Health

Subterms

    More stories

    • 163 Shares99 Views

      in UK Politics

      UK competition watchdog to investigate ‘exploitative behaviour’ among travel PCR Covid test providers

      by

      Prices for travel PCR Covid tests, some of which are exorbitant and vary wildly between providers, have prompted an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).The body was called into action after the health secretary, Sajid Javid, wrote to it asking for a review following reports of “exploitative behaviour” and “unfair practices”.Travelers arriving in the UK are routinely charged hundreds of pounds for Covid tests, with many complaining of inflated prices, missing results and poor customer service. PCRs cost holidaymakers an average of £75 per person in the UK – roughly double the cost of the same type of test in other European countries – and some firms charge almost £400.Travellers returning to the UK from amber- and green-list countries are required to purchase a single PCR test – and those who are unvaccinated and have been in an amber-list country within the previous 10 days must take two tests, on days two and eight. PCR tests are also required before travelling to some countries from the UK.The Independent has heard of private providers offering PCR tests with faulty activation codes, rendering them useless, and firms that do not respond to emails or phone calls leading to delays or test results failing to be returned. Prices for the PCR tests listed on the government’s own website of approved providers range between £17 and £399.In his letter to the CMA sent on Friday and reported in The Sunday Times, Mr Javid called for a “rapid high-level review” and said: “The cost of PCR testing can act as a barrier, especially for families who want to travel together.“It is not right if some families experience yet further disruption unnecessarily because of practices in the market for private travel tests.”Responding to his letter, the CMA said: “We look forward to providing the secretary of state with advice on how best to ensure that travellers have access to tests that are affordable and reliable.”The Independent contacted the CMA for further comment. More

    • 113 Shares119 Views

      in US Politics

      The Republicans confusing the vaccine effort: Politics Weekly Extra

      by

      Jessica Glenza and Jonathan Freedland discuss how party politics is playing a role in helping – and hindering – public health messaging

      How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know

      This week the US reached the milestone of having at least 70% of adults receive at least one Covid-19 vaccination shot. Joe Biden had hoped to achieve this by 4 July, but the vaccine programme has stalled over the summer. The resurgence of the pandemic, owing to the much more transmissible Delta variant, has convinced many people who were once hesitant to get the jab. However, some are blaming mixed messages from Republican lawmakers for causing confusion and apathy. So what should local and state politicians be doing? Jessica Glenza talks to Jonathan Freedland. For the other big news of the week, make sure to listen back to our episode about the Andrew Cuomo scandal and why the New York State governor is facing calls to resign. Archive: ABC News, CNN, LiveNOW Watch This Body – a Guardian documentary Send us your questions and feedback to podcasts@theguardian.com Help support the Guardian by going to gu.com/supportpodcasts More

    • 75 Shares159 Views

      in World Politics

      “Freedom” Failed to Set Americans Free

      by

      A little over a month ago, those who were fully COVID-19 vaccinated in America were feeling pretty good about themselves and their prospects for a summer of wining, dining and a bit of travel. The kiddies, even though unvaccinated, could for some unexplained reason do camp, amusement parks and movies with a return to full in-person schooling to come. And just to show how far we had come in turning back the viral tide, those masks could be washed and stored away to await the next pandemic.

      So, what happened? First, a lot of ignorant and selfish people decided not only to stay that way, but to avoid COVID vaccinations as well. They started getting sick and dying, but not enough of them did so to end the plague. Instead, they just spread the disease, now a highly contagious variant, to other unvaccinated people. Then, something really bad happened: It was soon discovered that those ignorant and selfish people were also spreading the disease to vaccinated people, who just haven’t started dying in large numbers, at least not yet.

      Why the US Will Not Achieve Herd Immunity

      READ MORE

      Meanwhile, the commercial machine and its political allies were ramping up to open everything and let the good times roll. It quickly became hard to find a seat at the bar or a hotel room at the beach. Airports and airplanes were filled again with vacationing families, rental cars were so scarce that it is hard to imagine that turnaround time included a drop of disinfectant, and those ever-popular buffet tables were dusted off for the hungry hoards. Forgetting your mask at home or in the car was deemed to be of little consequence.

      Embed from Getty Images

      The US federal government response was to go all in on vaccines as the obvious path to public health and commercial revitalization. The vaccines are now everywhere to be had and free of charge. The only problem with this plan is that it is playing out in America, where freedom is defined by way too many as not having to do anything you don’t want to do that you can get away with. The well-being of others be damned.

