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Covid 19 Pandemic Stress Test

Submitted by Steven Kaszab

When logic, emotions and reality checks hit the mark.

IS YOUR MIND LIKE A TORTURE CHAMBER DURING THIS PANDEMIC, ZAPPING YOUR CREATIVITY AND TAKING YOU DOWN?

I have been a manufacturer for 30 +years. And in that time have been in many stressful situations.
We all have.

But since the pandemic hit, I have experienced a whole new level of stress, anxiety and emotions. And I know I am not alone. This pandemic has robbed both life and quality of life.
I can tell you personally that my emotional state has been like a roller coaster. One day I am hopeful, then the next could be gloom and doom…although really nothing has specifically changed to sway me either way!
Then I had an epiphany about something… I asked myself:
What scene was my own mind playing out?
What was my internal dialogue?
When was I most prone to going down that dark path?
What triggered the dark thoughts?
I was, at times, turning my mind into a torture chamber…ALLOWING MY THOUGHTS TO OVER TAKE MY EMOTIONS…not realizing that I alone had the power to escape.
I remembered something I read years ago by a prominent author,

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as WE are.” -Anaïs Nin

So we see things through our own filter, be it negative or positive. (hence, the half full or half empty glass)
SO I AM NOW FOCUSING ON MY MIND, what it sees, what it thinks, what it eats…as a means of emotional survival.

“I have known a great many troubles, most of which never happened.” – Mark Twain

Ugh…the places we allow our thinking to go, worrying about things that mostly won’t ever happen.

88 responses to “Covid 19 Pandemic Stress Test”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    Vaccination: An Overview part 1

    The definition of the word ‘medicine’ includes reference to the prevention as well as the treatment of disease. According to the medical establishment one of the most effective methods of preventing disease is vaccination, which is defined by the 2007 Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary as,

    “a means of producing immunity to a disease by using a vaccine, or a special preparation of antigenic material, to stimulate the formation of appropriate antibodies.”

    The presence of the appropriate antibodies is therefore deemed to be synonymous with immunity, which is defined as,

    “the body’s ability to resist infection, afforded by the presence of circulating antibodies and white blood cells.”

    As indicated by the definition, vaccination relies on the concept of ‘immunity’ and the idea that exposure to an infectious disease stimulates the body to produce the appropriate antibodies, the presence of which is said to indicate that the body has acquired ‘natural immunity’ to that disease. There is however, a problem with this idea, because people can and do experience repeated episodes of the same infectious disease; this means that they have failed to acquire ‘immunity’ from their first exposure to the disease. The idea is clearly flawed as it is not supported by empirical evidence.

    https://whatreallymakesyouill.com/vaccination-an-overview-part-1/

  2. David Avatar
    David

    Covid-19 “a huge commercial opportunity”, says Pfizer

    https://www.wddty.com/img/wddty/news/5516/large/covid-19-a-huge-commercial-opportunity-says-pfizer.jpg

    Drug giant Pfizer could earn up to £15bn from its Covid-19 vaccine. It’s set a price of $19.50 per shot, and this is expected to be the industry standard for all pharmaceutical companies to follow.

    The US government has placed a $1.95bn order for 100 million doses of the vaccine—but it’s all contingent on the vaccine working. If it does, Pfizer is set for “a windfall” of $15bn, drug industry watchers predict.

    But revenues could be double that if Pfizer progresses with its plans for a two-shot Covid vaccine, which its researchers are currently working on. The two-dose shot will cost $39.

    US agencies are set to place an order for 500 million doses if the vaccine can be proven to work, and regulators will be setting the bar low to get a vaccine on the market as quickly as possible. The usual safety tests will be by-passed as those may take years of monitoring.

