Tag: news

Continuing the pattern of leading COVID-19 vaccine projects releasing their Phase 3 trial results on Monday, AstraZeneca has just revealed that its vaccine – which, unlike the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, relies on the more traditional adenovirus vector approach – is 70% effective at preventing the coronavirus.

The results follow last week’s release of the final data from the accelerated Phase 2 studies, which purported to confirm that the vaccine was safe and effective, particularly in elderly subjects, as the initial preliminary results had suggested.

Perhaps after all of the hiccups from the trials (rumors of seriously ill trial subjects, a month-long trial halt in the US) investors had set a higher bar for AZ. The company’s shares tumbled Monday on the news, while shares of Moderna (which revealed last week that its vaccine was nearly 95% effective) climbed. Pfizer’s vaccine, which initially was said to be 90% effective, was later determined to be 95% effective according to the “final” data.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Monday during an interview with Radio 4 that the UK will have a “low, single-million” number of AZ coronavirus vaccine doses available before the end of the year, assuming regulators approve the vaccine. Vaccinations should begin under a ‘plot program’ starting next month.

AZ CEO Pascal Soriot said the vaccine’s “efficacy and safety” showed it will be highly effective against the virus, and have “an immediate impact”.

AstraZeneca claimed that the vaccine actually appeared to be more effective than they anticipated: interestingly, the final 70% number was actually an average of two different late-stage trials in the UK and Brazil which also featured different dosing regimens.

When the Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccine was given as a half dose, followed by a full dose at least one month later, efficacy – a measure of how a vaccine prevents infection or severe disease in trials — was 90%. However, when the jab was given as two full doses at least one month apart, efficacy was just 62%.

One expert said the fact that the vaccine is only 70% effective is “absolutely fine” since the adenovirus vector makes the vaccine much cheaper to produce and easier to ship. This increased availability should help make up for the lower effectiveness.

The company said that it will be seeking regulatory approval “immediately”, and AZ’s manufacturing partners around the world, including India’s Serum Institute, are targeting the production of up to 3 billion doses next year. Depending on regulatory approval, a lower first dose regimen could make more doses available.

While algos send AZ shares lower presumably off the 70% number, it’s worth noting that these headline efficacy numbers are virtually meaningless, as Pfizer showed us last week when it ‘revised’ the headline number to 95% from 90% so it wouldn’t be outdone by Moderna.

Investors would probably be better off focusing on the ease of distribution, which will likely decide which vaccines are the most widely distributed, as the WHO’s Covax initiative struggles to raise $18 billion to buy and distribute vaccines to the developing world. The AZ-Oxford vaccine only requires a basic level of refrigeration (unlike the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, which must be stored and shipped at extremely cold temperatures) making it “more suitable” for rollout in poorer countries.

Perhaps in doing her best to change her legal defense into some sort of comedy act, “America’s sweetheart” Elizabeth Holmes argued in court this week that she didn’t want U.S. prosecutors to vilify her “luxuriously lifestyle” during her fraud trial.

The request is ironic, as Holmes became a “self-made billionaire” through the fraud she was perpetrating at Theranos to begin with.

It’s the latest in a long line of scapegoats that Holmes has used to pin blame for her company’s implosion on. She had previously blamed journalists and had claimed that she was the victim of a “mental disease or defect”, according to Bloomberg. 

The request came amidst a “flurry of evidence objections” from her lawyers, as they seek to try and rule out certain pathways of the prosecution’s case before her trial starts in March. 

Her lawyers argued: “That Ms. Holmes enjoyed a certain lifestyle — one that is commensurate with the lifestyle of many other CEOs — says nothing about whether Ms. Holmes committed fraud to obtain or maintain that lifestyle.”

It’s a stunning objection especially considering the massive rise and fall of Holmes’ personal net worth as a result of Theranos’ valuation expanding, before imploding.

It’s a direct rebuke to prosecutors, who are going to argue that Holmes’ travel, accommodations, assistants and “association with celebrities, dignitaries and other wealthy and powerful people” acted as an incentive for her to continue to commit financial fraud. 

