FT Says “Anti-Vax Sentiment” in the West Being Fueled by Russia & China

<p><strong>In a report that advocates governments using “psychological operations” against their own population, the Financial Times asserts, with no proof, that Russia and China are responsible for pushing “anti-vax sentiment” and criticism of lockdown measures in the west.</strong></p> <p>The <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/1e030bbb-a074-4fbd-94c5-94fe579a9a8a">article</a> quotes Mikael Tofvesson, head of the Swedish Navy’s new Psyops division, who says “foreign aggressors” are trying to “sow division by targeting areas of public concern such as crime, Covid vaccinations, the government’s response to the pandemic, and immigration.”</p> <p>“The most important task in psychological defence is to inoculate the population against believing false information,” states the article, which is written by Elisabeth Braw of the American Enterprise Institute, a neo-con think tank.</p> <p>Such measures were deployed in the United Kingdom during the first lockdown, when scientists in the UK working as advisors for the government <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/14/scientists-admit-totalitarian-use-fear-control-behaviour-covid/">admitted</a> using what they now admit to be “unethical” and “totalitarian” methods of instilling fear in the population in order to control behavior during the pandemic.</p> <p>One scientist with the SPI-B admitted that, “In March [2020] the Government was very worried about compliance and they thought people wouldn’t want to be locked down. There were discussions about fear being needed to encourage compliance, and decisions were made about how to ramp up the fear.”</p> <p>Of course, contrary to the claims in the article, the primary goal of psychological operations, whether directed against an enemy or a domestic population, is to instill fear and change behavior – telling the truth is hardly a priority.</p> <p>Far from dispelling “false information,” psychological operations routinely rely on using false information to influence and manipulate “the enemy.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="5.7553956834532"> <p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">Psy-Ops are a crucial weapon in the war against disinformation <a href="https://t.co/Wv0FHYGjfH">https://t.co/Wv0FHYGjfH</a> | opinion</p> <p>— Financial Times (@FT) <a href="https://twitter.com/FT/status/1480939293380071427?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 11, 2022</a></p> </blockquote> <p>“Psychological operations have long been a part of military operations, and are typically defined as the use of propaganda and other methods to influence the attitudes and behavior of foreign adversaries,” <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2022/01/12/financial-times-psy-ops-are-crucial-weapon-against-disinformation/">writes</a> Allum Bokhari.</p> <p>“What the FT is advocating — and what many have long suspected — is the use of these techniques by western military, security, and intelligence forces against their own citizens.”</p> <p>“Hostile states including Russia, China and Iran have increased their use of disinformation and online propaganda to amplify anti-vax sentiment and foment political tensions in Europe and the US,” Braw claims.</p> <p>However, the report contains no evidence whatsoever that Russia and China are responsible for any coordinated attempt to sow doubts about COVID-19 vaccines or lockdown measures.</p> <p>Indeed, the mere fact that the newspaper complains about “disinformation” in the context of COVID-19 conspiracy theories is pretty rich given that the constantly invoked ‘Russian collusion’ charge is itself a baseless conspiracy theory.</p> <p>In reality, concerns about vaccine side-effects, giving vaccines to children and mandating vaccines and COVID passports as part of the growing bio-security police state are perfectly valid concerns shared by millions of people across the west.</p> <p>The FT is a staunchly globalist newspaper of record for the international elite and is routinely represented at the annual Bilderberg conference.</p> <p>It can hardly be trusted to represent the interests of the common man.</p> <p><strong>SUBSCRIBE on YouTube:</strong></p> <p>Follow on Twitter:</p> <p>———————————————————————————————————————</p> <p>Brand <strong>new merch</strong> now available! Get it at <a href="https://www.pjwshop.com/"><strong>https://www.pjwshop.com/</strong></a></p> <p><a href="https://www.pjwshop.com/"><img alt="PJW Shop" border="0" height="600" src="https://cdn.summit.news/2021/07/merch.jpg" width="348" /></a></p> <p><strong>ALERT!</strong></p> <p>In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch.</p> <p>I need you to sign up for my free newsletter <a href="https://summit.news/newsletter">here</a>.</p> <p>Support my sponsor – <a href="https://bit.ly/TURBOFORCE">Turbo Force</a> – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown.</p> <p>Get early access, exclusive content and behinds the scenes stuff by following me on <a href="https://pauljosephwatson.locals.com/"><strong>Locals</strong></a>.</p> <p>———————————————————————————————————————</p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://summit.news/2022/01/13/ft-says-anti-vax-sentiment-in-the-west-being-fueled-by-russia-china/">https://summit.news/2022/01/13/ft-says-anti-vax-sentiment-in-the-west-being-fueled-by-russia-china/</a>

revolution summit FT Says “Anti-Vax Sentiment” in the West Being Fueled by Russia & China

In a report that advocates governments using “psychological operations” against their own population, the Financial Times asserts, with no p...

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Video: MSNBC’s Reid AGAIN Calls For Denying Medical Care To The Unvaccinated

