Bonum Certa Men Certa

COVID-19 is a Real Crisis, It Kills a Lot of Humans, But Don't Let It Kill Human Rights Too

Vaccines aren't bad; vaccine monopolies are bad.

Girl with plaster & missing tooth



Summary: People should take coronavirus very seriously; but that does not mean we should make imperative a complete abandonment of common sense such as democratic safeguards, including fundamental rights of workers and citizens (individuals out of the workplace)

THE government of China is not telling the world what's going on (no, it's impossible that only 2 Chinese people died with COVID-19 since April of this year), the Russian government probably divulges semi-truths, and I hardly trust even the numbers that come out of the United States (where the regime is exceedingly corrupt).



"You needn't be an 'antivaxxer' to think that this is wrong and results from polls suggest that if we're to use this label sparingly, then certainly 38% of Russians are not 'antivaxxers' (and perhaps a similar figure for the American population)."Earlier this week, as per Meduza: "According to the latest data from the Russian Federal Statistics Service (Rosstat), 219,872 people died in Russia in November 2020. Compared to November 2019, the country recorded 78,541 excess deaths — an increase of 56 percent."

In the United States, based on a recent reading, excess deaths will be about a million in a few months (the UK will reach 100,000 some time soon). So regardless of the severity of COVID-19, no doubt a lot more people are dying (than usual, or compared to the expected/projected numbers).

Still in denial about the issue?

Still insisting it's all just a big hoax?

Then to quote or paraphrase Obama (in relation to terrorism), you might wish to get your head examined.

COVID deniers are, in a lot of ways, similar to climate change deniers (denying the impact of humans and industrialisation on the environment and median temperatures). There's even an overlap, as those two groups mostly resort to an 'alternate reality' that's more convenient to them and often passes blame (their own failing) to somebody else.

They told me to stay home; Now they tell me to get a shot they've barely testedHaving said all that, being sceptical of the proposed 'solutions' (e.g. "contact-tracing", in effect surveillance that's rather useless and pointless at this scale -- it's too late when so many people have already contracted the virus) is not unreasonable. For instance, Russia has long suggested that people get vaccinated. What vaccine? Something rushed out, beating the US 'to market' by simply jumping the gun. According to another Meduza report from this week (and that's in spite of tight media controls and censorship in Russia): "More than half of Russia’s residents (58 percent) don’t want to be immunized with the “Sputnik V” coronavirus vaccine and only 38 percent are willing to get the shot, according to the results of a new poll from the independent Levada Center shared with Meduza."

We've seen similar results from similar polls in the US. Over time, in some cases, consent rates actually deceased rather than increased. We know that for vaccination to be effective (the real "herd immunity" or collective innoculation) almost everyone needs to be vaccinated and the virus needs to be almost eradicated. We're far from that. Moreover, we don't yet know much about the efficacy of the existing vaccines (including Russia's), their adaptability to mutations (of which there are many), and potential long-term side effects (we already know about some short-term issues, especially for those with allergies).

My father is in his mid 60s. He's very pro vaccination. He even got vaccinated recently (for ordinary flu), but he rejects the latest clinical trials from Pfizer, which he views with scepticism and considers to be a big gamble (with many people who are early takers). He shares my views on this matter -- although we never discussed this much before (we just reached the same conclusion independently) and he's in a very sensitive group (underlying medical conditions). My parents in law are the same; vaccinated as children and throughout life, this one they're unsure about because it has been scarcely tested and it's being imposed on people using threatening language (like messages warning people they won't be allowed to travel, i.e. restrictions on movement, unless they submit to the private monopoly of some foreign corporation).

You needn't be an 'antivaxxer' to think that this is wrong and results from polls suggest that if we're to use this label sparingly, then certainly 38% of Russians are not 'antivaxxers' (and perhaps a similar figure for the American population).

My father, who has long been vaccinated (but not this vaccine), says that for the time being the best one can do is wear a mask and practice/adopt precautionary measures such as social distancing. This is not guaranteed to work, especially not in densely-populated places, but then again a vaccine rushed 'to market' in a few months is not guaranteed to work, either. Too little is still (un)known about it. Too much remains uncertain.

Wear a bloody maskPlease don't overuse the label 'antivaxxer' (it's tempting, isn't it?); as we explained yesterday, incidents do sometimes happen and if the media brushes those incidents under a rug (there was such an incident in China a few years ago and a major CIA scandal too), then we need to question such media as well. At the moment it's playing a big role in marketing for Pfizer and for monopolistic patent pools. To foster trust and to encourage more people to welcome vaccination a public and patent-free (generic) solution ought to be developed and administered. During lockdowns the super-rich people became a lot richer and, if anything, the public grew even more sceptical/suspicious of corporate interests and better aware of oligarchs' greed. Nobody really believes that those people are trying to save the world.