      This situation would be easy to ignore if it involved only a fringe group of pock-marked anti-vaccine individualists whose children regularly get the measles and who never go to school. But this time, for some reason, the vaccine-resistant crowd also includes a large percentage of Republicans who are not pock-marked and whose children get a whole raft of vaccines so they can go to school. Then throw in a bunch of members of religious covens whose leaders are chatting with their god about this issue and then let the flock in on the big secret that their god definitely isn’t vaccinated against COVID-19 (even though there seems to be some disagreement about god’s smallpox vaccination status).

      “Freedom”

      There are more ironies here than I can keep up with. Let’s start with “freedom” of choice. Many of those resistant to vaccines resist government “interference” in personal health choices, even though many of those same people are fully engaged in trying to get that same government to prevent women from making their own reproductive choices. Think about that for a moment.

      More ironic yet, many of those in the “freedom” crowd seem untroubled by most government health mandates, yet all of a sudden, putting a vaccine in their bodies to help themselves and others avoid the ravages of a relentless virus has become some political and social litmus test for them. Seatbelt requirements, drinking and driving prohibitions, no smoking in restaurants, a host of required vaccines for employment, travel and schooling all make the good health mandate list. Meanwhile, mindless resistance to life-saving COVID vaccines and masking requirements has become a right-wing badge of honor, generally until the bodies of right-wing family and friends start piling up.

      Unique Insights from 2,500+ Contributors in 90+ Countries

      However, maybe the grandest irony of all is that the leader of the pack of virus resisters, Donald Trump, is himself fully vaccinated, as are at least his wife and the precious Ivanka. It is bad enough that the Trump clan lied its way to prominence and supposed wealth and that when empowered to do the right thing almost always did the wrong thing. Then, when a pandemic was inserted into the mix, the whole crew conspired to undermine any meaningful national response while over 500,000 people in America died on their watch. While others were gasping for their last breath, Trump got vaccinated just to make sure it wouldn’t be him on that ventilator.

      You would think that as the actions of the Trump clan played out before adoring eyes, those ignorant and selfish acolytes would be pushing others out of the way to get vaccinated. But instead, they can’t wait to parade their “freedom” from vaccine tyranny at every super spreader event they can find, while the vaccinated and protected leader of the pack cheers them on. This seems to work really well until that stairway to heaven leads to a COVID ward in a local hospital surrounded by other ignorant and selfish people, many of whom now use their last breathes to beg for the vaccine.

      Another Wave

      In the face of this insanity, it seems that it is slowly dawning on some public officials that another wave of deadly COVID disease and disorder is closing in. Lots of parents are suddenly worried about their children, some private concerns are worried about something other than their short-term bottom line, and lots of people anticipating a return to crowded workplaces and those already there are staying home. There are even a few people with September travel plans suddenly concerned that playa wherever will be a petri dish when they get there. More importantly, it may be sinking in that there is only one way out of this: mandated vaccines wherever the authority exists to mandate them.

      Embed from Getty Images

      To do this, there can be no more coddling of the ignorant and selfish. Get vaccinated or get out. Everywhere that the federal government has the authority to do so should require proof of vaccine for employment and entry. Start with federal buildings, museums and entertainment venues, airplanes and trains, and the military and military bases. Examine every interstate commerce authority for ways to tighten the vise. No vaccine, no entry, period.

      In those pathetic states and localities where resistance overwhelms public health, everything that can be done to isolate those populations from the rest of us needs to be done. No conventions in Atlanta, no cruise ships docking in Miami, interstate highway dead zones, hotel and restaurant chains shuttering their venues, testing and mask mandates for those who knowingly come in contact with the unvaccinated while engaging in interstate commerce, and no event licenses or advertising dollars to sports and entertainment venues that won’t mandate vaccines for entry.

      If this gets done before the viability of today’s vaccines begins to wane or is crushed by new COVID-19 mutations, Americans, at least, have a chance to put the pandemic behind them. We are lucky that we have this opportunity at all, but we can only take advantage of it if we move swiftly and decisively to mandate vaccines and isolate those who won’t comply. If accomplished, America might then have the moral authority, the scientific and manufacturing strength, and the financial resources to lead the rest of the world to the same place.

      *[This article was co-published on the author’s blog, Hard Left Turn.]