<p><strong>MSNBC hack Joy Reid took a break from race baiting Thursday night to once again call for any one who remains unvaccinated to be denied medical care and for them to be made into an underclass.</strong></p> <p>Along with MSNBC medical contributor and apparent Dr Fauci fangirl Dr. Lipi Roy, Reid first attacked Senator Rand Paul for <a href="https://summit.news/2022/01/13/rand-paul-labels-fauci-juvenile-political-creature-for-playing-the-victim/">again daring to question Anthony Fauci.</a></p> <p>The pair accused Paul of displaying “insane, atrocious vitriol,” and suggested that the Senator, who is a qualified physician, is not really doctor, reasoning that “he does not exude any of the qualities that doctors and nurses possess, empathy, compassion, and a penchant for science and data to drive health care policies.”</p> <p>Reid claimed that Paul “create[d] his own accreditation” and “didn’t get it from, like, a regular place,” so “I wouldn’t let him operate on me if I was desperate.”</p> <p>Roy asserted that Paul’s attempted takedowns of Fauci have prompted “people like me and my fellow health care professionals double down on what we are doing.”</p> <p>The pair then discussed what can be done to punish the unvaccinated, suggesting that they should be <a href="https://summit.news/2022/01/11/ikea-says-it-will-cut-sick-pay-for-the-unvaccinated/">paid less sick pay in their jobs</a>, and treated the same way smokers are and charged “up to 50 percent more” for health insurance.</p> <p>Roy also suggested that if the unvaccinated need medical attention, they should be placed on “a triage list” and not attended to as a priority.</p> <p>“We still need to get them vaccinated,” Roy declared, adding “I think we need to find other measures and mandates and other measures to really get them to get vaccinated.”</p> <div class="BRfKyf2B"><a href="https://www.infowarsstore.com/specials-clearance/new-years-super-special?ims=cuzeh&utm_campaign=heronewyear&utm_source=Infowars+Hero&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=heronewyear" target="_blank"><img src="https://api.directus.libertycdn.com/uploads/_/originals/3-InfowarsNewyearsSpecial-hero-385.jpg" /></a></div> <p>Reid seemed to disagree, stating that she has “given up” and wants to see those who “have done the right thing for two years” prioritised in society over those who, in her opinion, have not.</p> <p>Reid proclaimed “At a certain point, the people who have done all the right things need to get to be able to live their lives normally and if people don’t want to get vaccinated, they need to be willing to kick in and pay for their own risk…[Y]ou want to jump out of a plane? You pay for that risk. Don’t make the rest of us have to pay for it and lose our health system.”</p> <p>Watch:</p> <p>Again is it any wonder this stuff is being <a href="https://summit.news/2021/12/29/lol-cnn-lost-another-38-of-viewers-in-2021/">turned off</a> by most Americans and reportedly about to be <a href="https://summit.news/2022/01/07/insiders-say-msnbc-race-baiter-joy-reid-is-finally-being-taken-off-the-air/">pulled off the airwaves</a> altogether?</p> <p>———————————————————————————————————————</p> <p><strong>ALERT!</strong> In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch.</p> <p>We need you to sign up for our free newsletter <a href="http://summit.news/newsletter">here</a>.</p> <p>Support our sponsor – <a href="https://bit.ly/TURBOFORCE">Turbo Force</a> – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown.</p> <p>Also, we urgently need your financial support <a href="https://www.subscribestar.com/paul-joseph-watson">here</a>. ———————————————————————————————————————</p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/video-msnbcs-reid-again-calls-for-denying-medical-care-to-the-unvaccinated">https://www.infowars.com/posts/video-msnbcs-reid-again-calls-for-denying-medical-care-to-the-unvaccinated</a>

news Video: MSNBC’s Reid AGAIN Calls For Denying Medical Care To The Unvaccinated

MSNBC hack Joy Reid took a break from race baiting Thursday night to once again call for any one who remains unvaccinated to be denied medic...

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Is Covax finally going to vaccinate the world?