    It’s all great news for Pfizer shareholders, says industry analyst Randall Stanicky of RBC Capital Markets. The company’s CEO, Albert Bourla, agrees. In a recent online conference, he said the virus presented “a huge commercial opportunity”.

    https://www.wddty.com/news/2020/08/covid-19-a-huge-commercial-opportunity-says-pfizer.html

  3. David Avatar
    David

    New Quality-Control Investigations on Vaccines: Micro- and Nanocontamination

    Abstract

    Vaccines are being under investigation for the possible side effects they can cause. In order to supply new information, an electron-microscopy investigation method was applied to the study of vaccines, aimed at verifying the presence of solid contaminants by means of an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope equipped with an X-ray microprobe. The results of this new investigation show the presence of micro- and nanosized particulate matter composed of inorganic elements in vaccines’ samples which is not declared among the components and whose unduly presence is, for the time being, inexplicable. A considerable part of those particulate contaminants have already been verified in other matrices and reported in literature as non biodegradable and non biocompatible. The evidence collected is suggestive of some hypotheses correlated to diseases that are mentioned and briefly discussed.

    https://medcraveonline.com/IJVV/new-quality-control-investigations-on-vaccines-micro–and-nanocontamination.html

  4. Lawson Avatar
    Lawson

    David I was going to ask you if barbados has ordered any but you seem to be paving the way for reasons why they havent.Dont be looking at the US or the UK you have made your bed with china, you will have to wait till they steal the recipe

  5. David Avatar
    David

    Barbados and other islands are working with international agencies to receive an advance supply. There is an arrangement that developing countries are allocated vaccine.

  6. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    Interesting lead article . Heightened stress is a factor that was endemic for a while and must have lead to the increase in criminal offenses. This is a good opportunity for GOB to shift focus to solving irritating problems such as inadequate supply of water, numerous pot holes,and the rescue of the young from domestic situations that are deleterious to their physical and mental health.

  7. David Avatar
    David

    @Vincent

    You agree a good strategy must be holistic?

  8. Tony Avatar
    Tony

    COVID-19

    Our neighbors in the region seeing large increases in covid.

    Martinique has 4,732 reported cases. That number is under scrutiny. Its alleged to be much higher.

    St. Lucia reported 156 cases as a result of some Martinique natives fleeing the Island in fishing boats to St. Lucia causing a rise in numbers there to date.

    Early September Castries reported 7 cases.

    60 percent of Martinique people don’t speak english and probably won’t venture the 142 approximate miles in open Atlantic waters to our lovely Barbados.

    St. Lucia is a stone throw away @ 50 miles approximately.

    Coast Guard keep your vigilance Bearing 136.72° (SE). Good hunting.

    It is alleged that Pile-Bay passenger & freight terminal is under scrutiny by BDF ????

    We never really know..

  9. Tony Avatar
    Tony

    @ Lawson

    “Dont be looking at the US or the UK you have made your bed with china, you will have to wait till they steal the recipe“.

    You’re the funniest to date😂😂😂

  10. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ David BU at 10:06 AM

    It is not clear to me what is an holistic strategy. What I do know is that a Strategic Plan has to start with a Comprehensive Situation Analysis. The strategists need to be clear about their objectives and remain focused. In this turbulent era the strategists always revisit their analyses on a regular basis. The assumptions may be wrong. There may have been a sea change. You think um easy?

  11. David Avatar
    David

    @Vincent

    We are moving in the same direction. There is a sense by this blogmaster of a disproportionate focus on economic issues. One can look at the composition of the cabinet and support team as a single example.

  12. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    I really wish these people would start properly reporting cases broken down by minor and serious.

    Scaring people with these raw numbers that are probably reached at through contact tracing that symptomatic people requiring medical attention. Most of these people most likely didn’t even know they had it.

    All they want to do is give people a vaccine so the pharmaceutical companies can get even richer with a rushed vaccine produced in a fifth the normal time before the virus burns itself out naturally and people stop wanting to take it.

    Has our country been one of the countries so stupid to indemnified the vaccine makers from prosecution if these new mRNA vaccines turn out to do more harmful than good and cause vaccine injury?