      The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy. More

    • 163 Shares129 Views

      in US Politics

      Contempt for the unvaccinated is a temptation to be resisted | Dan Brooks

      by

      OpinionCoronavirusContempt for the unvaccinated is a temptation to be resistedDan BrooksThe narrative of a dangerously ignorant minority may appeal, but it is not good for democracy Mon 2 Aug 2021 11.50 EDTLast modified on Mon 2 Aug 2021 13.38 EDTThe Covid-19 pandemic was the perfect disaster for our cultural moment, because it made other people being wrong on the internet a matter of life and death.My use of the past tense here is aspirational. The emergence of the more contagious Delta variant threatens to undo a lot of progress – particularly here in the US, where active cases of coronavirus infection are up 149% from two weeks ago. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that fully vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in public spaces. The hope that this summer would mark our return to normal is curdling fast, and the enlightened majority – the fact-based, Facebook-sceptical, and fully vaccinated – are looking for someone to blame.A moralist might argue that the Delta variant is poetic justice in light of the US government’s reluctance to provide free vaccines to places such as India, where it first emerged. The notion that doses should be saved for Americans or exported at profit was selfish and shortsighted, and now the chickens (germs) have come home to roost (sickened millions). But this sort of pitiless self-recrimination is so old-fashioned. The modern person prefers to lay blame where it rests more comfortably: on other, dumber people. Take this tweet from a sportswriter, which implied that the people of Alabama – where the vaccination rate lingers at about 34% – would get the jab if the alternative meant no American football. Such remarks often play on the association between the American south and a certain type of person: culturally conservative, frequently undereducated, more interested in sports on TV than pandemics in the newspaper. This person, a kind of back-formation from various statistical trends, has become a familiar scapegoat during the coronavirus pandemic. They represent the obstinate minority – 30% of adults in the US – whose refusal to get vaccinated threatens to mess up the recovery for the rest of us.This narrative, which has become especially popular among American liberals, excoriates imaginary dummies instead of confronting the problems that have discouraged people from getting the jab. These problems include an employer-based healthcare system that favours professionals with permanent jobs and makes it difficult for many Americans to form trusting relationships with doctors. According to Kaiser Health News, the demographic with the lowest vaccination rate in the United States is uninsured people under the age of 65. The difficulty of reaching this group has been compounded by a world-historical explosion of misinformation and a political culture bent on pandering to it.The insistence, among the Republican leadership in the spring of 2020, that Covid-19 was a glorified version of the flu guaranteed that responses to the pandemic would shake out along political and, therefore, cultural lines. In places such as Alabama, not getting the vaccine has more to do with socio-economic identity than with scientific literacy. This is a fatal flaw in the reasoning of unvaccinated people, who are absolutely wrong in a way that endangers not only themselves but also others. But given the haughty reaction of many liberals, can you blame them? Even as the cost of their obstinacy has become grimly clear, the cost of admitting they were wrong has risen; to get the vaccine now would be to kowtow to a class that holds them in contempt. The notion that a vocal minority of our fellow citizens threaten to undo us with their ignorance has become something of a master narrative in anglophone democracies over the past five years. Trump did it for a lot of American Democrats in 2016, and Brexit – which, unlike Trump, won popular support at the polls but, like Trump, was overwhelmingly opposed by the urban and higher-educated – had a similar effect in the UK. The current Republican mania for making voting more difficult seems to be a product of Trump’s loss in November. Last week, a Pew Research Center poll found that 42% of respondents agreed with the statement: “Voting is a privilege that comes with responsibilities and can be limited.” This attitude is fundamentally incompatible with democracy.Don’t blame young people for vaccine hesitancy. The vast majority of us want to get jabbed | Lara SpiritRead moreThe belief that the masses are fundamentally decent and capable of governing themselves – or at least qualified to select leaders capable of governing for them – has been badly dented by social media, which confronts us with the ignorance of strangers at high volume every day. Basic forms of empathy, emerging from real-life communication, are fading from modern democracy, washed out of our assessment of the average stranger by a high-pressure spray of anonymous idiots on the internet.I think we should resist the urge to hold the unvaccinated in contempt. Their premises are wrong, but they are doing what we want citizens in a democracy to do: thinking for themselves, questioning authority, refusing to submit to a class they perceive as bent on ruling them by fiat. The fact that they are doing these things in the service of dangerous misinformation is a terrible irony, and it threatens the stability of 21st-century democracy.Covid-19 might be the most convincing counterargument to the western liberal tradition we see in our lifetimes. It offers a counterexample to two foundational ideas: that ordinary people can recognise their own best interests, and that the minority who do not can be afforded their freedom without endangering the rest of us. A plague is one of those classic exceptions that appears in the literature of political science again and again. I don’t know if existing systems can withstand it. I do know that, like a marriage, a democracy can survive anything but contempt.
      Dan Brooks writes essays, fiction and commentary from Missoula, Montana
      TopicsCoronavirusOpinionInfectious diseasesUS politicsVaccines and immunisationHealthcommentReuse this content More