<p>Last September, the World Health Organization and the United Nations laid out a <a href="http://who.int/news/item/07-10-2021-who-un-set-out-steps-to-meet-world-covid-vaccination-targets">roadmap</a> to end the pandemic. The key goal: having every country in the world achieve at least 40 percent vaccination coverage against Covid-19 by the end of 2021, and 70 percent by mid-2022.</p> <p>One major player in that effort has been Covax. A global vaccine distribution project co-led by the WHO, Covax was <a href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/covax-explained">billed</a> by one sponsor as the “world’s best hope of bringing the acute phase of this pandemic to a swift end.” However, it has been plagued with <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22440986/covax-challenges-covid-19-vaccines-global-inequity">problems</a> since its inception — <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22440986/covax-challenges-covid-19-vaccines-global-inequity">namely insufficient funds, insufficient supply, and insufficient willingness</a> from rich countries to share vaccines. These <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22440986/covax-challenges-covid-19-vaccines-global-inequity">struggles</a> have hampered the global fight against Covid-19.</p> <p>But there’s a glimmer of hope. Covax ended the year strong: December brought a last-minute <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/01/covid-covax-doses-delivered/">surge</a> of deliveries, with about 300 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines shipped to 144 mostly low- and middle-income countries. That is roughly a third of the total of vaccine doses Covax delivered in 2021 — in only one month.</p> <div class="c-float-right"> <div> <div class="c-entry-sidebar"> <p>Twice a week, we’ll send you a roundup of the best ideas and solutions for tackling the world’s biggest challenges — and how to get better at doing good. <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect-newsletter" data-analytics-viewport="related-story" data-analytics-link="related-story">Sign up here</a>.</p> </div> </div> </div> <p>As the Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/01/covid-covax-doses-delivered/">reported</a>, much of this surge can be attributed to an increase in the supply of vaccine doses to Covax, particularly with long-delayed donations from high-income countries and pharmaceutical companies like Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer, and BioNTech.</p> <p>That’s welcome news, not just for the countries that received them, but also for the world. <a href="https://www.who.int/campaigns/vaccine-equity">Vaccine equity</a> would most directly prevent sickness and death in low- and middle-income countries, but it would also give the virus <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22598415/covid-vaccinate-world-virus-variant-delta-lambda">fewer opportunities to mutate</a> and produce variants like delta and omicron.</p> <p>Even with the late surge, though, the total number of vaccines delivered in 2021 — 900 million — amounts to less than half of <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/covax-joint-statement-call-action-equip-covax-deliver-2-billion-doses-2021-0">Covax’s original target</a> of sending at least 2 billion doses by the end of 2021. “We’re very far from the 70 percent vaccination rate in low-income countries,” says Amanda Glassman, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, adding that reaching that level soon would require a “huge lift” in terms of <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/28-10-2021-new-act-accelerator-strategy-calls-investment">financing</a> for booster doses and delivery. “We’re still not serious as a world about paying for the stuff and getting it done.”</p> <p>Almost <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-vaccinations-tracker.html">three-fourths of all Covid-19 vaccine shots</a> administered thus far have gone into the arms of people in high- and upper-middle-income countries, with <a href="https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker/?areas=gbr&areas=isr&areas=usa&areas=eue&areas=are&areas=chn&areas=chl&cumulative=1&doses=total&populationAdjusted=1">more booster doses in high-income countries having been administered than total doses</a> in low-income countries. While <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=OWID_WRL">59.4 percent of the global population</a> has received at least one dose so far, only <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations">9.5 percent of people in low-income countries</a> have received that much coverage. Experts have denounced this state of affairs as the product of <a href="https://www.vox.com/21327487/covid-19-vaccine-coronavirus-trump-us-china-competition">nationalism</a> and extreme global <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/11/28/1059649438/as-new-covid-19-variant-spreads-human-rights-lawyer-points-to-vaccine-apartheid">inequality</a>.</p> <figure class="e-image"><span class="e-image__inner"><span class="e-image__image" data-original="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1642094778_1863_55848" data-cdata='{"asset_id":23164607,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OU-JzHud3WL5M4vY63Ujhy7dqYQ=/0x0:3400x2400/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/X4K564xcS7UJGju3L7h67ChUCck=/0x0:3400x2400/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jbmISXXCIaU0NGMBLdAayJ3Kge8=/0x0:3400x2400/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/UOe46baDnznF38PPHVthXNOS4gY=/0x0:3400x2400/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IjLu3PQ1tz6qr9W4n__GtHr7Pgk=/0x0:3400x2400/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vUU2AjZgTetD22yAyLsiD3jGEO0=/0x0:3400x2400/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/r2MfwhjIIvnnK9TFtguaAfsDcE8=/0x0:3400x2400/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/LXHvvGKKQ5PY5oMA7QH80DgV98s=/0x0:3400x2400/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/FWBznzWuK1tVja9VEwbbPWVU0Ek=/0x0:3400x2400/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img alt="Chart: Share of people vaccinated against Covid-19, by country income level. " data-upload-width="3400" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/p7kkkTfzA3qQrX-O9Ormkqatacg=/0x0:3400x2400/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png" srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/NV5qUToWeZ-NU3jVLlDfmvkRnCs=/0x0:3400x2400/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-_xQqOJgk4E8m8KiK-W7RmoP0wc=/0x0:3400x2400/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3fkrKv8nY2Id3o-Pi1QFAsb4Tyw=/0x0:3400x2400/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IpTRVmnnfA0_8Z6v3n0dL99rohc=/0x0:3400x2400/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Fn0QwK-sOY80htfl8_bqn3UcIHo=/0x0:3400x2400/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OJP6TnxR6V5q_qNMaIIpXTlGTJo=/0x0:3400x2400/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/7goFBzkrQey9P0GPYlXt4VKBovE=/0x0:3400x2400/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/XBrvveMrtTJZriz5FK1codKI9NE=/0x0:3400x2400/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/obPZKJ9mIMiHGnmHnjGaex8rl_k=/0x0:3400x2400/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23164607/coronavirus_data_explorer__11_.png 1920w" /></picture></span></span> <span class="e-image__meta"><cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explorer?facet=none&Metric=People+vaccinated+%28by+dose%29&Interval=7-day+rolling+average&Relative+to+Population=true&Color+by+test+positivity=false&country=Lower+middle+income~Low+income~Upper+middle+income~High+income" target="_blank">Our World in Data</a></cite></span></figure> <p>Nevertheless, this late 2021 surge in vaccine deliveries could be a hopeful sign that a key vessel for global vaccination efforts is finally righting itself. With improvements in supply and delivery, Covax has the potential to help the world reach greater vaccination coverage. But all of this hinges on Covax getting this right <strong>—</strong> and that few further storms appear on the horizon for the project.</p> <p>Covax is an initiative led by three groups. There’s the WHO; Gavi, a public-private group that works on getting people in developing countries vaccinated; and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a project co-founded by the Gates Foundation that seeks to make vaccines available in the event of outbreaks. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is also organizing the delivery of vaccines.