We noted in September that the former Theranos Inc. Chief Executive had been ordered by a federal judge to undergo examination from U.S. government experts after her lawyers have suggested they could offer up evidence that shows she suffered from a “metal disease or defect”.

 

 

The order came after Holmes’ lawyers suggested they were going to introduce evidence from Mindy Mechanic, a California State University at Fullerton professor specializing in psychosocial consequences of violence, trauma and victimization. The defense said the evidence would be “relating to a mental disease or defect or any other mental condition of the defendant bearing on the issue of guilt.”

We can’t wait to see what turn this case takes next…

Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

Lockdowns are back on in Europe and are making a quick comeback in the US as well. Spain, the UK, Belgium, and France are back in full lockdown mode, although a multitude of restrictions on movement within each country remained in place even when full lockdowns were ended over the summer. 

In France, for instance, one now “need[s] a certificate to move around,” yet in spite of long maintaining some of the continent’s most stringent lockdown and social distancing measures, total deaths per million are rapidly accelerating, to the point that France is likely to soon join other countries with harsh lockdowns in having among the worst rates of deaths per million in the world. Moreover, eastern Europe, which was once lauded for locking down strictly and early, is quickly finding that lockdowns aren’t likely to suppress total deaths there, either. The Czech Republic is seeing some of the worst growth in covid deaths worldwide, while the rest of the region is seeing similar growth, albeit to a less dramatic extent (so far).

Sources: Worldometer and Ourworldindata.org.

This is not what was sold to the public. Rather, politicians and their allies in the “public health” bureaucracies insisted that lockdowns would substantially reduce total deaths in countries that imposed them. Countries that failed to lock down would, on the other hand, experience runaway contagion with total Covid deaths per million orders of magnitude higher than those seen in countries that didn’t lock down.

That’s not what happened.

Cumulative deaths per million on the fifteenth of each month. Source: Worldometer.

Sweden, for instance, has long been denounced by politicians and media pundits for failing to embrace the methods of the French and the Spaniards.  Many of these nations (i.e., Spain and the UK) have long had total Covid death per million well in excess of the Swedes. And now, other nations are surging (i.e., France and Czechia and the Netherlands) and will all likely soon be much higher than Swedish levels. (It might also be noted that Spain, the UK, France, Czechia, and Italy are now all seeing growth in Covid deaths at rates above that reported by the United States.)

Lockdowns Save Lives? 

Of course, some supporters of lockdowns are likely to continue insisting that lockdowns clearly work to suppress total deaths because a handful of small countries near Sweden (i.e., Norway, Denmark, and Finland) have reported relatively few covid deaths. While this certainly may indicate there are factors at work in these countries that help keep covid mortality numbers lower, the fact remains that experience shows countries like Norway, Denmark, and Finland are outliers when compared to most of western Europe.

This isn’t exactly shocking. As early as July, studies were already beginning to show that lockdowns didn’t actually suppress total mortality. This one in The Lancet, for example, concludes,

government actions such as border closures, full lockdowns, and a high rate of COVID-19 testing were not associated with statistically significant reductions in the number of critical cases or overall mortality.

And in 2006, an extensive study in Biosecurity and Bioterrorism reported: “There are no historical observations or scientific studies that support the confinement by quarantine of groups of possibly infected people for extended periods” to slow the spread of influenza. No evidence has been offered for why this might be true of flu, but not true of Covid. Moreover, in a recent report from JPMorgan, Marko Kolanovic concluded that “re-opening did not change the course of the pandemic” and that “While we often hear that lockdowns are driven by scientific models, and that there is an exact relationship between the level of economic activity and the spread of [the] virus—this is not supported by the data.” Overall, evidence backing the lockdown theory has simply failed to materialize. 

Where’s the Evidence?

Indeed, as Swedish authorities have long claimed, the experience points toward an outcome in which most countries will end up with similar total deaths per million regardless of lockdown policy.1 This looks more likely by the day. As noted by Dr. Gilbert Berdine here at mises.org, “The data suggest that lockdowns have not prevented any deaths from covid-19. At best, lockdowns have deferred death for a short time, but they cannot possibly be continued for the long term.” This, of course, is why even the WHO does not recommend lockdowns except as a very short term and ad hoc measure. The side effects of the lockdowns themselves are too dangerous.