    • 175 Shares189 Views

      in UK Politics

      Prime minister warned of allowing Covid variant to ‘run rampant’ by easing travel restrictions

      by

      Boris Johnson risks allowing a new Covid variant to “run rampant” through the country by further easing restrictions for EU and US travellers, Labour has warned.People visiting from the US and the EU who are fully vaccinated against coronavirus will be allowed to enter England without the need to quarantine from next week.The new rules will come into effect at 4am on Monday, with transport secretary Grant Shapps expressing hopes the US will become more relaxed about allowing Britons to visit “in time”.But following an encouraging few days in which Covid-19 case numbers in the UK have fallen from above 50,000 on 17 July to 27,734 by 9am on Wednesday, Labour sounded warnings over the impact of the travel changes.Shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon said: “The government’s track record on our borders has been one of recklessness and confusion.“They are in danger of continuing this by setting out changes in policy, applying to England only, without the scientific data and criteria we need to make sure we don’t see another Johnson variant run rampant through the country and damage the effort of the British public.“We want to see international travel opened up safely.“Ministers need to be clear on what progress has been made on reaching reciprocal agreements for Brits travelling abroad – particularly regarding the NHS app being accepted as proof of Covid status.“We also need a clear green and red list and the country-by-country data to back it up.”The rule change will also apply to fully vaccinated EU and US visitors to Scotland from Monday.The Welsh government said it “regrets” the move to remove the quarantine requirement in England, but added it would be “ineffective” to have different rules for Wales.Ministers in Northern Ireland will consider their position on the charge at Thursday’s meeting of the powersharing executive.Currently, only travellers who have received two doses of a vaccine in the UK are permitted to enter from an amber country – such as the US and most of the EU – without self-isolating for 10 days, except those returning from France.Professor Christina Pagel, director of the clinical operational research unit at UCL, said she was worried about variants that are better at infecting people who are already vaccinated given that those who are fully vaccinated could still catch and pass on the virus.Speaking to the Guardian, she said a “worrying new variant could emerge” in the US or Europe – or “a variant that emerges anywhere will spread everywhere” if travel were less inhibited between those places and the UK.Hailing the policy change, Mr Shapps said: “Whether you are a family reuniting for the first time since the start of the pandemic or a business benefiting from increased trade, this is progress we can all enjoy.”Asked whether he was confident the US and Europe would reciprocate in allowing fully vaccinated travellers from England without needing to quarantine, Mr Shapps said: “I’ve just spoken to my US counterpart today and in the US they still have an executive order which prevents travel from the UK, from Europe, from several other countries to the US.“So we’re saying, ‘You can come here, you can come visit, you can come see friends, you can come as a tourist if you’ve been double vaccinated and follow the rules without quarantine’.“We can’t change that on the other side but we do expect that in time they will release that executive order, which was actually signed by the previous president, and bans inward travel.”Additional reporting by Press Association More

    • 200 Shares139 Views

      in UK Politics

      Ex-minister Ken Clarke ‘not responsible’ for blood products in early days of infection scandal, inquiry hears