</p> <p>Rich countries <a href="https://time.com/6096172/covax-vaccines-what-went-wrong/">were supposed</a> to pool funding through Covax to negotiate deals for and finance multiple vaccine candidates, increasing the chances of effective ones being developed. At the same time, some of that financing was intended to allow Covax itself to purchase vaccines for poorer countries that couldn’t afford them. In addition, Covax was also supposed to gather vaccines via donations from nonprofits, businesses, and countries, in order to further shore up its supply.</p> <p>But all that didn’t quite pan out. Rich countries <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22440986/covax-challenges-covid-19-vaccines-global-inequity">not only faltered</a> in their funding commitments to Covax, they also struck their own bilateral deals with pharmaceutical companies, even as Covax was still fundraising. That left the group with little supply to buy once it did raise funds. And even when rich nations amassed more vaccines than they needed, they <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3159712/covax-chief-warns-against-replay-covid-19-vaccine-nationalism?module=perpetual_scroll_0&pgtype=article&campaign=3159712">were slow</a> to donate the extras.</p> <figure class="e-image"><span class="e-image__inner"><span class="e-image__image" data-original="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1642094778_641_55849" data-cdata='{"asset_id":23153097,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/RyT81f_meaFGOtgEvZiO4DiggNg=/0x0:3400x2400/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/s3fs42zU9Zc6FRIDC74KpKnZ99k=/0x0:3400x2400/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/m7jz4sfZmzik5BJWypet_D4nLbM=/0x0:3400x2400/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/i7hjflvDJE15oIN5DWE1qXqipu4=/0x0:3400x2400/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3TqcvJ1lIMMUxw7yj619c7jBq1s=/0x0:3400x2400/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2DOeAQWZVtNegXQ6IebUTDE2mso=/0x0:3400x2400/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VOvVAM-dqcFl8HcZFQkuJUXAhZ8=/0x0:3400x2400/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/J8Qu6IAzmrsfZRkPco--8t9Ha9w=/0x0:3400x2400/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/aB9B91-W_Rfda36_wAtor4lh57s=/0x0:3400x2400/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img alt="" data-upload-width="3400" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IUiwowZbJigkZqMBHM0awV71Mh0=/0x0:3400x2400/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png" srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xCTlvMQ3D3GrLx0CKYkDpGNeh_o=/0x0:3400x2400/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/B_9mkvnXk24Yt0UmroV8PT1qJEI=/0x0:3400x2400/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VUg3TdUmcoxjWyMVz7cB0Yh43iY=/0x0:3400x2400/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qyZniAUO6dr808SZNsDng8QeUPo=/0x0:3400x2400/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/1wjg6rz2Z1wJN24gle8RbvshnEY=/0x0:3400x2400/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/d5s5eb1Y519eaO0sgbkLOyS2-eE=/0x0:3400x2400/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/1pqQWvZ2p4323GnzL1d4xFZsEvU=/0x0:3400x2400/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CquU7VXqyYbjxyRS5IDINCF2I7s=/0x0:3400x2400/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CMmDrymD62qLvTnwYhT5_RDcVhA=/0x0:3400x2400/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3400x2400):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153097/covax_donations.png 1920w" /></picture></span></span> <figcaption><span class="e-image__meta">Covid-19 vaccine doses donated to Covax by country. Data is current as of November 29, 2021, and may not fully reflect the surge of donations late last year.</span></figcaption> <span class="e-image__meta"><cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/covax-donations?country=FRA~ESP~SWE~USA~CAN~NOR~NZL~GBR~DNK~CHE~ITA~DEU~PRT~ARE~BEL~European+Union~JPN~NLD~FIN~HKG~IRL" target="_blank">Our World In Data</a></cite></span></figure> <p>Pharmaceutical companies similarly underdelivered on the <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/pharmaceutical-companies-and-rich-nations-delivering-just-one-seven-doses-promised">commitments they had made</a> to Covax. A <a href="https://app.box.com/s/hk2ezb71vf0sla719jx34v0ehs0l22os">report</a> by the People’s Vaccine Alliance — a coalition of organizations and activists campaigning for the sharing of knowledge and technology related to Covid-19 vaccines, treatments, and tests — found that neither AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, nor Johnson and Johnson “have sold more than 25 percent of their vaccine supply (agreed through contracts)” to Covax as of October 2021.</p> <p>Groups like Oxfam International <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/pharmaceutical-companies-and-rich-nations-delivering-just-one-seven-doses-promised">suspect</a> this is because these companies “put their rich customers at the front of the line.” And when vaccine doses finally did make it to poorer countries, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/12/30/too-many-covid-19-vaccine-doses-are-being-wasted">too many of them</a> were <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/minister-says-nigeria-had-only-weeks-use-some-donated-vaccines-2021-12-08/">close to expiration</a>, leaving little time to get shots into arms. A <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2021/10/08/how-covax-failed-on-its-promise-to-vaccinate-the-world/">joint investigation</a> in October by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Stat News also found that Covax had contributed less than 5 percent of all vaccines administered globally.</p> <p>“The reality is that Covax purchased a bit later than the high-income countries, and bet on Indian manufacturers given their limited resources,” Glassman says. When those Indian vaccines failed to pan out because of the devastating delta surge in that country, another expected source of doses dried up. “It’s not surprising that they didn’t get the deliveries they hoped for during [2021].”</p> <p>But if Covax’s performance to date has been underwhelming, the surge in activity in late 2021 has renewed hopes that it’s turned the corner.</p> <p>Olly Cann, director of communications at Gavi, believes that the end-of-year surge in shipments is indeed a hopeful sign that the pace of vaccine distribution will pick up for Covax this year. “We do have genuine momentum when it comes to delivering doses into the countries that we serve,” he says. “We’re now in a situation where we can now meet the demand” of the low- and middle-income countries that Covax is prioritizing.</p> <p>A major reason for that optimism is in seeing positive signs in India, a <a href="https://fortune.com/2021/09/23/india-worlds-biggest-vaccine-manufacturer-15-percent-vaccinated-covid/">major vaccine producer</a> and the main supplier of vaccines to Covax. Due to the devastating <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/22628806/india-covid-19-cases-deaths-delta-variant">second wave of Covid-19 that hit India last spring</a>, the country focused its efforts on vaccinating its own citizens and had banned exports of doses, which Cann notes was “a severe blow to us at the time.”</p> <p>The country finally <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-serum-institute-resumes-covishield-vaccine-exports-under-covax-facility-2021-11-26/">resumed exports to Covax</a> at the end of November. Along with the WHO’s long-awaited <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/novavax-s-long-awaited-covid-19-vaccine-authorizations-offer-alternative-mrna">emergency approval</a> of the vaccine developed by US-based Novavax, whose manufacturing partner for Covax is the Serum Institute of India. and which doesn’t require the cold storage needed by mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, Covax is “back in business,” Glassman says.</p> <p>She expects India’s shipments to Covax to continue for the next three months at least, adding that even with Omicron, India may not need to resort to export bans again now that <a href="https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/vaccination-rollout-and-access/">62 percent of Indians have received at least one dose</a>.