We already know that isolation, unemployment, and other social ills caused by lockdowns affect both physical and mental health. But we also know that lockdowns lead to deaths from untreated medical conditions. Moreover, government health experts in many cases have callously cut off the elderly from all their social and family support. The Associated Press estimates that for “every two COVID-19 victims in long-term care, there is another who died prematurely of other causes.” Many of these deaths are brought on by neglect and isolation caused by state-mandated lockdown policies.

Examining Excess Mortality 

But where would we find evidence of these deaths in the aggregate? Unfortunately, regimes spend very little time counting them. Rather, regimes often only record events in ways that help the regime. While they are careful to count as many covid cases and deaths as possible in big bright numbers reported daily by government officials, deaths caused by lockdowns are generally ignored.

Eventually, the only way to guess the impact of these other deaths will be through the “excess mortality” data. Excess mortality—using a definition now generally used in the media and by government officials—occurs when total mortality during a time period exceeds the average mortality experienced over the past five years.

Some initial reports have suggested that covid deaths comprise only around 70 percent of excess deaths (see here and here). Naturally, lockdown advocates claim that this shows covid deaths are being undercounted, and that covid deaths should be assumed to account for virtually all excess deaths. This is only conjecture.

In any case, we find, not surprisingly, that excess mortality in Sweden has been lower this year compared to many other western European countries with harsh lockdowns. For example, through October the average number of deaths for 2015–19 in Sweden was 72,972. In 2020, the total deaths for the same period was 76,375. That’s an increase of 4.6 percent.

Likewise, in France, 2020’s total excess mortality is up 6.4 percent. It’s up 12.7 percent in England and Wales, up 16 percent in Italy, and up 17 percent in Spain.

How much of this excess mortality in lockdown countries is attributable to the lockdowns themselves? For now that’s still unknown. But, as Dr. Berdine writes:

It seems likely that one will not have to even compare economic deprivation with loss of life, as the final death toll following authoritarian lockdowns will most likely exceed the deaths from letting people choose how to manage their own risk. After taking the unprecedented economic depression into account, history will likely judge these lockdowns to be the greatest policy error of this generation.

The rollout of COVID-19 immunity certificates across the UK could become a reality in 2021. A draft of the scheme, one where people who have contracted the virus and have recovered, or have naturally develop antibodies to fight the virus, could be given the golden ticket to resume a normal life. 

UK’s Downing Street plans covid passes for anyone who gets two COVID-19 negative tests per week or has immunity to the virus or has yet to contract the virus. The Telegraph notes Whitehall officials are planning to call the scheme “freedom passes.” 

The strategy is a move to jump-start the ailing economy next year by allowing healthy people to conduct daily activities without being impeded by strict social-distancing measures. 

A digital certificate, stored on a smartphone device, would be given to someone who meets the requirements for the new pass. 

A source told the Telegraph:

“They will allow someone to wander down the streets, and if someone else asks why they are not wearing a mask, they can show the card, letter or an App.” 

Conservative Tom Tugendhat recently said he could “certainly see the day” when proof of vaccination was required to return to normal life.

“If vaccination works and if we’re confident it’s safe, and all indications so far are good, then I can certainly see the day when businesses say: Look, you’ve got to return to the office and if you’re not vaccinated, you’re not coming in,” Tugendhat said.

Plans for covid passes in the UK have been in the pipeline for months. 

In April, health minister Matt Hancock said at a Downing Street press conference that an “an immunity certificate is an important thing that we will be doing and are looking at, but it’s too early in the science of the immunity that comes from having had the disease.” 

UK Health Secretary: “We are looking at an immunity certificate. How people who have had the disease, have got the antibodies, and therefore have immunity, can show that, and so get back… as much as possible to normal life.” pic.twitter.com/SVLV8U2YwG

— The Hill (@thehill) April 3, 2020

We noted a couple of times (see: here & here), covid passes are coming to the Western world and will act as a “digital health passport” that will contain your COVID-19 test history and other “relevant health information.”