Recent Techrights' Posts

With 9 Mentions of Azure In Its Latest Blog Post, Canonical is Again Promoting Microsoft and Intel Vendor Lock-in, Surveillance, Back Doors, Considerable Power Waste, and Defects That Cannot be Fixed
Microsoft did not even have to buy Canonical (for Canonical to act like it happened)
Links 28/03/2024: GAFAM Replacing Full-Time Workers With Interns Now
Links for the day
Consent & Debian's illegitimate constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The Time Our Server Host Died in a Car Accident
If Debian has internal problems, then they need to be illuminated and then tackled, at the very least in order to ensure we do not end up with "Deadian"
China's New 'IT' Rules Are a Massive Headache for Microsoft
On the issue of China we're neutral except when it comes to human rights issues
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
WeMakeFedora.org: harassment decision, victory for volunteers and Fedora Foundations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 27/03/2024: Terrorism Grows in Africa, Unemployment in Finland Rose Sharply in a Year, Chinese Aggression Escalates
Links for the day
Links 27/03/2024: Ericsson and Tencent Layoffs
Links for the day
Amid Online Reports of XBox Sales Collapsing, Mass Layoffs in More Teams, and Windows Making Things Worse (Admission of Losses, Rumours About XBox Canceled as a Hardware Unit)...
Windows has loads of issues, also as a gaming platform
Links 27/03/2024: BBC Resorts to CG Cruft, Akamai Blocking Blunders in Piracy Shield
Links for the day
Android Approaches 90% of the Operating Systems Market in Chad (Windows Down From 99.5% 15 Years Ago to Just 2.5% Right Now)
Windows is down to about 2% on the Web-connected client side as measured by statCounter
Sainsbury's: Let Them Eat Yoghurts (and Microsoft Downtimes When They Need Proper Food)
a social control media 'scandal' this week
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Windows/Client at Microsoft Falling Sharply (Well Over 10% Decline Every Quarter), So For His Next Trick the Ponzi in Chief Merges Units, Spices Everything Up With "AI"
Hiding the steep decline of Windows/Client at Microsoft?
Free technology in housing and construction
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
We Need Open Standards With Free Software Implementations, Not "Interoperability" Alone
Sadly we're confronting misguided managers and a bunch of clowns trying to herd us all - sometimes without consent - into "clown computing"
Microsoft's Collapse in the Web Server Space Continued This Month
Microsoft is the "2%", just like Windows in some countries
Links 26/03/2024: Inflation Problems, Strikes in Finland
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Losing Children, Carbon Tax Discussed
Links for the day
Mark Shuttleworth resigns from Debian: volunteer suicide and Albania questions unanswered, mass resignations continue
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 26/03/2024: 6,000 Layoffs at Dell, Microsoft “XBox is in Real Trouble as a Hardware Manufacturer”
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Microsofters Still Trying to 'Extend' Gemini Protocol
Links for the day
Look What IBM's Red Hat is Turning CentOS Into
For 17 years our site ran on CentOS. Thankfully we're done with that...
The Julian Paul Assange Verdict: The High Court Has Granted Assange Leave to Appeal Extradition to the United States, Decision Adjourned to May 20th Pending Assurances
The decision is out
The Microsoft and Apple Antitrust Issues Have Some But Not Many Commonalities
gist of the comparison to Microsoft
ZDNet, Sponsored by Microsoft for Paid-for Propaganda (in 'Article' Clothing), Has Added Pop-Up or Overlay to All Pages, Saying "813 Partners Will Store and Access Information on Your Device"
Avoiding ZDNet may become imperative given what it has turned into
Julian Assange Verdict 3 Hours Away
Their decision is due to be published at 1030 GMT
People Who Cover Suicide Aren't Suicidal
Assange didn't just "deteriorate". This deterioration was involuntary and very much imposed upon him.
Overworking Kills
The body usually (but not always) knows best
Former Red Hat Chief (CEO), Who Decided to Leave the Company Earlier This Month, Talks About "Cloud Company Red Hat" to CNBC
shows a lack of foresight and dependence on buzzwords
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 25, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 25, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Discord Does Not Make Money, It's Spying on People and Selling Data/Control (38% is Allegedly Controlled by the Communist Party of China)
a considerable share exists
In At Least Two Nations Windows is Now Measured at 2% "Market Share" (Microsoft Really Does Not Want People to Notice That)
Ignore the mindless "AI"-washing
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Still Has Hundreds of Thousands of Simultaneously-Online Unique Users
The scale of IRC