</p> <p>Another problem with Covax is that it was initially developed as a procurement and shipping effort for vaccines, but not a delivery effort — meaning actually getting shots into arms. “Waiting for a delivery is a big deal, obviously, because the longer the wait, the more disease and deaths there will be,” Glassman says.</p> <p>But Covax deliveries are now ramping up, as shipments from India are finally reaching recipient countries and also because the international community is finally starting to address this problem of delivery. Glassman also notes that last month, Covax’s leadership <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-and-who-partnership-gavi-ask-ted-chaiban-serve-global-lead-coordinator-covid">appointed</a> Ted Chaiban, the regional director for the Middle East and North Africa for Unicef, to serve as the organization’s global coordinator for vaccine readiness and delivery. In her view, this reflects a shift in Covax’s strategy toward actually administering vaccines in recipient countries.</p> <figure class="e-image"><span class="e-image__inner"><span class="e-image__image" data-original="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1642094778_644_55850" data-cdata='{"asset_id":23153390,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kW4Fu4QAil4kSbjDOl8_mD6hXhQ=/0x0:3686x2438/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HrUUCNzHXQW5dnOHoXUn7H7vFyI=/0x0:3686x2438/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3lHLB3mH1F64qNNbdleQndOJKb8=/0x0:3686x2438/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Vu0PKGPV8WfLIuDv7DOoSgen9iU=/0x0:3686x2438/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ffxqm-CzWfg5ZfzTYbdZyJjgT5w=/0x0:3686x2438/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fEZhqkD3BmYXi2gh4hoW7DNhrfA=/0x0:3686x2438/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/esE5hJQGi8Lfx7I92h5lzs98Kfw=/0x0:3686x2438/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/n2u3MFT5mjiYyJAcrCZggIMJxaA=/0x0:3686x2438/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Y0uc4yx5dahtkcOD8R3lnQkz7mM=/0x0:3686x2438/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img alt="SUDAN-HEALTH-VIRUS-VACCINE" data-upload-width="3686" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/AG3spQ5NjMw-DcejKHmviUEdlFY=/0x0:3686x2438/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg" srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HTsXWeWgq5E8_Vflm1qXVQby4cY=/0x0:3686x2438/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xM_HwgeQgycq_KOS4MXSNaP0t4s=/0x0:3686x2438/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5Mi8Ao_5rhGbM0Dfh2yr3IXirlk=/0x0:3686x2438/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/LHqxByFgesZlU-5ZGbto99vxpv8=/0x0:3686x2438/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Qey9lnw-NDVh_YWzhu1VHdLsf8I=/0x0:3686x2438/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VkuOvIFanwgtxJeSWqHTl4ZHNHA=/0x0:3686x2438/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/W_-ootAqSH2orWzWy1uJ9CEVaFQ=/0x0:3686x2438/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/d-wJfu0GJfrxx72LUvQk4qlZJy4=/0x0:3686x2438/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xzGhlY590JBjp0VXhJh9FT2pks8=/0x0:3686x2438/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3686x2438):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23153390/1235731054.jpg 1920w" /></picture></span></span> <figcaption><span class="e-image__meta">Aid workers check a shipment of Covid-19 vaccines sent by Covax to Khartoum, Sudan, on October 6, 2021.</span></figcaption> <span class="e-image__meta"><cite>Ebrahim Hamid/AFP via Getty Images</cite></span></figure> <p>Despite the recent good news, it’s highly unlikely that Covax will enable the WHO to reach its goal of 70 percent global vaccination by mid-year. While supply constraints have eased, financing is still a challenge, as high-income countries have remained <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/2021-vaccine-inequity/">unwilling</a> to share enough funds or resources for low- and middle-income countries to acquire or make the vaccines themselves.</p> <p>But there are also questions about how practical that 70 percent vaccination coverage threshold is — both for the rich nations meant to be funding Covax and the poorer countries meant to receive vaccines. Governments in lower-income countries with younger populations (who are less susceptible to hospitalization and death from Covid-19) are overwhelmed by many competing priorities, such as poverty, hunger, and other diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria. Glassman and Cann both mentioned that the 70 percent vaccination goal may not just be out of reach, but also simply not the best allocation of limited resources.</p> <p>Cann also notes that Covax was never meant to be the solitary silver bullet to solve the issue of vaccine equity.</p> <p>“What we were set up to do was to cover the most vulnerable groups as quickly as possible,” Cann says. “That’s why we initially focused on the 20 percent coverage of the [highest priority low- and middle-income recipient] countries. This is roughly 950 million doses. We’re actually quite close to this now, and we’ll have delivered that number in the coming days, if not weeks.”</p> <p>Meeting its goals will also depend on whether Covax will be pushed down the priority list again <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/03/31/world/global-vaccine-supply-inequity.html">in favor of</a> high-income countries, as the latter now aim to <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2021/12/13/we-have-enough-covid-vaccines-for-most-of-world-but-rich-countries-stockpiling-more-than-they-need/">shore up supplies of vaccines</a> to administer booster shots for their populations.</p> <p>“The big problem we’ve had, and still to a degree do, is that it’s been very, very hard to get transparency from manufacturers on when doses are going to be coming to us,” Cann says. “It’s difficult for us to be confident that we’re not being pushed to the back of the queue, or being deprioritized over bilateral deals.”</p> <p>Ultimately, Glassman believes that the optimistic scenario is that there are “orders in place, there’s manufacturing under way to meet those orders, and then it’s just a matter of time and effort for the shots to get from airports into arms.”</p> <p>Covax has a long way to go though if it wants to achieve the WHO’s goal, and it’s likely the poorest countries in the world won’t achieve 70 percent vaccination <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01762-w">until 2023</a> at current rates of delivery.</p> <p>That said, countries in the Global South also may not need to keep waiting on Covax. They are already pursuing other avenues to vaccinate their populations, from pushing for a <a href="https://msfaccess.org/one-year-after-first-shot-pharma-must-urgently-share-tech-covid-19-vaccines">patent waiver</a> at the World Trade Organization to encourage technology transfer, to shoring up their own <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/south-africas-biovac-start-making-pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine-early-2022-2021-12-06/">domestic manufacturing</a> capabilities (including for <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/10/19/1047411856/the-great-vaccine-bake-off-has-begun">mRNA vaccines</a>) to seeking out other vaccine sources.</p> <p>And there was one more development of note at the very end of 2021: <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-covid-vaccine-for-all/">CORBEVAX</a>, a vaccine created by Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, was licensed for use without patents and had its technology transferred immediately to Biological E. Limited, an Indian pharmaceutical manufacturer. One of the key people behind the project, Dr. Peter Hotez, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-covid-vaccine-for-all/">claimed available CORBEVAX doses will soon surpass</a> in number the vaccine doses donated so far by the US government or any other G7 country.</p> <p>Given the enormous need — both to protect vulnerable people in the poorest nations and prevent the rise of new variants — the world must pursue every possible channel to get shots into arms and truly end the Covid-19 pandemic. Though Covax is showing signs of turning the corner, it may end up playing a smaller role than what the international community had originally envisioned for it in 2020.</p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22872438/covax-omicron-covid-19-vaccine-global-inequity">https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22872438/covax-omicron-covid-19-vaccine-global-inequity</a>

