(2021-10-16). As Australia hits record COVID infections, Victorian Labor government spearheads homicidal policies against children. wsws.org Labor is implementing policies that can only be described as a deliberate attempt to infect tens of thousands of school children with a potentially lethal disease.
(2021-10-16). [Comment] Developing COVID-19 vaccine policy in increments. thelancet.com Over the past several months, there has been fierce debate in the public domain as to whether booster vaccinations are needed to sustain vaccine-induced immunological protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection.1 Discussions in medical journals, news outlets, social media, and among the wider public have been robust but limited owing to the paucity of data for the breadth and durability of existing vaccines.
(2021-10-16). [Editorial] Malaria vaccine approval: a step change for global health. thelancet.com On Oct 6, WHO announced that it will be recommending widespread use of the RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S) malaria vaccine for children in sub-Saharan Africa and in other regions with moderate-to-high Plasmodium falciparum transmission. Malaria has ravaged people's lives for centuries; today the burden falls disproportionately on children in tropical regions. 229 million cases were recorded in 2019, and 409‚Äà000 people lost their lives, two-thirds of whom were younger than 5 years and living in sub-Saharan Africa.
(2021-10-16). The Preventable Horrors of the Pandemic and the Short Case for Open Research. zcomm.org By allowing the pandemic to spread largely unchecked in the developing world, we gave it the opportunity to mutate into more vaccine-resistant forms that will continue to reverberate in the months and years to come…
(2021-10-16). Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: Continuing progress in battle against COVID-19. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org "October is going to be a very exciting month in the U.S., regarding COVID-19 vaccines," says Dr. Gregory Poland, head of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group. "On Oct. 14 the Federal Drug Administration is going to look at COVID-19 boosters for Moderna. On Oct. 15, (the FDA will review) boosters for Johnson & Johnsons' COVID-19 vaccine. And on Oct. 29, the FDA will look at extending emergency use for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children down to…
(2021-10-16). Covid Queries: Altered DNA and microchips. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org Q: I've heard some theories circulating about the COVID-19 vaccine, including that it was developed to control the general population through microchip tracking or "nanotransducers" in our brains. I've also heard that it will alter my DNA. Are these theories true? A: No, those assertions are false. "There is absolutely not a microchip in the vaccine," says Martin Herrmann, M.D., medical director of Mayo Clinic Health System in Waseca and New Prague. "Also, there's no…
(2021-10-16). [World Report] Cautious optimism for malaria vaccine roll-out. thelancet.com The approval of a vaccine for malaria is a milestone in global health, but challenges remain. Udani Samarasekera reports.
(2021-10-16). Mayo Clinic Minute: Flu during a pandemic. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org Have you had your flu shot yet? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone over 6 months get a flu shot every season with rare exceptions. Now in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it's important to be vaccinated for COVID-19 and the flu. And you can get both shots at the same time. Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute youtu.be/vGrUz75YoiI Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (1: 12) is in the downloads at the end of…
(2021-10-16). Ontario teacher protest for better PPE fiercely opposed by education unions. wsws.org The protest called for school staff across Ontario to wear superior masks to work, such as N95 respirators, rather than the surgical masks mandated by the provincial government and school boards.
(2021-10-16). SEP (Australia) public meeting: A socialist program to eradicate COVID-19. Become an electoral member of the SEP today. wsws.org The October 31 online meeting will discuss a program to eradicate COVID-19, and the relationship between the homicidal pandemic policies of the ruing elite and the anti-democratic electoral laws.
(2021-10-16). [Correspondence] Telehealth use in antenatal care? Not without women's voices. thelancet.com Kirsten R Palmer and colleagues1 assessed integrated telehealth for antenatal care in Australia during the early COVID-19 pandemic. However, the estimated 50% reduction of in-person consultations does not represent the proportion of telehealth consultations received by women. Women included in the intervention gave birth between March 23 and July 26, 2020, which is equivalent to, at most, 4 months of a telehealth-integrated antenatal care schedule. Although not presented, the average duration of antenatal follow-up was probably 2 weeks (implementation period) and 6 weeks (integrated care period), allowing for a m…
(2021-10-16). [Comment] Offline: The generation of ghosts. thelancet.com What happened to our ambition for a different, better world? One has to go back to World War 2 to find a time when our species faced a catastrophe on the scale of this COVID-19 pandemic. In the early 1940s, there were some observers of the mounting global chaos who recognised a need to create a new world order. In England, two writers stood out, and their far-reaching visions contrast sharply with the surprising lack of aspiration shown by my generation today.