Billionaire Bill Gates has been promoting the passes since the start of the COVID-19 lockdown.

At this point, there’s nothing stopping the rollout of covid passes as these programs may start in the UK and other European countries before coming to the US.  

Besides covid passes, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the G20 Summit on Saturday that globally-recognized health QR codes could be a way to restore international trade and travel.

What becomes clear is that global elites want to track everything in the world…

Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

Global debt is expected to soar to a record $277 trillion by the end of the year, according to the Institute of International Finance. Developed markets’ total debt -government, corporate and households- jumped to 432% of GDP in the third quarter. Emerging market debt-to-GDP hit nearly 250% in the third quarter, with China reaching 335%, and for the year the ratio is expected to reach about 365% of global GDP. Most of this massive increase of $15 trillion in one year comes from government and corporates’ response to the pandemic. However, we must remember that the total debt figure already reached record-highs in 2019 before any pandemic and in a period of growth.

The main problem is that most of this debt is unproductive debt. Governments are using the unprecedented fiscal space to perpetuate bloated current spending, which generates no real economic return, so the likely outcome will be that debt will continue to rise after the pandemic crisis is ended and that the level of growth and productivity achieved will not be enough to reduce the financial burden on public accounts.

In this context, The World Economic Forum has presented a roadmap for what has been called “The Great Reset”.

It is a plan that aims to take the current opportunity to “to shape an economic recovery and the future direction of global relations, economies, and priorities”. According to the World Economic Forum, the world must also adapt to the current reality by “directing the market to fairer results, ensure investments are aimed at mutual progress including accelerating ecologically friendly investments, and to start a fourth industrial revolution, creating digital economic and public infrastructure”. These objectives are obviously shared by all of us, and the reality shows that the private sector is already implementing these ideas, as we see technology, renewable investments and sustainability plans thriving all over the world.

We are witnessing in real time the proof that businesses adapt rapidly and provide better goods and services at affordable prices for everyone achieving a level of progress in environmental targets and welfare that would be unthinkable if governments were in charge.

This crisis shows that the world has escaped the risk of scarcity and hyperinflation thanks to a private sector that has surpassed all expectations in a seemingly unsurmountable crisis.

The overall message of the World Economic Forum sounds promising. There is only three words that spoils the entire positive message: “directing the market”.

The risk of governments taking these ideas to promote massive interventionism is not small. The idea of The Great Reset has been quickly embraced by the most bureaucratic and government-intervened economies as a validation of rising government implication in the economy. However, this is incorrect.

The idea that governments will promote an economic system that reduces inflation, improves competition, and empowers citizens is more than far-fetched. As such, the World Economic Forum cannot ignore the government intervention risk within this idea of a Great Reset that does not need to be enforced as it has already been in place for years.

Technology, competition and open markets will do more for sustainability, social welfare and the environment than government action, because even the best intentioned governments will try to defend at any cost three things that go against the well-intentioned messages of the World Economic Forum: Governments will continue to try to defend their national champions, a rising inflation and more control of the economy. Those three things work against the idea of a new world with better and more affordable goods and services for all, with better welfare, lower unemployment and a thriving high-productivity private sector.

We should always be worried about well-intentioned ideas when the first ones to embrace them are those who are against freedom and competition.

There is an even darker part. Many interventionists have welcomed this proposal as an opportunity to wipe out the debt. It all sounds nice until we understand what it really entails. There is an enormous risk that governments will use the excuse of cancelling part of their debt with a decision to cancel a large part of our savings. We must remember that this is not even a conspiracy theory. Most proponents of the Modern Monetary Theory start their premise by stating that government deficits are matched by households and private sector savings, so there is no problem… Well, the only minor problem (note the irony) is matching one’s debt with another one’s savings. If we understand the global monetary system, we will then understand that erasing trillions of government debt would also mean erasing trillions of citizens’ savings.

