What do we know about the new ‘worst ever’ Covid variant?

‘Scientists have detected a new Covid-19 variant called B.1.1.529 and are working to understand its potential implications. About 100 confirmed cases have been identified in South Africa, Hong Kong, Israel and Botswana.

‘B.1.1.529 has a very unusual constellation of mutations, which are worrying because they could help it evade the body’s immune response and make it more transmissible, scientists have said. Any new variant that is able to evade vaccines or spread faster than the now-dominant Delta variant may pose a significant threat as the world emerges from the pandemic.

‘Dr Susan Hopkins, the chief medical adviser to the UK Health Security Agency, said the R value, or effective reproduction number, of the B.1.1.529 variant in the South African province of Gauteng, where it was first found, was now 2 – a level of transmission not recorded since the beginning of the pandemic, before restrictions began to be imposed. For an R of anything above 1, an epidemic will grow exponentially.’

Read here (The Guardian, Nov 26, 2021)

Bill Gates, Big Pharma and entrenching the vaccine apartheid

‘It appears that South Africa and India were right. Under the current rules, the vaccine cannot be made quickly or cheaply enough to meet global demand, which vaccines are only going to those countries that can afford it. This is a “catastrophic moral failure”, said the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Some activists have described the situation as a “vaccine apartheid”...

‘Nonetheless, the proposal for a patent waiver has been repeatedly rejected at the WTO by wealthier countries including the European Union, the United Kingdom, US and Switzerland; countries which, as Reuters wryly noted, are “all home to major pharmaceutical companies”. They also all enjoy early access to the vaccine.

‘Nor has South Africa and India’s proposal received support from the most influential non-state actor in global public health: Bill Gates...

‘But despite Gates’ stated commitment to an equitable distribution of the Covid vaccine, he is refusing to back South Africa and India’s calls for a waiver on patents... 

‘This should not come as a surprise: the Gates Foundation has historically been opposed to efforts to reform intellectual property protections for pharmaceutical companies — putting it at odds with other public health NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders (MSF) — and has in fact lobbied for developing countries to impose even stronger protections for drug companies’ patents. This is perhaps because Gates’ own fortune is built on intellectual property, specifically the copy­rights and patents associated with Windows and Microsoft.’

Read here (Mail&Guardian of South Africa, Jan 30, 2021)

Afriforum may take battle over Ivermectin to court

‘Afriforum insists that investigations regarding studies that have already been conducted globally on the use of Ivermectin be carried out as soon as possible to confirm if this drug can be used effectively in the prevention and treatment of the coronavirus. “A large range of studies in various countries show that Ivermectin can possibly be effective in the treatment of the virus,” Barend Uys, Afriforum’s head of research said.

‘According to him, it was irrational to approve the use of a vaccine that had been developed within months while at the same time banning the use of a drug that had been proven safe and been in use for four decades. “Farmers have been using Ivermectin as a livestock product for many years and it is immediately available in their medicine cabinets,” said Uys.’

Read here (IOL, Jan 16, 2021)

'Miracle' drug ivermectin unproven against Covid, scientists warn

‘Scientists have warned against taking an anti-parasite drug as a treatment for Covid-19 despite headlines that have touted it as a cure. Facebook posts and articles endorsing ivermectin have proliferated in Brazil, France, South Africa and South Korea as governments around the world scramble to roll out vaccination programmes.

‘But health agencies say that there is not enough evidence to promote the drug as a remedy for coronavirus -- and that research into the question has often been unsound. Ivermectin has long been used to treat parasites such as head lice and has been widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa since the 1990s to treat river blindness.’

Read here (France 24/AFP, Jan 15, 2021)

Big Pharma is not willing to help us defeat Covid-19

‘For months, experts have repeatedly told us that no one is safe from coronavirus until we are all safe. If that is true, we should be going all out to ensure the world’s resources are used to bring treatments and vaccines to the whole world as soon as possible. Several initiatives have attempted just that, but efforts have been stymied by the self-interest of big business, and by the leaders of rich countries who are terrified of undermining rules designed to keep their countries at the top of the pecking order.

‘A recent ground-breaking proposal by India and South Africa could change all that. Those governments have lodged a proposal at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to suspend international patent laws for an extended period, allowing countries to share technology and produce their own versions of patented medicines, treatments and protective equipment without being held to ransom by the corporations which own those patents. It is a game-changer, which challenges one of the most shameful aspects of modern trade rules.’

Read here (Aljazeera, Oct 18, 2020)

Civil society organisations call for strong support for TRIPS waiver to combat Covid-19

‘Nearly 380 civil society organisations (CSOs) have urged Members of the World Trade Organization to strongly support the adoption of a draft decision proposed by India and South Africa for a waiver from certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement to combat the worsening COVID-19 pandemic.

‘India and South Africa have submitted a proposal (IP/C/W/669) to the WTO TRIPS Council on a “Waiver from certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19”.

‘In their letter to the WTO Members, the CSOs said that in a global pandemic where every country is affected, a global solution is needed. According to the CSOs, adoption of a Waiver at the WTO level will suspend implementation, application and enforcement of the relevant provisions of the TRIPS Agreement in relation to prevention, containment, and treatment of COVID-19.

‘It enables an expedited, open and automatic global solution to allow uninterrupted collaboration in development, production and supply, and to collectively address the global challenge facing all countries. “It’s time for governments to take collective responsibility and put people’s lives before corporate monopolies,” the CSOs emphasised.’

Read here (InfoJustice, Oct 16, 2020)