(2021-10-16). Mayo Clinic Q and A: Medications in use and being tested for treatment of COVID-19. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I've heard several drugs mentioned as possible treatments for COVID-19. What are they, and how do they work? ANSWER: Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, finding an effective drug to combat COVID-19 has been on the minds of many. While many medications are being tested to treat COVID-19, only one has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has approved remdesivir (Veklury) to treat COVID-19 in adults and children who are age…
(2021-10-16). Online meeting: No retreat from elimination! Mobilise the New Zealand and international working class to defeat COVID-19. wsws.org The Socialist Equality Group is holding an online public meeting on Saturday, October 23, at 4: 30 p.m. (NZ time) to discuss the urgent need for working people to organise a fight for a scientific strategy to eliminate COVID-19 nationally, and eradicate the deadly virus globally.
(2021-10-16). Widespread global participation in second school strike against COVID threat to children. wsws.org The strike received massive support globally, with the central hashtag for the event, #SchoolStrike2021, tweeted nearly 7,500 times and videos submitted from Britain, the US, Canada, Brazil, Germany, France, Poland, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand.
(2021-10-16). IMF: Wealthy and Poor Countries Face COVID Economic Challenges. indybay.org
(2021-10-16). Hope for patients with post-COVID syndrome. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org "Long-haul COVID," "long COVID" and "post-COVID syndrome" are references to patients who have been infected with COVID-19 and are still experiencing long-term effects and symptoms."Estimates show that 10%—30% of people who become infected with COVID-19 will end up coming down with long-haul COVID," says Dr. Greg Vanichkachorn, medical director of Mayo Clinic's COVID Activity Rehabilitation Program. "And it does look like that long-haul COVID could be a new chronic infection for some folks and be a new baseline." The World Health Organization recently gave…
(2021-10-16). [Perspectives] How imperialism, slavery, and war shaped epidemiology. thelancet.com In recent decades, historians have become increasingly attuned to the ways in which empire and imperialism transformed modern conceptions of disease, medicine, and the body. Such scholarship argues that European medical theories were not simply disseminated in imperial territories and that science and medicine should not only be seen as scientific and cultural projects that consolidated imperialism. Instead, the thrust has been to understand how the development of modern ideas of hygiene, sanitation, public health, and disease were themselves produced out of an encounter with empire and subjugated populations.
(2021-10-15). Headlines for October 15, 2021. democracynow.org Bomb Attack on Mosque in Afghanistan's Kandahar Province Kills at Least 32, Lebanon Holds Day of Mourning After Beirut Violence Leaves Seven Dead, U.K. and EU Nations Block COVID Vaccine Patent Waiver at World Trade Organization, FDA Panel Recommends Moderna Vaccine Boosters for Some Groups, Biden Welcomes Kenyan President Kenyatta Amid Pandora Papers Scandal, Chilean Lawmakers Move to Impeach President Piñera over Pandora Papers Revelations, African Asylum Seekers File Civil Rights Complaint Against ICE Over "Cruel, Inhumane" Restraints, House Memo Shines Spotlight on Police Use of Tear Gas, a Chemical Banned in…
(2021-10-15). Xi Jinping: China's Way of Fighting Coronavirus for Stability, Growth. orinocotribune.com For over a year, the ravaging pandemic has put policymakers worldwide under the same unprecedented test: how to manage the intricate balance between safeguarding public health and mitigating the economic impacts. | Once the worst hit by the coronavirus, but now one of the very first to have contained the epidemic and restarted its economy, China has provided a clear and proven solution to the dilemma. | Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, with Xi Jinping at its core, the country has walked a fine line between virus control and economic reopening, saved lives at all cos…
