agree with others who have said that the site should stop rounding up and repeating the news of the agenda unless they’re going to analyse it and put it in context.
Many pieces on DS do that, especially Will Jones, and contributors emerging from the dark, limbic depths of the comment section, but we need more rebutting the agenda, more on how to fight the agenda.
Agree 100% this site is losing relevance, becoming obsolete. Let’s focus on prevention of further violations of our inalienable rights, let’s see more moral & legal arguments, fewer charts & statistics.
And what about the Draconian bills being pushed through parliament, Toby ?
Losing relevance is probably inevitable. There are only so many ways that you can say the same thing.
I subscribe to an email from Wattsupwiththat and I have almost stopped reading the website because there’s little that is new, and it’s a voice in the wilderness that is the MSM and academia, it doesn’t matter if the information is valid and correct, the readers know this, but whilst it is difficult to the point of impossibility and hostility from certain people to get published then it’s a battle of attrition.
I can understand TY as an Eton educated establishment man, doesn’t wish to be seen as a “conspiracy theorist” among his peers, so tries to use statistics & academics to defend his scepticism, but it’s now time to provide “expert” legal arguments, & human rights etc.
Science has lost the argument because it was always about politics.
Science hasn’t lost the argument because it was always politics, it has lost the argument because sceptical scientists are incapable of communicating with the general public.
I have banged on about this on WUWT for years now to no avail. Many of the contributors are so up their own arse they don’t know how to speak plain English.
When the site was recently revamped I pleaded that a layman’s section be included so people without a degree in science could pop along for an explanation of what was going on.
There are something less than 10% of the world with a higher education. The left have been effective in communicating their climate hysteria with propaganda to the remaining 90%, each of which have a single vote.
Scientists also have a single vote but these geniuses can’t figure out that if they only persuade themselves climate change is bunk, they are still only persuading 10% of the world, also with one vote each.
Without science we are left in a world of superstition. Most of the world functions on that basis because scientists simply cannot communicate!
The 90% will persuade themselves soon enough when they have to go hungry (or cold) to pay for this nonsense. People in war torn parts of the Ukraine scratch coal from opencast pits to fend off the cold in Winter. I suspect it will be the same everywhere when it comes to it.
Third world countries that go along with it are just hoping for a handout (like the Maldives).
Not Eton
Indeed – the ones planning to kill freedom of speech.
Have to agree with you there, Sandra. As much as I really appreciate all the work that goes into DS daily, some of it is too focussed on mainstream scare stories and propaganda. I always knew this winter was going to be hard, that in the Globalist agenda to thrash everyone soundly, they will commit unbelievable acts against us, and they’ve started. We need more from the resistance front, from maybe from those who are our own “trusted voices” which includes ourselves, of course! To be fair, maybe it is us that should be offering up the articles for publication.
As much as I don’t like saying it.. the only reason this site keeps going and attracts the numbers it does is entirely because of its mainstream focus. Its the commentators that give it an edge and steer the debate, and a vast number of people read the comments. Absolutely they do, and I’ve noticed an increase lately.
We’ve got a highly visited platform for our views, and we mustn’t forget that, even though the articles make us groan and roll our eyes sometimes. Far better to comment here than small focus group sites, there’s a far wider audience..
Yes – my take is never mind the official article being published – if others visit the site and click on the links etc provided by those BTL then they might get an education, in the same way I do.
I just skim the articles. Its BTL comments that I come for
“……DS daily, some of it is too focussed on mainstream scare stories and propaganda.”
Mainstream scare stories are propaganda and the only way to counter that is with propaganda.
The science of any given circumstance is pointless as scientists are the worst communicators on the planet. They operate in an academic bubble, congratulating themselves at how clever they all are.
I think Einstein once said ‘if you can’t explain it to a five year old you don’t understand it yourself’.
DS, Conservative Woman and a few others are basically all we have to counter the propaganda from the government and Toby has been clever by adopting the stance of free speech rather than opposition to the governments policies.
True, more analysis would be good, especially vital legal analysis of avenues for resisting mandates. But also we shouldn’t forget that this site remains a light of sanity and information in the darkness.
And here we all are debating sensibly and rationally about this. With thought processes involved. And this is what can’t be applied to the MSM as a whole, as we know. We have to protect and preserve what we have here at all costs!
So far as I can see, there’s plenty of analysis, plenty of original content, both above and below the line. I think this is just nit picking (if you’re still allowed to say that).
He’s lost the room! Darts fans sing ‘Stand up if you hate Boris’ in unison at the World Championships while football fans chant expletives about him
There could be trouble if Leeds play Millwall…
Wasn’t that darts fan supposed to write “180” there?
Bit rich of Tedros, the CCP stooge and Cover-Up Specialist, to call for China “to be more forthcoming”. It’s a pity he didn’t keep a closer eye on all the “bad actors” in this gain-of-function disaster, including those from the UK, USA and elsewhere, and put a stop to those dangerous games, which have turn3ed the entire world into another Gruinard Island.
Tedros going to limit Ramadan too when it comes?
Didn’t Fauci actively encourage Halloween too, this year?