vox Is Covax finally going to vaccinate the world?

Last September, the World Health Organization and the United Nations laid out a roadmap to end the pandemic. The key goal: having every cou...

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The empty promise of instant delivery

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Kqp5cDUSwuEv1k8wDI17oo0tA_E=/0x292:5816x3337/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23163893/GettyImages_1232370673.jpg" /></div> <p>As a resident of New York City, I face <a href="https://www.racked.com/2018/1/17/16897160/lines-waiting-history">long lines</a> with a sigh of hardened resignation. I don’t question the absurdity of the experience. Instead, I foolishly consider it a mark of stamina, even if getting a Covid-19 test, as of late, means standing outdoors in 27-degree weather for an hour. Recently, while in a lengthy Starbucks line, my patience wore thin. It dawned on me that this wait was a result of my stubborn preference for buying coffee the old-fashioned way — that there was, in fact, an escape from this humiliating cycle. I could simply place a mobile order, and retrieve it at the store without waiting in line.</p> <p>This kind of frictionless convenience is wildly appealing and seemingly everywhere now; it’s especially pronounced in transactional spaces, whether it be a Starbucks, the local grocery store, or the airport. But there is a trade-off to resetting our expectations, and it looms large. Customers these days feel so entitled — and they are enraged. People are angrier, meaner, and more prone to throwing childish tantrums in front of service staff, as detailed in a recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/01/business/customer-service-pandemic-rage.html">New York Times feature titled</a>, “A nation on hold wants to speak with a manager.” It doesn’t help that we’re two years into a pandemic that has burst the country’s bubble of abundance (read: <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/11/5/22764088/supply-chain-shipping-delays-logistics">supply chain issues</a> and rampant <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2021/11/10/22775092/inflation-cpi-october-economy-biden-fed">inflation</a>).</p> <p>Companies, especially those in public-facing industries, are contending with a shortage of available workers while struggling to meet the old-fashioned service standards set in a very different time. “The meanness of the public has forced many public-facing industries to rethink what used to be an article of faith: that the customer is always right,” wrote the Times’ Sarah Lyall. “If employees are now having to take on many unexpected roles — therapist, cop, conflict-resolution negotiator — then workplace managers are acting as security guards and bouncers to protect their employees.”</p> <p>Some consumer behavior scholars believe that Amazon is to blame for these high (and often impractical) expectations, from one-click buy to one-day shipping. “We call it the Amazonification of business,” said Thomas Hollman, director for Arizona State’s Center for Services Leadership. “Everyone is compared to Amazon in terms of waiting in line, the kinds of customer interactions and knowledge base. This perception is equalizing all kinds of businesses.”</p> <div class="c-float-right"> <aside><q>“Everyone is compared to Amazon in terms of waiting in line”</q></aside> </div> <p>It hasn’t helped that Americans are courted by a growing number of apps and technologies that expedite how they shop. Through mobile orders, instant delivery, automated chatbots, and even <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/10/2/17923050/self-checkout-amazon-walmart-automation-jobs-surveillance">self-checkout kiosks</a>, people are promised immediacy alongside better and faster service. These tools are designed to give the customer a greater sense of control over how they receive their goods. With it comes the pretense of a life efficiently lived — at the expense of digital privacy, money, and tech companies’ brewing influence over our lives. Have you ever given in to a late-night notification encouraging you to order takeout?</p> <p>Venture capital firms are bullish on the emerging and crowded market of <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/21/gopuff-gorillas-and-others-flood-new-york-with-instant-delivery-options.html">ultrafast delivery startups</a>, which have yet to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/fast-grocery-delivery-cant-make-fast-money-11641904381">be profitable</a> without investor help. In substituting human-to-human interactions with human-to-machine transactions, shoppers are opting out of the mundane nuisances involved with running errands or grabbing coffee. This might seem like an individual consumer choice, but it is informed by a post-pandemic retail and service landscape that can be hostile to ordinary shoppers.</p> <p>In October, tech writer Drew Austin remarked how his regular trips to convenience stores and pharmacies in New York City have become <a href="https://kneelingbus.substack.com/p/172-running-up-that-hill">littered with unexpected inconveniences</a>. There are fewer and fewer employees on shift, which means checkout lines are longer. Meanwhile, more merchandise is locked up to compensate for the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/03/stealing-from-self-checkout/550940/">potential increase in theft</a> from the installation of self-service kiosks, which shoppers are encouraged to use to avoid waiting in long lines.</p> <p>This makes for an unpleasant and inexpedient in-person shopping experience at a Walgreens, where one expects to flit in and out without a hitch. “The implicit message of all this, for ordinary customers, is that we should have stayed home and ordered online,” Austin wrote. “These spaces aren’t for us. We’re effectively trespassing in the company’s warehouse.” Manhattan resembles “a post-Covid retail wasteland,” he continued, populated by vacated chain stores that are being converted into instant delivery hubs.</p> <p>New Yorkers, for example, once might’ve needed convincing to try instant grocery delivery or <a href="https://www.eater.com/21540765/ghost-kitchens-virtual-restaurants-covid-19-industry-impact">delivery-only restaurants</a>, dubbed “ghost kitchens” by venture capitalists. The pandemic altered the stakes not just for consumers, who had an incentive to stay home and order, but businesses reexamining the need for traditional retail spaces. Starbucks, according to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/business/retail-vacancies-midtown-manhattan.html">New York Times</a>, has permanently closed 44 of its 235 locations in Manhattan since the start of 2020. It has plans, however, to expand its mobile pickup offerings and add more pickup-only locations.</p> <p>Research from Edge by Ascential, a digital commerce advisory firm, predicts that retailers could dedicate as much as <a href="https://www.retaildive.com/news/stores-may-soon-use-one-third-of-their-space-for-e-commerce-fulfillment-re/603977/">a third of their space</a>, once used for in-person shopping, to fulfilling online orders in coming years. This switch will likely cost businesses <a href="https://www.retaildive.com/news/the-omnichannel-age-is-here-and-its-expensive/597653/">more money</a>, compared to having customers enter a store and pick out the items they want. The way things are heading, though, more and more people are choosing to have items shipped to them and delivered in the same week, day, or even in the next 15 minutes.</p> <p>This preference is not just for everyday necessities like groceries, baby formula, or toilet paper. Direct-to-consumer startups, particularly those in the home goods and food and beverage spaces, are trying to reach urban shoppers through on-demand delivery. “What we’re trying to accomplish with fast commerce is to give people the ability to get as close to instant gratification as we can,” the head of customer experience at Olipop, a low-calorie alternative soda, <a href="https://thingtesting.com/stories/DTC-on-demand-delivery">told Thingtesting</a>. “If consumers are looking for a drink late at night, we want to make sure it’s Olipop.”</p> <p>Despite the booming landscape of instant delivery apps, most have yet to yield sustainable returns for the investors <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/fast-grocery-delivery-cant-make-fast-money-11641904381">pumping them with billions of dollars</a>. As much as Amazon and couriers like DoorDash, Uber, and Gopuff are pushing to turn urban centers into fulfillment centers, complete with ghost kitchens and <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22745054/instagram-boutique-drop-shipping-ghost-stores">ghost brands</a>, stores — and all the nuisances of in-person shopping — will still be around in some capacity. Shoppers still like sauntering through malls, no matter how tech-adjusted they are.</p> <p>Amazon might have won customers over with its blindingly fast delivery standards, but its business model is not free of logistical complexities. One-day shipping is expensive and dependent on a vast, underpaid workforce that smaller retailers can’t afford. “​​What solves all of these problems — the high return rates, the cost-prohibitive last-mile freight, the logistics nightmares, the buyer frustration, and the monumental volume of consumer waste it all sends to landfills — on some level? Stores. Going to a store,” <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/08/amazon-department-stores-prime-shipping/619860/">wrote</a> the Atlantic’s Amanda Mull.</p> <p>At the start of the pandemic, Americans avoided in-person shopping out of necessity. Today, with most businesses more or less reopened, more are choosing to steer clear of stores due to depreciating customer service. It’s a result of the many cost-cutting factors retailers have implemented, from introducing new technologies to understaffing workers. Meanwhile, delivery appears to be an antidote to the chaos of the store, when it actually isn’t, from retailers’ standpoint.</p> <p>Soon, retail employees might be too swamped meeting delivery quotas to be relieved that customers are no longer demanding to speak to a manager. The future of retail wants to offer customers hyperoptimized convenience. But is all of this <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-07/what-instant-delivery-services-could-do-to-cities?sref=ExbtjcSG">actually good for us</a>? And is it financially feasible?</p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22880345/pandemic-shopper-convenience-instant-delivery">https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22880345/pandemic-shopper-convenience-instant-delivery</a>