      by

      The former health minister Ken Clarke has said he was “not responsible” for blood products in the early days of the infected blood scandal, an inquiry heard.Appearing before the Infected Blood Inquiry on Tuesday to give evidence over three days, Lord Clarke said the controversy surrounding the blood products was something that “hardly ever came across my desk”.He said at the time he was distracted with policies such as closing “old Victorian asylums” and removing “old geriatric hospitals”.The infected blood scandal, which emerged in the 1980s, saw thousands diagnosed with HIV/Aids or hepatitis after receiving blood product treatments for haemophilia.An inquiry seeking answers for those who were affected by the transfusions started hearing evidence in April 2019.Lord Clarke, who held the position of health minister from 1982 to 1985 and was health secretary from 1988 to 1990, told lead counsel Jenni Richards QC: “As the tragedy with the haemophiliacs developed, I was aware it was there. From time to time, usually on my own instigation, I got on the edge of it.“I didn’t call meetings on it. I was never the minister directly responsible for blood products. I was never asked to take a decision on blood products. “I never intervened to take a decision on blood products. I did intervene or get involved in discussions a bit when I wanted to be reassured.”“When I arrived (as health minister), the idea that blood products was a very big part of the department’s activity is simply not true.“It was a very specialist, usually quiet, harmless, subject and was one of the few areas where we didn’t have controversy and there wasn’t very much for the department to do because the blood transfusion service ran itself.”Ms Richards asked: “Do you accept that the (health) department and ministers within the department had a responsibility to ensure the treatment being provided through the National Health Service was safe?”Lord Clarke responded: “Yes, that’s why we have this network of safety of medicines committees, licensing authorities. They have legal power… to make sure you don’t have some eccentric doctor who is prescribing things which are not actually clinically proven or recommended.“Never does the minister personally start intervening and imposing a personal decision on what treatment the patients (get).”In 1972, the UK approved a new version of Factor VIII, a blood clotting protein which helps prevent bleeds from happening, to be used to treat haemophilia patients in Britain.Blood products later began being imported from overseas after the production of Factor VIII in the UK was considered to be insufficient to meet demand.By 1983, fears had been raised that the blood products contained hepatitis and HIV/Aids.It was later found that many people with the condition had been given blood products, such as plasma, which were infected with hepatitis and HIV.The inquiry continues.Additional reporting by PA More

    • 175 Shares189 Views

      in UK Politics

      Covid: Dangerous new variants will emerge unless rich countries share vaccines, UK adviser warns

      by

      The world is at risk of harmful new Covid-19 variants emerging unless the UK and other wealthy nations share more vaccines, a government adviser has warned.It is likely new and “dangerous” variants will emerge which will “chip away” at the effectiveness of vaccines unless there is a global plan of action, the Wellcome Trust and Institute for Government (IfG) think tanks have warned.A joint report released on Monday said the recent G7 summit was a wasted opportunity to come up with a global response – warning highly-vaccinated countries like the UK not to view the crisis as nearly over.“If we don’t vaccinate the world we’re in danger of generating new variants, which, like the Delta variant, will come back to all of us in the future – and they may be much worse than Delta,” said Wellcome director Sir Jeremy Farrar, one of the UK government’s Sage advisers.Sir Jeremy added: “For geopolitics, for science and public health, and for the moral and ethical argument, we have to make the vaccine available globally. And I’m afraid, to date, we’ve failed to do that.”The joint report released on Monday said low and middle-income countries are still only sequencing a tiny proportion of Covid cases – leaving the planet “flying blind” when it comes to tracking and responding to potential new variants.In the run-up to the G20 meeting in October, the report calls on governments to respond to the challenge with much stronger commitment to sharing vaccinations and virus surveillance – as well as boosting healthcare capacity.The report also says global leaders must define an acceptable level of domestic vaccination and supply, and agree what surplus vaccines can be committed to the global effort.The report states: “With approaching half a million new cases being recorded per day globally – a figure that is rising – it is likely that further dangerous variants will emerge.”It adds: “While most scientists do not currently expect a new variant to emerge that will fully evade vaccines, what are more likely are variants that ‘chip away’ at vaccines’ effectiveness.”Urging wealthy nation government to commit greater resources, the report finds that vaccinating the whole world to the level of rich countries requires around 11 billion doses at a cost of around £36bn – around £26bn more than has so far been spent.“One of my major concerns is that the rich world … will gradually move in what I would call a good direction,” Sir Jeremy told a virtual IfG event on Monday – hailing the “extraordinary achievement” of the UK’s vaccine roll-out.“Tragically though, the rest of the world is a very different position, with less than 1 per cent of populations in low-income countries vaccinated.”Reflecting on the mistakes made by Boris Johnson’s government in 2020, Sir Jeremy said he “regrets” the failure to re-impose restrictions in England last autumn, as Covid cases kept on rising.“I do regret the decision and delays in the fourth quarter of 2020 which led to the January-February wave and yes, the loss of life then,” he added.“Was the delay during the autumn of 2020 the right decision? It was not the right decision.” More