I don’t have much of a Christmas to cancel but I won’t change my usual plans one iota. Christmas eve a few pubs, a walk, unmasked, spreading the coof. Let’s go Brandon!
Whatever you do, enjoy it, and be at peace with yourself!
Clare Craig is recommending we checkout Real Sage or IRA Sage, whatever they call themselves, Zero Covid Nutters Group, who have posted a guide to enjoying Christmas safely.
It’s wonderful – link on her Twitter feed.
Susan Michie and her demonic ilk are advising us to wear extra layers on Christmas because all the windows will be open while they Zoom call with shivering grannie in her open window flat with gender reassigned second Grannie all at six feet apart around the Christmas table.
If any leading member of this group is seen doing anything else, please post pictures.
And if anyone gets pix of them actually doing it, please post those too.
Won’t they have to turn the heating up? I hope we don’t run out of gas and wind…
Because these vaccines aren’t sterilising, vaccinating 70% of the world’s population won’t stop the spread of coronavirus. It will just result in even faster production of vaccine resistant strains. Which will need more vaccines. So what Dr Tedros is advocating is vaccinating 70% of the world’s population, every year, forever, against a pathogen of no risk to any but a small group of the very elderly and frail – the western elderly and frail, in fact.
Imagine the state violence & oppression & censorship that will be needed to enforce this futile attempt, every year. Imagine the deaths from adverse events from inadequately tested vaccines, scaled up globally. Imagine what will happen to other vaccination programmes- vaccinations that really do make a lifesaving difference to children in developing countries. Imagine the death & devastation this will cause.
This is the monster of zero covid, back in another guise. Enforced by an international organisation. It’s not about stopping deaths; that could be achieved by vaccinating the vulnerable. It’s about an attempt to achieve global elimination of a virus of no threat to the vast majority of the world’s population. An attempt that will of course fail- but which will impose an imaginably vast cost of global death, oppression, and suffering. Dr Tedros is a terrifying threat to children, health and freedom across the world. His WHO has become a monster.
Evidently by definition, if the “vaccine” doesn’t prevent infection or transmission it can never achieve herd immunity & therefore it’s irrelevant how many people are vaccinated.
There are unsubstantiated claims it reduces severity of illness, if this is true (i’m sceptical) then as the only at risk groups are individuals suffering from old age or immunosuppressed with comorbidities, there can be no case for mandated vaccines.
You see time and again in the propaganda that the only reason they give for vaccines are emotional blackmail, socialist pressure & subjective immoral, irrational, arguments such as vaccinated people don’t feel safe or confident around the unvaccinated.
Basically they’re trying to craft a narrative there’s only two choices, lockdowns or vaccines, as evidence shows neither work this is clearly coercive control & it’s impossible to see any court support it & yet!
It’s a criminal conspiracy & an abhorrent violation of human rights, led by pseudo communist neoliberals, no cock-up about it, when it’s by design but denied, it is a conspiracy.
“if this is true (i’m sceptical)”
Entirely unprovable. How does anyone know how they’ll react to covid with, or without a clotshot. The concept was only promoted when it was realised the clotshots had failed at their primary function, stopping the virus in vivo and eliminating transmission.
I wasn’t anti-clotshot when all this began, I just wanted to wait and see what would happen, if necessary until 2023 when clinical trials will allegedly be completed.
I’m very glad I did, the whole thing has turned into a monumental medical, social and political shambles. Brexit was a monumental cock up from the day of the vote to leave and this has simply exemplified how incompetent our current government (and the opposition) are.
It’s not about a virus.
As the saying goes, good luck with that …
Nice of Tedros to let us know his personal target given to him by Gates-Davos.
It will be a new global standard for the management of “pandemics”.
New virus – restrictions – roll out vaccine – declare the end when 70% of global population is jabbed.
Except that they’ll get greedy and they’ll want even more next time.
Nothing is ever never enough for these psychos.
You have to wonder how blatant it is possible for lies to get. If you accept what the rulers say about SARSCoV2, then it follows that the fast spread of the omicron variant should be encouraged.
Does someone not like Christmas?
they hate it, you might drink alcohol and say this is all a big fat get rich quick Con trick or similar
If the equivalent of Omricon had happened in 2018 or 2019 would it even have been reported or made the news? Just another winter virus?
Allegra Stratton might have done a piece on ITN at 10pm….
They love names now, maybe they think it gives it all more credibility, naming a windy day, naming a variant, all brainwashing to make it ‘something’ I’ve got ‘omicrom’ they say, even more important than ‘covid’
Isn’t this the same person who implored us to “test, test, test”?
A new ‘common sense’ virus is now spreading rapidly across planet and is predicted by guesswork to be moving faster than experts with computers can generate a graph or any meaningful statistics, large pharma are collaborating to introduce an untested ‘Forgive and Forget’ vaccine which they believe, based on no long term data, will work. Politicians when asked to comment, do not think the public will be taken in quite so easily, one said we need another cheese and wine party before making any further comments.
This member of the public tells the WHO to fuck off, and then fuck off some more.
Oh, WHO you say? Actually, I have something in my pocket for you…
…
Every picture tells a story..