  13. David Avatar
    David

    @Critical Analyzer

    Do you deny what the Americans refer to as the positivity ratio and the positive correlation with rising infections and available beds and healthcare resources?

  14. Tony Avatar
    Tony

    Vaccine

    $10 vs $39 per unit..

    Johnson & Johnson confident in 1B dose goal for COVID vaccine next year, looking ahead to 2022.

    efebvre said.

    RELATED: Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine looks impressive, but Sanofi, J&J and Novavax shots eye a logistics edge

    Back in April, J&J signed on New Jersey-based CDMO Catalent to lock down manufacturing capacity at its Bloomington, Indiana plant, where the manufacturer has set the goal to hit a 24/7 manufacturing schedule by January. And in July, Maryland’s Emergent Biosolutions joined the fold, inking a five-year pact to churn out drug substance.

    Those manufacturing pacts, alongside a deal with Michigan’s Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing (GRAM), should help J&J meet its 100 million dose supply order with the U.S., penned in August for $1 billion, or $10 per dose. At this stage, contracts with Emergent, Catalent and PCI Pharma Services—on the hook for packaging work—are “full bore up and going” and “operational in terms of activities to achieve the tech transfers and start manufacturing according to our timeline,” Lefebvre said.

    Elsewhere, J&J is relying on its own sites in Europe to make drug substance, while Catalent tackles fill-finish duties at its Anagni, Italy, plant. J&J just this week finalized a deal to provide up to 200 million doses to Europe, with the option to sell another 200 million shots at a later date should the vaccine pass muster in clinical trials. Separately, J&J is shipping 30 million doses to the U.K.

    The drugmaker also recently teamed up with Aspen Pharmacare to manufacture J&J’s vaccine at its facility in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and Biological E in August agreed to manufacture the shot in India. A week after that deal was announced, Biological E snapped up a 39,000-square-foot facility from Akorn India—potentially adding more than 165 million doses to the drugmaker’s annual capacity.

    With those partnerships in place, J&J feels confident it can meet its lofty supply goals.

    “The sheer speed of execution is challenging, and also the sheer volume that we need to produce. I think every manufacturer is facing the same challenges,” Lefebvre said. “We have aggressive timelines—we’d say, challenging timelines—but at the same time, they’re realistic. We try to make sure that we can meet our commitments.”

    RELATED: CDC’s distribution road map, safety monitoring plans plus other takeaways from FDA’s big COVID-19 vaccine meeting

    Meanwhile, J&J’s shot could have a storage and distribution edge over the likes of those from Pfizer and BioNTech, Lefebvre thinks.

    “In our plans, we will bring our product at -20° C into the J&J warehouses around the world,” he said.

    J&J’s shot is expected to remain stable for up to two years at that temperature, about -4° Fahrenheit. Once it goes out to distributors and customers, it can be kept stable at 2 to 8° Celcius (a range of about 35.6° to 46.4° Fahrenheit) for up to three months, not much colder than your average refrigerator, Lefebvre said.

    The company has strong cold-chain experience, Lefebvre added, based on its long history with vaccines and biologics. Because its shot doesn’t require the stringent, ultra-cold temperatures of other candidates—like Pfizer’s mRNA-based vaccine, which requires storage at -94 degrees Fahrenheit—J&J argues it can provide its product safely and effectively and make it accessible in regions that may not be equipped to handle the cold-chain requirements of other shot hopefuls, he added.

    To that end, J&J has pledged 500 million doses to low-income markets starting in mid-2021, Lefebvre said. The drugmaker is also engaged with COVAX, the World Health Organization’s equitable vaccine distribution scheme, plus Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Lefebvre said.

    Meanwhile, once a regulatory approval comes through, all focus will switch to supply chain, Lefebvre figures. The company, along with others vying for the same single-use materials like glass vials, will need to ensure it has enough material supply on hand—something J&J also sought to lock down from the start by signing contracts with suppliers to safeguard capacity, Lefebvre said.