(2021-10-15). Israeli companies getting increasingly interested in Russian market — Lavrov. tass.com Despite the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, trade between Russia and Israel declined by a modest 3.9% in 2020, while in January-July of this year it grew by 51.8% year-on-year, the minister stressed…
(2021-10-15). The Vaccine Mandate: Is This Becoming a General Strike? globalresearch.ca
(2021-10-15). Selected Articles: Engineered Economic Chaos, "Fake Shortages". Collapse in Industrial Production. globalresearch.ca 
By Worldwide, large sectors of industry, agriculture a…
(2021-10-15). Kyrie Irving On No-Jab-No-Job Vaccine Mandate: I'm Not Going To Be Used In This Agenda. moguldom.com NBA star Kyrie Irving remains a vaccine holdout even though his team, the Brooklyn Nets, won't let him play until he gets jabbed. Irving finally spoke about the controversy around his vaccination status earlier this week on an Instagram Live broadcast — his first public comments in more than two weeks. He said his decision …
(2021-10-15). Friday 10/22: Pursuing Equity In Global Distribution Of COVID-19 Vaccine. indybay.org Online event (FREE)…
(2021-10-15). Chicago Set to Lose 50% or More of Police Force at Midnight Tonight as Police Union Calls Mayor's Bluff on Reporting COVID-19 Vaccine Status. globalresearch.ca
(2021-10-15). Q&A: COVID-19 vaccines in pregnancy. imperial.ac.uk How safe are COVID-19 vaccine in pregnancy, and why is it important to include pregnant women in clinical trials?>
(2021-10-15). The Pentagon's Dilemma: The Covid Vaccine Impairs the Performance of U.S. Fighting Forces. globalresearch.ca "Physician and Army Lieutenant Colonel Theresa Long is a rare, courageous truth-teller willing to probably jeopardize a military career for the greater good. To try and steer the Department of Defense to policies that protect military personnel from dangerous and …
(2021-10-15). Now it has Happened: Vaccinated Pilot Dies in Flight. Emergency Landing and Uproar in the Aviation Industry. globalresearch.ca
(2021-10-15). Soaring Food Prices Drive Hunger Around The World. popularresistance.org The 2021 Global Hunger Index (GHI), published on Thursday, revealed soaring levels of hunger among the poor and working populations around the globe. | The foreword, written by the heads of Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide, the organizations responsible for the GHI, stated that the report "points to a dire hunger situation, a result of the toxic cocktail of the climate crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and increasingly severe and protracted conflicts." | Rising food prices are a critical contributing factor in the growth of world hunger over the past year. Rapidly mounting inflation and the disruption of the su…
(2021-10-15). Global Online Picket Line: Oct 15 school strike. wsws.org Today—October 15, 2021—parents, teachers and workers in countries around the world are once again supporting the call from UK parent Lisa Diaz for a one day school strike to fight against the deadly reopening of schools as the COVID-19 pandemic rages.
(2021-10-15). Northwest Territories grappling with Canada's highest COVID-19 infection rate. wsws.org Until the Delta-driven fourth pandemic wave erupted in early August, the Northwest Territories, which covers much of Canada's far north, had largely escaped the ravages of COVID-19.
(2021-10-15). Pandemic continues to kill in America, while the ruling elite squabbles over mandates. wsws.org While the corporate media and political establishment declare the worst of the pandemic over, the death toll continues at 10,000 or more a week.
(2021-10-15). The Future of Social Security: What If We Make It Bigger? counterpunch.org This year's Social Security Trustees' report includes some fairly large changes from last year, not because of the pandemic, surprisingly, but because of changes to economic projections. Although two of the Trustee positions remain vacant, the Trustees agree that the program's future is still mostly sound. According to their report, if nothing changes, the trust
(2021-10-15). Eyewitness report: Cuba's scientists, medical workers advance fight vs. COVID. liberationnews.org 
After a serious rise in Cuba of illnesses and deaths from COVID-19 during the summer, there are encouraging developments with a steady recovery and downward curve in illnesses and deaths.