The idea of a more sustainable, cleaner, and social economic system is not new, and it does not need governments to impose it. It is happening as we speak thanks to competition and technology. Governments should not be allowed to reduce and limit citizens’ freedom, savings, and real wages even for a well-intentioned promise. The best way to ensure that governments or large corporations are not going to use this excuse to eliminate freedom and individual rights is by promoting free markets and more competition. Forward-thinking investments and welfare-enhancing ideas do not need to be nudged or imposed; consumers are already making companies all over the world implement increasingly higher sustainability and environmentally friendly policies. This market-oriented approach is more successful than letting the risk of interventionism and government-meddling take hold, because once it happens it is almost impossible to undo.

If we want a more sustainable world, we need to defend sound money policies and less government intervention. Free markets, not governments, will make this world better for all.

The same massive government intervention that took us here is not going to take us out of here.

BMW has developed a zero-emission, chest-mounted all-electric wingsuit that can soar through the air at nearly 200 mph, roughly twice the speed of the average wingsuit. 

The e-wingsuit, built by BMW, has been in development for three years. 

Base jumper and wingsuit pilot Peter Salzman, a 33-year-old Austrian, was recently outfitted with the suit and leaped from a helicopter. The 15 kW battery pack, powering two carbon impellers, spinning at 25,000 rpm, allowed Salzman to reach 186 mph. 

Salzmann’s first flight was a wild success. Next, it appears the daredevil wants to fly the wingsuit between skyscrapers. 

There’s no word if the wingsuit will be commercially available from BMW. Powered wingsuits and jetpacks could be the future of private flight, or perhaps quickly adopted by the military for the modern battlefield. Either way, these alternative forms of flight appear to be maturing in a way that could be commercially available by the midpoint of the decade. 

Authored by Mark Chapman via Off-Guardian.org,

In these troubling times it can be hard to find a clear path through the maze of disinformation and covid-denial.

Print the following out and keep it with you at all times. Refer to it when confronted with a Covidiot or any suggesting you try thinking for yourself.

A

ANTI-VAXXER (Sic) Criminal lunatic who is intent on denying everyone the opportunity of ever being vaccinated against anything by means of unsubstantiated neo-religious ravings. Candidate for funny-farms and medical experimentation.

B

BREXIT: Fantasy utopian state believed in by ANTI-VAXXERS and CONSPIRACY THEORISTS.

C

CONSPIRACY THEORIST: Criminally insane individual dedicated to the annihilation of humanity by allowing everyone to die of COVID-19 by alleging that it may not be as deadly as we all know it is. Other characteristics include denying climate change, voting for BREXIT and non-readership of the GUARDIAN.

COVID-19: Unstoppable and totally lethal plague carried by any living organism with 100% mortality rate that can be caught by any living being on the earth. Symptoms include a) being alive and b) living on planet Earth.

D

DEATH: Preventable non-living condition arising from contracting COVID-19. Otherwise represented as falsely arising from conspiracy-theorist-alleged conditions e.g. “cancer”, “heart disease”, “accident”, “being shot,” etc .

DEMOCRACY: Fantasy utopia believed in by ANTI-VAXXERS and CONSPIRACY THEORISTS. Characterised by BREXIT and TRUMP.

E

EPIDEMIOLOGY: Fake science to spread MISINFORMATION about COVID-19.

EXPONENTIAL: Default speed of COVID-19 spread.

F

FACE MASK/COVERING: Essential Personal Protective Equipment for living organisms. ANTI-VAXXERS and CONSPIRACY THEORISTS do not wear them and this renders them easily identifiable.

FACT-CHECKERS: For reference please read Orwell, G,1984 ref: Ministry of Truth.

FREEDOM: Mythical condition believed in by CONSPIRACY THEORISTS and ANTI-VAXXERS (see above). Cited by the aforementioned as something preferable to protection from DEATH (see above) by COVID-19.

G

GATES, BILL: Philanthropist dedicated to saving the world from COVID-19.

GREAT BARRINGTON DECLARATION, THE: Pseudoscientific mumbo-jumbo written by a bunch of QUACKs including “Dr. Johnny Bananas” in order to spread MISINFORMATION about COVID-19.