    “It will be challenging for sure once we start production,” he said. “It will be hard to make sure you’re meeting your plans on a day-to-day basis. And in the event that you don’t meet those plans, you need to be able to change your plans to manage how you’ll still execute your deliveries to governments.”

  15. David Avatar
    David

    It does not need to get any hotter!

    New research shows the Atlantic Ocean just had its hottest decade in 3000 years https://t.co/r5ZkdyrYs9 #RaceToZero pic.twitter.com/CNeq3Lhg7i— World Economic Forum (@wef) November 14, 2020

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  16. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ Critical Analyzer at 10 :35 AM

    I agree with your position on the vaccine issue. If COVID is a virus and a special unusual virus, how really effective is a vaccine? I am no medical expert but I am led to believe that viruses run their natural courses until they disappear or mutate. Every year people in USA take a flu vaccine, does it give immunity against the flu virus?. I think Dr. Lucas raised this issue months ago. Is anybody paying attention?

  17. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @David

    The ratio between positivity and who requires hospitalization is directly based solely on the age groups and the comorbidities of the infected since America has no official early treatment.

    The FDA and CDC has blocked all viable early treatments in favour of a nonsense stay at home, take nothing and wait it out while you spread it to your family strategy. This has never been done for any disease in the past.

    You also can’t really look at available beds either and hospital resources since most hospitals in America normally operate at near capacity since their motive is profit above all else and usually operate at or near capacity in a normal flu season.

  18. Tony Avatar
    Tony

    @ David

    “It does not need to get any hotter!“

    Aye, aye Sir..

  19. David Avatar
    David

    @Critical Analyzer

    Where is the data?

  20. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @David

    This is the official standard of care in US after 8 months of effort. Tell me they heads of those agencies don’t want firing.

    https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/therapeutic-management/

  21. David Avatar
    David

    @Critical Analyzer

    Not following your reasoning from the link posted. All it confirms is that the process of evaluating therapeutics is ongoing which is understandable in the prevailing COVID-19 climate.

  22. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @David
    Mortality Data by age group and comorbidities info. This data is hard

    https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/

    https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm

  23. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @David November 14, 2020 12:09 PM

    This is supposed to be a pandemic and 8 months into this thing and they can’t even recommend a single therapeutic for early treatment. Studies take money and they had a duty to take what doctors on the frontline are doing.

    All they had to do is look at which primary care doctors are beating the statistics, see what they are doing and put together a large study or two to test those treatments.

    The problem is no can profit from the therapeutics that work early since they are off patent drugs and vitamins which can’t be profited from. A totally or partially successful early therapeutic cuts into profit from potential vaccine sales.

    Look at stupid Barbados rushing to buy a new rush-tested vaccine we know nothing about. The minute an early therapeutic gets some level of support, this pandemic is over.

  24. David Avatar
    David

    A read of the links you posted explains that therapeutics are recommended to support certain diagnoses but the blogmaster will refer to those in the know.

  25. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/11/13/nothing-to-fear-says-barbados-govt-as-it-assists-cruise-ship-with-covid-patients/

    Let’s give Jack his jacket.

    Health and Wellness Minister Lt Col. Jeffrey Bostic and all those who are engaged in managing COVID-19 in Barbados are performing an excellent job in keeping Barbadians safe. On this matter, every Barbadian should have a sense of pride in the level of competency and expertise being displayed for the whole world to see. I believe that we are second to none.

    There is an expression “the proof of the pudding is in the eating” and whilst some may ask for models and documents, the superior outcome of their management policies is all the proof that men of reason need.

    I think Mia is way ahead of her rivals when it comes to political strategy and futuristic planning. I have seen some criticize her management style and they may be right in some instances. But when it really mattered, when it was life or death, she was able to put together an impressive and successful team.