vox The empty promise of instant delivery

As a resident of New York City, I face long lines with a sigh of hardened resignation. I don’t question the absurdity of the experience. I...

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Danish Newspaper Apologizes For “Hypnotically” Following Government Narrative on COVID

<p><strong>A top Danish newspaper has apologized for “hypnotically” following government narratives on the COVID-19 pandemic, admitting “we failed.”</strong></p> <p>In fact, “we failed” is the very headline used by tabloid outlet Ekstra Bladet, which goes on to admit, “For ALMOST two years, we – the press and the population – have been almost hypnotically preoccupied with the authorities’ daily coronavirus figures.”</p> <p>The newspaper also acknowledged that it had been found wanting on the important issue of parsing numbers of people who died with COVID not from COVID.</p> <p>“WE HAVE NOT been vigilant enough at the garden gate when the authorities were required to answer what it actually meant that people are hospitalized with corona and not because of corona. Because it makes a difference. A big difference,” states the piece.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="3.7260273972603"> <p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">Whoa <a href="https://t.co/QPMsFxnal6">https://t.co/QPMsFxnal6</a></p> <p>— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) <a href="https://twitter.com/bariweiss/status/1481410034894467074?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2022</a></p> </blockquote> <p>The article also asserts that politicians and authorities have ‘lied’ about other aspects of the pandemic and that this has caused the population to lose trust in them.</p> <div class="VD2J8CIv"><a href="https://www.infowarsstore.com/specials-clearance/new-years-super-special?ims=cuzeh&utm_campaign=heronewyear&utm_source=Infowars+Hero&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=heronewyear" target="_blank"><img src="https://api.directus.libertycdn.com/uploads/_/originals/3-InfowarsNewyearsSpecial-hero-385.jpg" /></a></div> <p>The newspaper also pointed out that the efficacy of vaccines to put a halt to the pandemic was vastly overexaggerated by health authorities.</p> <p>“The vaccines are consistently referred to as our ‘superweapon’. And our hospitals are called ‘superhospitals’. Nevertheless, these super-hospitals are apparently maximally pressured, even though almost the entire population is armed with a super-weapon. Even children have been vaccinated on a huge scale, which has not been done in our neighboring countries.”</p> <p>As we previously <a href="https://summit.news/2021/08/03/editor-in-chief-of-germanys-top-newspaper-apologizes-for-fear-driven-covid-coverage/">highlighted</a>, the editor-in-chief of Germany’s top newspaper Bild also apologized for the news outlet’s fear-driven coverage of COVID, specifically to children who were told “that they were going to murder their grandma.”</p> <p>Julian Reichelt said sorry for Bild’s coverage, which was “like poison” and “made you feel like you were a mortal danger to society.”</p> <p>“Will other news outlets have the journalistic integrity to follow suit?” asks <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/we-failed-danish-newspaper-apologizes-publishing-official-covid-19-narratives-without">Zero Hedge</a>.</p> <p>“Perhaps CNN’s ratings wouldn’t be down 90% from last year in the key 25-to-54 demographic if they simply owned up to their complicity in breathlessly spewing government propaganda.”</p> <p>———————————————————————————————————————</p> <p><strong>ALERT!</strong></p> <p>In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch.</p> <p>I need you to sign up for my free newsletter <a href="http://summit.news/newsletter">here</a>.</p> <p>Support my sponsor – <a href="https://bit.ly/TURBOFORCE">Turbo Force</a> – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown.</p> <p>Get early access, exclusive content and behinds the scenes stuff by following me on <a href="https://pauljosephwatson.locals.com/"><strong>Locals</strong></a>.</p> <p>———————————————————————————————————————</p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/danish-newspaper-apologizes-for-hypnotically-following-government-narrative-on-covid">https://www.infowars.com/posts/danish-newspaper-apologizes-for-hypnotically-following-government-narrative-on-covid</a>

