Sep 8, 2021 08:41 PM
(This post was last modified: Sep 8, 2021 08:55 PM by C C.)
“Appalled” by rich countries hogging vaccines, WHO extends booster moratorium
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/09/...ntil-2022/
EXCERPTS: The director-general for the World Health Organization on Wednesday called for a longer moratorium on high-income countries administering COVID-19 booster shots—extending the agency's requested moratorium from the end of September to at least the end of 2021...
[...] The WHO maintains that, so far, clinical evidence does not indicate that booster doses are needed to prevent severe outcomes and death from COVID-19, a point that US officials do not dispute...
[...] Meanwhile, in low-income countries, initial doses of vaccines have yet to reach even the elderly and frontline health workers—those most vulnerable to severe outcomes and death...
[...] Another argument against booster doses is that they won't make the world safer, the WHO says...
Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus condensed all of these concerns into his opening remarks at the briefing Wednesday [...] Of the 5.5 billion vaccine doses administered worldwide, 80 percent have been given in high- and upper-middle-income countries ... while almost 90 percent of high-income countries have at least reached the WHO's first goal of having 10 percent of their populations vaccinated, not a single low-income country has reached that 10 percent goal.
High-income countries have promised to donate more than 1 billion doses, but less than 15 percent of those doses have materialized, Dr. Tedros added. And while low-income countries have been rolling out the doses they have been able to get, the supply is highly constrained. "Because manufacturers have prioritized or been legally obliged to fulfill bilateral deals with rich countries..."
[...] Dr. Tedros said he was "appalled" by the inequity and blasted world leaders for hollow advocacy and broken promises. "There has been a lot of talk about vaccine equity but too little action," Dr. Tedros said. "We don’t want any more promises. We just want the vaccines."
In announcing an extension to the moratorium call, Dr. Tedros said he hoped it would provide time to try to get every country up to 40 percent vaccinated... (MORE - missing details)
Biden Administration Pushes To Change State Drug Laws
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/dan...-drug-laws
EXCERPTS: The Biden administration is pushing to reform state drug laws in its latest move aimed at preventing deaths among people who use illegal drugs. The new approach focuses on so-called “harm reduction” measures that promote safe drug use over abstinence and the threat of imprisonment.
[...]“It’s frankly refreshing to see this office talking about helping people, and not about punishing them,” said epidemiologist Traci Green, director of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University...
[...] Last year, more than 93,000 people died of drug overdoses in the US, the highest number ever. The increase was driven in part by the social isolation created by the pandemic, as well as by the wider spread of fentanyl, a drug some 25 to 40 times more potent than heroin, into the illicit drug market. The awareness that overdose deaths are only increasing, combined with reports of HIV outbreaks among people who use drugs in West Virginia and Boston, has intensified efforts to move to a harm reduction approach in the federal response to drug use. In direct contrast, however, some cities, such as Charleston, West Virginia, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, have recently shut down needle exchange sites, which are known to decrease the risks of infectious diseases spreading among people who use illicit drugs.
[...] “To have the Office of National Drug Control Policy talking about ‘harm reduction’ is important, both as a symbol, and for real,” said public health law expert David Rosenbloom of the Boston University School of Public Health. “I remember when you couldn’t say those words there. And it wasn’t that long ago.”
Some punitive state laws immediately force people physically dependent on drugs who get arrested to immediately lose access to insurance that was paying for their drug treatment. The new program announcing model drug laws should target such approaches, Rosenbloom said.
“That’s exactly the wrong time to have someone stop drug treatment,” he added. “They get out of prison and because they are physically dependent, they immediately use drugs again and overdose.”
Many other current laws treat overdoses as criminal acts rather than health events, only worsening the overdose crisis, said Green.... (MORE - missing details)
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/09/...ntil-2022/
EXCERPTS: The director-general for the World Health Organization on Wednesday called for a longer moratorium on high-income countries administering COVID-19 booster shots—extending the agency's requested moratorium from the end of September to at least the end of 2021...
[...] The WHO maintains that, so far, clinical evidence does not indicate that booster doses are needed to prevent severe outcomes and death from COVID-19, a point that US officials do not dispute...
[...] Meanwhile, in low-income countries, initial doses of vaccines have yet to reach even the elderly and frontline health workers—those most vulnerable to severe outcomes and death...
[...] Another argument against booster doses is that they won't make the world safer, the WHO says...
Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus condensed all of these concerns into his opening remarks at the briefing Wednesday [...] Of the 5.5 billion vaccine doses administered worldwide, 80 percent have been given in high- and upper-middle-income countries ... while almost 90 percent of high-income countries have at least reached the WHO's first goal of having 10 percent of their populations vaccinated, not a single low-income country has reached that 10 percent goal.
High-income countries have promised to donate more than 1 billion doses, but less than 15 percent of those doses have materialized, Dr. Tedros added. And while low-income countries have been rolling out the doses they have been able to get, the supply is highly constrained. "Because manufacturers have prioritized or been legally obliged to fulfill bilateral deals with rich countries..."
[...] Dr. Tedros said he was "appalled" by the inequity and blasted world leaders for hollow advocacy and broken promises. "There has been a lot of talk about vaccine equity but too little action," Dr. Tedros said. "We don’t want any more promises. We just want the vaccines."
In announcing an extension to the moratorium call, Dr. Tedros said he hoped it would provide time to try to get every country up to 40 percent vaccinated... (MORE - missing details)
Biden Administration Pushes To Change State Drug Laws
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/dan...-drug-laws
EXCERPTS: The Biden administration is pushing to reform state drug laws in its latest move aimed at preventing deaths among people who use illegal drugs. The new approach focuses on so-called “harm reduction” measures that promote safe drug use over abstinence and the threat of imprisonment.
[...]“It’s frankly refreshing to see this office talking about helping people, and not about punishing them,” said epidemiologist Traci Green, director of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University...
[...] Last year, more than 93,000 people died of drug overdoses in the US, the highest number ever. The increase was driven in part by the social isolation created by the pandemic, as well as by the wider spread of fentanyl, a drug some 25 to 40 times more potent than heroin, into the illicit drug market. The awareness that overdose deaths are only increasing, combined with reports of HIV outbreaks among people who use drugs in West Virginia and Boston, has intensified efforts to move to a harm reduction approach in the federal response to drug use. In direct contrast, however, some cities, such as Charleston, West Virginia, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, have recently shut down needle exchange sites, which are known to decrease the risks of infectious diseases spreading among people who use illicit drugs.
[...] “To have the Office of National Drug Control Policy talking about ‘harm reduction’ is important, both as a symbol, and for real,” said public health law expert David Rosenbloom of the Boston University School of Public Health. “I remember when you couldn’t say those words there. And it wasn’t that long ago.”
Some punitive state laws immediately force people physically dependent on drugs who get arrested to immediately lose access to insurance that was paying for their drug treatment. The new program announcing model drug laws should target such approaches, Rosenbloom said.
“That’s exactly the wrong time to have someone stop drug treatment,” he added. “They get out of prison and because they are physically dependent, they immediately use drugs again and overdose.”
Many other current laws treat overdoses as criminal acts rather than health events, only worsening the overdose crisis, said Green.... (MORE - missing details)