    Some of her efforts seem like rearranging the chairs of the deck of the Titanic, but to assemble such a high performance team in the midst of the pandemic is/was a stroke of good luck or of superb managerial skills. To me, it does not matter which one it is. If it is managerial skills then Hip-hip hooray and if it isj ust pure luck then remember one of my favorite expressions “I would rather be lucky than good”. Hell yeah.

    Indeed, if she put together a string of lucky wins (when it really matters), or if she continues to bungles her way to impressive victories this woman will be unbeatable in 2023,

    Three cheers for the Colonel Bostic and the other unnamed heroes behind our brilliant and successful COVID-19 policy.

  26. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Dear Lt Col. Jeffrey Bostic,

    You have convinced me that you and your team are the real deal. I am hoping that one day you will take the time to show us how our dependence on tourism aligns or conflicts with your attempts to keep the nation safe.

    I realize that life/business must go on, but it must be frustrating to fight an opponent and when it looks as if you are gaining an upper hand, someone throws a few more opponents into the ring. For you, it is a protracted war; you are winning the skirmishes but you can never completely declare victory until the war is ended. The sad truth is that the end of the war is not something that you have control over.

    I fear that at some stage your ring skills will fail and the opponent will get the upper hand and then all those victories and the excellence of your planning and execution will be seen as important. You are the student who is acing all the exams, but the one big test which that really matters lies ahead. I wish fortune smiles upon you.

    Hoping that the nation realizes the important contribution made by you and your team. I wish you and your team continued success.

    Stay safe.

    TheOGazerts (Overseas Bajan)

  27. Tony Avatar
    Tony

    @ TheOGazerts November 14, 2020 1:42 PM

    “Indeed, if she put together a string of lucky wins (when it really matters), or if she continues to bungles her way to impressive victories this woman will be unbeatable in 2023”.

    Definitely not fiction…👌

  28. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ critical Analyzer at 12: 56 PM

    Your data relates to mainland China. It does confirm that age and co -morbidity correlate with a higher probability of death from COVID 19 . Of course it does not corroborate that COVID -19 rather than the co- morbidity is the cause of death. I have no doubt that a similar finding would be suggested by the local data. Do you know what kind of therapeutics was given to our high level of recovering patients?

  29. John A Avatar
    John A

    As the resident shop keeper and bush doctor I hereby state my view. Lol

    I have heard the CEO of Pfizer say while the vaccine APPEARS to be ROUGHLY 90% effective he does not know the period it is effective for. I also heard others on CNN say the storage conditions for this product will be a challenge due to the extreme cold it is required to be stored in.

    Now as a person who has had several as we say here ” colds” it was evident that many had different symptoms. If you rememeber they even had different names for them each year like the Kung Fu cold etc. So my concern is this, will the vaccine work on covid 20 if it raises its head? If covid 19 mutates into a covid 19B strain will this vaccine be effective?

    My 10 cent view is that we will have to live with covid in either this form or a mutated form as we do the flu virus every year. Will vaccines always be playing catch up to the virus who knows. Then unless their is compulsory vaccination by law how effective will a vaccine be? They are many religions who do not believe in vaccination and blood transfusion for instance.

    In closing I don’t want to throw cold water on the vaccine, but I believe this will not be the global saviour many are hoping for. Yesterday the USA had 180,000 new cases in one day. With a vaccine are we saying 18,000 new cases would have been the norm? What is 10% percent of the population in the USA, are we saying that those millions of people will continue to catch and spread the virus should they travel?

    Forget the fan fare and look at the facts and you will see why doctors like Fauci say the vaccine alone can not be the answer. In the meantime I going here and take 2 panadol cause up to now dem ain’t find no vaccine for headaches neither and the Covid thing giving me one thinking bout it!

  30. TheOgazerts Avatar
    TheOgazerts

    The fallacy of pedigree

    I have often seen the word pedigree used as if was a desirable trait/status to have.

    When Mia entered parliament with a 30-0 win, she was presented with a blank check and could have written in any number that she wanted to. The sky was hers, but she seem unable to escape the atmosphere and of the two paths seem to have chosen the one that was more traveled.