news Danish Newspaper Apologizes For “Hypnotically” Following Government Narrative on COVID

A top Danish newspaper has apologized for “hypnotically” following government narratives on the COVID-19 pandemic, admitting “we failed.” I...

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Rand Paul Labels Fauci ‘Juvenile Political Creature’ For Playing The Victim

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://api-assets.infowars.com/2022/01/Screenshot-2022-01-13-at-12.46.24.png" /></div> <p><strong>Following the explosive <a href="https://summit.news/2022/01/12/video-fauci-accuses-rand-paul-of-using-covid-for-political-gain-and-kindling-the-crazies/">latest exchange between Rand Paul and Anthony Fauci</a> Tuesday, Fauci ran to CNN and MSNBC to complain more about how the Senator is attacking him for his own political gain, prompting Paul to label the NIAID head “juvenile”.</strong></p> <p>On Chris Hayes’ show Fauci, stated “What you saw at the hearing today was pure ad hominem. And I called him [Paul] out because that’s exactly what he’s doing: he’s raising money.”</p> <p>Watch:</p> <p>On CNN, Fauci made the same claim:</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"> <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper" readability="7.6048632218845"> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="9.2948328267477"> <p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">As has become his custom, Dr. Fauci takes to CNN following an exchange w/ <a href="https://twitter.com/RandPaul?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RandPaul</a> to complain about his questioning.</p> <p>“It clearly is politically motivated. He’s raising money for his campaign by making me the villain, he calls me a polarizing figure" <a href="https://t.co/st5wfAkdAs">pic.twitter.com/st5wfAkdAs</a></p> — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1481228695943753733?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2022</a></blockquote> </div> </figure> <p>Note that during the hearing Fauci did not present any evidence to counter Paul’s claims that the NIAID Director has continually lied under oath and has actively attempted to shut down scientists and doctors who disagree with him.</p> <p>Fauci attempted to shift the narrative to personal attacks against him.</p> <p>Appearing on Fox News, Paul shot back, claiming that Fauci is now going even beyond saying he ‘is science’ and cannot be questioned, by suggesting that questioning him is encouraging violence.</p> <p>“It was a cheap shot by a politician, not a scientist,” Paul said, further noting “he’s blaming me for a death threat, but when [Republican members of Congress] were shot at by a Bernie Sanders supporter [in 2017], not one Republican stood up and said, oh, this is Bernie Sanders’s fault”.</p> <p>“We were not juvenile enough to do that,” Paul continued, adding “But he [Fauci] came to the hearing today and accused me of somehow inciting some lunatic person.”</p> <p>Paul further urged, “Does he not realise I have people arrested once every month or two who have threatened to attack me, plus I have been attacked, and he’s going to come and blame his attacks on me?”</p> <p>“I think he has lied to the American public. I think that he funded the lab in Wuhan that in all likelihood this virus came from. I think he as ignored natural immunity. I think he has told people to wear a cloth mask when they don’t work,” Paul emphasised.</p> <p>Watch:</p> <figure>[embedded content]</figure> <p>In a further appearance, Paul said of Fauci “He didn’t answer the question why is he smearing these three doctors? I’m proud of the fact people go to RandPaul.com raising money to fire Fauci because he is a menace.”</p> <p>“Everything he said has been incorrect. And I think he is part of the problem, Paul continued, adding “Even from the very beginning the fact that this virus came from a lab in Wuhan he has denied it and worked to cover it up and denigrated anybody who raises this question as a conspiracy theorist.”</p> <p>“So yes, he is a partisan politician and he has no place in any objective role over the pandemic and yeah, it’s a political thing. Whoever wins the election will make the decision whether he stays or goes or whether we investigate where the virus came from in the beginning,” Paul declared.</p> <p>Watch:</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="4.6978723404255"> <p lang="en" dir="ltr" xml:lang="en">DR. 'MENACE': <a href="https://twitter.com/RandPaul?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RandPaul</a> reacts to Fauci lashing out at him during Tuesday's hearing: 'We go after him personally because he attacked others personally with his office.' <a href="https://t.co/gp6hdm9tRL">pic.twitter.com/gp6hdm9tRL</a></p> — Fox News (@FoxNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/1481170330383126530?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2022</a></blockquote> <p>———————————————————————————————————————</p> <p><strong>ALERT!</strong> In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch.</p> <p>We need you to sign up for our free newsletter <a href="http://summit.news/newsletter">here</a>.</p> <p>Support our sponsor – <a href="https://bit.ly/TURBOFORCE">Turbo Force</a> – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown.</p> <p>Also, we urgently need your financial support <a href="https://www.subscribestar.com/paul-joseph-watson">here</a>. ———————————————————————————————————————</p> <br /> <br /> source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/rand-paul-labels-fauci-juvenile-political-creature-for-playing-the-victim">https://www.infowars.com/posts/rand-paul-labels-fauci-juvenile-political-creature-for-playing-the-victim</a>

news Rand Paul Labels Fauci ‘Juvenile Political Creature’ For Playing The Victim

Following the explosive latest exchange between Rand Paul and Anthony Fauci Tuesday, Fauci ran to CNN and MSNBC to complain more about how...

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