(2021-10-15). The WHO Confirms that the Covid-19 PCR Test is Flawed: Estimates of "Positive Cases" are Meaningless. The Lockdown Has No Scientific Basis. globalresearch.ca One year later the WHO retracts. They don't say "We Made a Mistake". It's carefully formulated. While they do not officially deny the validity of their misleading January 2020 guidelines, they recommend RT-PCR "Re-testing" (which everybody knows is an impossibility).
(2021-10-15). Funeral Rites for COVID Zero. asia-pacificresearch.com
(2021-10-15). Australia: Victorian Health Department report attempts to deny government responsibility for COVID-19 hospital infections. wsws.org The report into the 2020 COVID outbreaks in Melbourne documents 277 hospital-acquired infections and 84 deaths.
(2021-10-15). Australian reports reveal deepening impoverishment in COVID disaster. wsws.org Of the participants in the survey of people trying to survive on government income support payments, almost everyone (96 percent) said they were struggling with basic living costs.
(2021-10-15). COVIDSafe: the failure of an app. greenleft.org.au Binoy Kampmark argues that the shortcomings of the COVIDSafe app provide a lesson in exaggerated prowess and diminished performance.
(2021-10-15). Maryland, Ohio and Pennsylvania educators support October 15 school strike and the fight to eradicate COVID-19! wsws.org Our committee supports the growing strike wave in the US and around the world and fully endorses the October 15 global school strike against the reckless return to in-person learning.
(2021-10-15). The Haitian Migration Crisis: Made in the U.S.A. strategic-culture.org 
By Ashley SMITH | Through his administration's recent policies towards Haiti and Haitian migrants, President Joe Biden is carrying out a crime against humanity. Unfortunately, this represents continuity in a decades-long, bi-partisan policy toward Haiti. | Biden recently ordered the breakup of a camp of 15,000 mainly Black Haitian migrants under a border bridge in Del Rio, Texas. The migrants—many of whom had traveled thousands of miles—had fled to the U.S. in the hopes of being granted asylum from the horrific oppression and exploitation they face in Haiti, Chile, Brazil, and other states in the regi…
(2021-10-15). México acuerda con Cuba adquirir vacuna Abdala contra Covid-19. telesurtv.net El mandatario mexicano destacó que las relaciones de cooperación con Cuba se basan en el desarrollo y solidaridad internacional.
(2021-10-15). Engineered Economic Chaos, "Fake Shortages". Collapse in Industrial Production. southfront.org 
Illustrative image | Whistleblower: Los Angeles Port Worker Says Shortages Are Fake! | Written by Prof Michel Chossudovsky and Stew Peters; Originally published on The global economy is in crisis. The Covid-19 Lockdown policies have triggered a process of Worldwide economic destabilization which directly affects both "Supply" and "Demand" relations. It's the most serious economic crisis…
(2021-10-15). La respuesta de La Habana al COVID-19: øCayó la Cuba socialista en la "falsa narrativa" de las grandes farmacéuticas? globalizacion.ca 
Necesitamos ser honestos sobre esta pandemia global que tiene una agenda no tan oculta para llevar a la civilización de regreso a la edad oscura. Es fácil ver lo que está sucediendo a nuestro alrededor con las constantes mentiras sobre…
(2021-10-15). Sri Lankan educators and students support today's global school strike. wsws.org A grade 11 student from Kandy said: "I'd like to go to school with my friends but I'll never sacrifice the lives of myself and my friends to this deadly virus."
(2021-10-15). The Italian government confronts a new test: fascism in the streets. mronline.org 
Here is the "eternal fascism" that Umberto Eco warned us against, when he explicated the symptoms of the virus that made Italy the incubator, and then the European model, of an anti-parliamentary regime, violent, anti-freedom, anti-Semitic and warmongering.
(2021-10-15). The Heat: UN Biodiversity Conference. america.cgtn.com 
It's described as a defining challenge of our time — protecting plants and animals in their fragile habitats. Now, China and more than 100 countries are promising to take action.
(2021-10-15). The United States Must Rejoin the Global Biodiversity Conservation Community. counterpunch.org After a long stretch of public inattention, biodiversity conservation is a hot topic again, as if we had suddenly been jolted into awareness that our survival as a species, too, depends on the flourishing of all the other nonhuman beings who inhabit this Earth. Articles and op-eds are now filling print and online spaces. This,