- “Lockdown easing ‘may need to be reversed if variant spreads rapidly’” – Professor Peter Openshaw, one of the scientists advising the Government, is warning that a rapid spread of the South African variant, or any other, may necessitate an about turn on the “cautious but irreversible roadmap” out of lockdown, the Evening Standard reports
- “Science has proved Boris Johnson wrong – vaccines are reducing deaths and cases” – The Telegraph reports on newly published research by the University of Manchester that shows a stark difference in cases, hospital admissions and deaths for vaccinated and unvaccinated elderly people, suggesting that vaccines not lockdown are bringing the numbers down, contrary to Boris’s claim
- “Government will try to make Covid vaccines compulsory for care home staff, Matt Hancock confirms” – The Health Secretary is going ahead with this draconian measure, MailOnline reports
- “Early treatment of COVID-19” – A real-time database and meta analysis of 565 studies into early treatments for Covid, including Ivermectin and hydroxycholroquine
- “Care home residents ‘barred’ from voting in local elections because of Covid rules” – Residents of Britain’s care homes will be “effectively barred” from voting in May’s elections by guidance that would require them to isolate for 14 days upon their return, the Telegraph reports
- “Covid-status certificate scheme could be unlawful discrimination, says EHRC” – The Government’s equalities watchdog has warned that plans for vaccine passports risk discriminating against groups with low vaccine take-up, the Guardian reports
- “Pontypool mum ‘robbed of life’ by ‘late’ cancer diagnosis” – Justine Jianikos has cancer, which if it had been spotted earlier might have been treatable, but is now terminal, the BBC reports
- “We are being enslaved by the smartphones that once liberated us” – “Big tech is ruthlessly exploiting the Covid crisis to make us even more dependent on their products,” writes Ross Clark in the Telegraph
- “Making illness a crime: Beware the Health Fascism Agency” – “We need to stop framing illness as a security threat,” writes Dominey Jenner, of the UK’s new Health Security Agency for the Conservative Woman, “and return to a more measured approach – one that befits a liberal democracy”
- “Speak out! Doctors can no longer stay silent on vaccine peril” – Dr. Sinead Murphy lays out four reasons for the Conservative Woman why we should be sceptical of the Government’s vaccine narrative
- “End the lockdown now” – There is no justification for the glacial pace of the reopening, says Professor David Paton in Spiked
- “Will Welby’s outburst of honesty be infectious?” – Roger Watson wonders if a trend is being set by Archbishop Welby, who recently admitted being too risk-adverse during the first lockdown, and whether it might spread to Ferguson, Whitty or even the Prime Minister
- “SAGE’s Roadmap model: Where is it leading us?” – Dan Astin Gregory scrutinises the ‘evidence’ behind SAGE’s fears of a third wave in late summer or early Autumn for the the Pandemic Podcast
- “Most of Europe should be open for summer holidays from May 17th, says EasyJet boss” – Johan Lundgren, the CEO of EasyJet, reckons that most countries in Europe will be on the Government’s travel green list by May 17th, the Telegraph reports
- “Denmark becomes world’s first country to stop using AstraZeneca vaccine” – Denmark has stopped using the AstraZeneca jab altogether, the Telegraph reports, and has also suspended the Johnson & Johnson vaccine
- “Lithuania to introduce ‘COVID-19 passports’ for certain groups” – Reuters reports that Lithuania is rolling out a vaccine passport scheme to allow some people to bypass restrictions on certain activities including dining indoors, attending sporting events and holding large parties.
- “The high cost of the slow Covid vaccine rollout” – Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Michael Blanding heralds new research indicating that investment in the vaccine earlier on could have saved lives and prevented the global economy losing $700 billion
- “Vaccine Passports vs. Freedom Itself” – The very idea of vaccine passports is an “anathema to our democratic principles and rights that are enshrined in the US Constitution as well as the Canadian Charter of Rights”, write Paul E. Alexander, Howard C. Tenenbaum and Dr. Parvez Dara at AIER
- “Ludwig von Mises on intellectual obligation in times of crisis” – The Austrian economist had a message for our times, says Jeffrey A. Tucker at AIER: “None of us are really safe from state-imposed violence in the name of disease control until all of us are”
- “U.S. intelligence chief: spy agencies do not know exactly when COVID-19 first transmitted” – The Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a senate hearing yesterday that U.S. intelligence agencies do not know exactly when or how COVID-19 was initially transmitted.
- “Two pastors detained in Finland during worship Apr 11th, 2021” – A video showing Finnish police interrupting an outdoors service of Espoo Home Church and detaining two pastors for not making the members of the congregation, including children, sit two metres apart
- “Two Covid vaccine questions that no one will answer” – Tucker Carlson of Fox News wants to know if the vaccines are safe and effective, but straight answers are hard to come by
- “Vaccine Facts: Watch this while you can” – Steven Crowder’s latest show includes a piece on vaccines (at 44m 30s) but he suspects you might not have too long to watch it because it’s on YouTube
- “Boris Johnson has ‘muddled the whole thing up’” – Professor Hugh Pennington thinks Boris Johnson got things “a bit muddled” over lockdowns and vaccines
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