Every picture tells a story..
Those photos are just a cock-up.
Pray tell why oh great one…
Every picture tells a story..
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Later,
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey
Finally, the last one everyone wants to see…
Bill & Ted Face the Music
The world has already cancelled one Christmas and two Easters over the last two years because we should “save Granny!” Before it was ” until we have a safe and effective ” vaccine. Now we have a number, causing severe harms and death and people are refusing to take it. So here comes the punishment for not being good, obedient citizens and taking your medicine…. However, folks, remember, even in fully vaxxed countries, like Gibraltar they STILL locked everyone down. They’ve changed the language to redefine what “vaccinated” and ” immunity” means. They changed the goalposts and lied and lied and lied, to push the now blatantly obvious Globalist agenda. Now we have that criminal at the top, telling us, like a madman, that we must KEEP doing same thing in order to get a different outcome, which we know is another lie. All based on lies, and
in,
out modelling to get a REQUIRED outcome! The figures don’t add up and NO ONE is dying!
If ANYONE can’t see NOW what is going on, and they go along with it all, STILL, they deserve all they get.
<insert Kermit the Frog tea-sipping meme here>
…quite.
But modelling shows that in a worst case scenario, everyone who crosses the road will get knocked down, overwhelming the NHS!
I see that Gibraltar reported 59 “cases” yesterday, equivalent to 125,000 in the UK. I know Gibraltar is quite a densely populated country, but even so.
I’d like to cordially invite Dr Tedros to disappear up his own arse.
Plenty of room!
Anyone pushing vaccination to “end” this is a charlatan.
“an event cancelled is better than a life cancelled”
No, all your events cancelled are adding up to our lives cancelled, and we’ve had enough. I’m going to celebrate Christmas with my church family and ignore all of you.
‘A vaccination cancelled is better than a life cancelled”
WHO Tells Public to Cancel Christmas Holiday Plans.The public replies with a most heartfelt apology.
Foxtrot Oscar, Dr Tedros.
i cant wait for the next variant and then the next variant and then the next varainat and then the next variant .My people are morons
In a word or two awwww fuck off.
Is anyone really still listening?
When just when are the British public and Government going to get their backbone back?
Here is my solution, defund the WHO, abolish SAGE, delicence the BBC.
That would make my Christmas very happy.
Life has been cancelled for the best part of two years – what’s he on about?
Up yours Ted Ross
We are carrying on completely as normal. Even better, in fact. In our area, the number of people now openly against all of this BS is growing (even people who have been “vaccinated”), and we’re all visiting each other’s houses between Christmas and New Year. Gonna be a great time!
We must keep our eye on the bigger picture – and be prepared.
The idea for implants for ‘humans-as-livestock’ featured in this 1985 song:
Cathy don’t go to the supermarket https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47TZ9MHI1qg
and was mentioned by film maker Aaron Russo, reminiscing about his friendship with Nick Rockefeller:
Nicholas Rockefeller admitted the elite’s goal is a 100% microchipped and enslaved World population – YouTube
From now on, ask yourself, and others, What have you done today to fight tyrrany?
I don’t know about the WHO’s advice, but I feel very theatened by the photograph. I am visibly and literally shaking.
It is so unlike the images I see of real modern British blended families – the sort of normal scene you see in any television advert or mainstream drama, reflecting the lives of so many of us.
Where are the cuddly old grandparents dandling charmingly-curled ethnically ambiguous children on their knees? Where is the incompetent and selfish cis normative uncle failing to carve the turkey, while a wise, brave and beautiful pans3xual transwoman looks on in wry amusement? Literally none of them have visible accessibility requirements. Where are the yams?
This image has nothing to say about the lived experiences of literally millions of imaginary people in Britain today.
I can only conclude the Daily Sceptic is no longer a safe space and will be reporting it to the appropriate authorities.
…
BTW, very apt band name … THE WHO!
My family ignored Boris the ball bag Johnson last year and we will ignore him this year.
Tedros can Do One.
He doesn’t run my life any more than SAGE and Johnson do.
The WHO will be well pissed off with the logic and common sense coming from South Africa.
Te WHO is funded by Bill Gates and works to his agenda . Tedros was Gates’ choice for the Chris Whitty works for the WHO leadership ….join up the dots anyone?.
Tedros is not a medical doctor – he has never practiced- his PHD was in philosophy and Community Health and he was Gates’ choice from the WHO leadership . He was previously Ethiopian Health Minister and Foreign Minster and suspected of involvement in Human Rights violation ‘aiding genocide ‘ in his home country. He is very close to China. ( Daily Mail/ Sun )
So – anyone got anything nice planned for Christmas?
Yup, big party my place, I reckon about 30 people will turn up, very many households and at least 7 different countries. No masks, no anti-social distancing and an ashtray on every table..If it rains well, we will just have to move indoors.
“an event cancelled is better than a life cancelled”… even if many lives are lost because we have diverted resources away from all other medical conditions
What a tosser
Truly unbelievable!!
They all seem really afraid of it spreading. I wonder why………
Tell the WHO to mind their own effing business and bugger off!!