    Why was there this failure? Let me torture a phrase from Shakespeare “Mia’s failing, dear Blogmaster, is not in her stars. But is in her pedigree”.

    The path less traveled, integrity legislation, sunshine laws, ….. would have probably meant severing some ties and relationships that were well established. It might have meant turning her back on those of similar pedigree and so she chose the safe way out.

    It takes no great imagination to see that another person of pedigree (POP) would choose the same course of action as MIa. We must soundly reject this notion of pedigree and of high color.

    Here is what the non-POP would say.
    FROST
    I shall be telling this with a sigh
    Somewhere ages and ages hence:
    Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
    I took the one less traveled by,
    And that has made all the difference.

  31. David Avatar
    David

    Black people ‘twice as likely to catch coronavirus’

    By Smitha Mundasad
    Health reporter

    https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/FC37/production/_115376546_gettyimages-1253858296.jpg

    Black people are twice as likely as white people to catch the coronavirus, a study of 18 million people suggests.

    The research also indicates Asian people are 1.5 times more likely than white people to be infected – and may be more likely to need intensive care.

    Researchers say their findings are of “urgent public-health importance” and raise questions about how vaccines will be prioritised within at-risk groups.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/health-54907473

  32. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    John A at 2:30 PM
    Super !!. I always say it is very necessary to understand how things work in order to repair or improve upon them. These days there are too many attempts at quick fixes that can go terribly wrong. We need to be very careful about the unnecessary risks we subject our people to.

  33. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Vincent.

    Thank you. Covid has been the politcal football for many but especially in the USA. I keep saying our leaders are not seriously looking at the post covid economy and it’s challenges. Many think it’s going to be like popping a pill and life will go back to normal, but I beg to differ. There will be the pre covid economy and the post covid economy and they will be vastly different.

  34. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @Vincent Codrington November 14, 2020 2:24 PM
    https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/ has both New York and China data from earlier in the pandemic.

    Looking at the New York numbers in the first table, 73.6% deaths are in the over 65 age groups
    The with underlying conditions (comorbidities/NCDs) group accounted for 75% of the deaths

    This means the chances of a person with COVID having a worse outcome is much more dependent on the ages and number of NCDs the person has than number of cases.

  35. David Avatar
    David

    @Critical Analyzer

    What about the staff strength of healthcare facilities that are being compromised because of Covid-19? Forgot to add this consideration in an earlier comment.

  36. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @Critical Analyzer at 3:10 PM
    Thamks for additional data on New York. Again the common factors are old-age and underlying morbidities.

  37. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Tony November 14, 2020 10:08 AM “Martinique has 4,732 reported cases. That number is under scrutiny. Its alleged to be much higher. St. Lucia reported 156 cases as a result of some Martinique natives fleeing the Island in fishing boats to St. Lucia causing a rise in numbers there to date.”

    Martinique and Guadaloupe are politically parts of France, but the mother cuntry is more than 4,000 miles away. France 29,920 cases per million population, and i would bet anything that since there is much travel between the parts of the same country, that Martiniwue’s high rate of 12,613 cases per million, and Guadaloupe’s rate of 20,237 per million is directed related to related to France’s; as compared to St. Lucia’s rate of 870 cases per million and Barbados’ rate of 866 per million.

    So French colonialism has come back to bite the people of Martinique and Guadaloupe in the lungs.

    I was talking to a St.Lucian friend yesterday and friend believes that people are entering St. Lucia from Martinique and Guadaloupe through informal ports.

  38. Tony Avatar
    Tony

    @ Cuhdear Bajan November 14, 2020 4: 28 PM.

    You’re spot on..

  39. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    Pfizer is not the only drug company working on a vaccine, it is the first one to announce that it has reached a significant milestone and its drug may be on the market sooner than others. When the dust settles there may be four or five different drugs combating the virus and some with different intake requirements e.g. Pfizer requires two shots of the vaccine 21 days apart and requires low storage temperatures, others may be completely different.