GREAT RESET: THE: Mythical blueprint for post COVID-19 society. Referred to by ANTI-VAXXERS and CONSPIRACY THEORISTS.

GUARDIAN, THE: Source of reliable and truthful information regarding COVID-19. Required reading. Non-biased, humanist publication written by the most gifted journalists now living.

H

HANCOCK: MATT: Hero of the people dedicated to saving everyone from COVID-19.

HEALTH: Condition of existence characterised by non-infection by COVID-19. Misrepresented by ANTI-VAXXERS and CONSPIRACY THEORISTS as normal, non-pathological state.

I

IMMUNOLOGY: Fake science intended to mislead the public regarding COVID-19.

J

JOHNSON, BORIS: Prime Minister of England. Very funny chap.

K

KOONTZ, DEAN: Author who predicted COVID-19 in one of his novels.

L

LIFE: Pathological delusion believed in by CONSPIRACY THEORISTS.

LOCKDOWN: Utopian state that will free humanity for ever.

M

MISINFORMATION: Act of suggesting mistaken beliefs not permitted by the STATE: eg. 2+2=4 without reference to FACT CHECKERS.

N

NHS: Pre-2020 organisation, now defunct, providing placebo medication for now-debunked conditions such as “cancer”, “heart disease,” “diabetes” etc.

NORMAL; NEW: Post-2020 Age of Enlightenment: for further information see Zamyatin,, Y, We. Huxley, A, Brave New World.

O

OXFORD: UNIVERSITY OF: Developmental research station for COVID-19.

P

PANDEMIC: The current state of existence characterising life on Planet Earth.

PARLIAMENT: Pre-2020 institution, now defunct, dedicated to squabbling on television for the benefit of the masses over decisions that had already been taken by the STATE.

PLANDEMIC: Criminally insane publication written by CONSPIRACY THEORISTS.

POLICE: Pre-2020 organisation, now defunct, created to enact entertaining drama for the masses, e.g by driving around in fast cars and running about in city centres trying to catch “baddies” and “crooks.” Especially effective at reducing traffic congestion in December and January. Ref: Z-Cars, The Bill, Dixon of Dock Green.

PRISON: Institutions created to house ANTI-VAXXERS and CONSPIRACY THEORISTS.

Q

QUACK: Signatory of the GREAT BARRINGTON DECLARATION with fake Ph.D.

R

R NUMBER: Statistical integer for illustrating spread of COVID-19. Non-referenced.

S

SAFE: Condition of total atrophy. See DEATH.

SCIENTIST: Individual responsible for issuing warnings justifying lockdowns.

SKY NEWS: Unbiased source of information regarding COVID-19. To be broadcast in all pubs and places of entertainment.

SOCIAL DISTANCING: Introduced 2020. The natural form of communication for human beings requiring a respectful personal space. Let’s face it, how many years have you gone around putting up with bad breath, BO and fag smoke?

STATE, THE: Benefactor and source of all blessings.

SWEDEN: Rogue state of COVID-19 deniers.

T

T-CELL: Mythical component of IMMUNOLOGY used to mislead the public regarding COVID-19.

TRUMP, DONALD : Former president of the United States. Believer in debunked fantasy of DEMOCRACY.

U

UNITED KINGDOM, THE, Isolated control population for COVID-19 VACCINE. Characterised by inhabitants with zero capacity for rebelliousness.

V

VACCINE: Panacea for COVID-19. To be injected into population of entire planet. Declared safe by QUACKs. Said population expendable in drive to halt “climate change.”

VIROLOGY: Fake science intended to mislead the public regarding COVID-19.

VIRUS: Integral component of COVID-19. Non-referenced.

W

WE: (1924, Zamyatin, Y.) Blueprint for post-COVID-19 society.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION: Bunch of nice chaps who like sitting around talking about COVID-19.

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: Bunch of nice chaps who like sitting around talking about money.

Z

ZAMYATIN, Y: Author of “WE”, (soon to be banned)