  40. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Vincent Codrington November 14, 2020 11:03 AM “I agree with your position on the vaccine issue. If COVID is a virus and a special unusual virus, how really effective is a vaccine? I am no medical expert but I am led to believe that viruses run their natural courses until they disappear or mutate. Every year people in USA take a flu vaccine, does it give immunity against the flu virus?. I think Dr. Lucas raised this issue months ago. Is anybody paying attention?”

    I would bet anything that the boys of BU were/are not the one who took/take their children to be immunised. If they had done so, if they do so they would know that highly effective vaccines have been developed for many, many viral diseases, and that some of these diseases have been effectively eliminated worldwide.

    The following are viral illnesses: that can all be prevented by vaccination/immunization Measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, small pox, polio, human papiloma, hepatitis, A, B, and E.

    Tetanus is a bacterial illness.

    So “no” it is not correct to say that viruses run their natural courses until they disappear or mutate. If we in Barbados had practiced this natural course thingy in the last 60 years almost all of us would have a dead or disabled child. We ourselves may have died in childhood.

    I am a big believer, a big advocate for vaccination. I saw people in my rural 1950’s village left disabled by polio. I know at least one woman only in her 30’s left profoundly deaf because her un-immunised mother caught rubella while she was pregnant. I know a young man left deaf by roseola, his illness and subsequent disability threw his mother out of work. So I am not talking ancient history.

  41. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    And I would rather spend my money with the pharmaceutical giants than with the undertaker, even though I have a very nice cousin who is an undertaker. Whenever he sees me he asks “you don’t have any work for me?” and most of the time I am happy to tell him “nope no work for you” although from time to time, sadly iIhave had to say “yes” I have some work for you today.

  42. Tony Avatar
    Tony

    @ Sargeant

    Please reference my posting @ 10:51 AM. It competitive.

  43. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Critical Analyzer November 14, 2020 10:35 AM “All they want to do is give people a vaccine so the pharmaceutical companies can get even richer.”

    Not true.Covid19 has already killed 1,315,429, if we do nothing as it lasts as long as the 1918 pandemic it has the capacity to kill 2% or more of the world’s population. 2% of 8 bullion peiple is

    The Spanish flu, also known as the 1918 flu pandemic, was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. Lasting from February 1918 to April 1920, it infected 500 million people – about a third of the world’s population at the time – in four successive waves. The death toll is typically estimated to have been somewhere between 17 million and 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history

    Covid19 has already killed 1,315,429, if we do nothing and it lasts as long as the 1918 flu and if it continues for as long and the kill rate remains the same as it is now 160 million people will die. This worries the epidemiologists. It should worry all of us.

    I

  44. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Thank you, Cuhdear Bajan. Seems like some people forget their ABCs from time to time and yet want to argue with the experts.

  45. Tony Avatar
    Tony

    @ Sergeant November 14, 2020 4:47 PM

    “Pfizer is not the only drug company working on a vaccine, it is the first one to announce that it has reached a significant milestone and its drug may be on the market sooner than others”.

    Other vaccine-makers could soon follow with data of their own?

    BioNTech, Moderna Inc. is working on a vaccine that uses so-called messenger RNA. That it uses the same technology bodes well for Moderna, which is only slightly behind its peers. A recent explosion of cases in the U.S. is helping speed along the biotech’s late-stage clinical trial. It has accumulated more than 53 infections, which means that an independent monitoring committee will conduct a preliminary analysis of the shot’s effectiveness within days. Top infectious-disease specialists, including Anthony Fauci, expect it to be as successful as Pfizer’s shot in preventing symptomatic infections.

    Meanwhile, AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford are expected to report preliminary data from their advanced trials in the coming weeks. Their vaccine is already under accelerated review in the U.K. and European Union, with hope that it could be available for large-scale deployment by year-end.

    Johnson & Johnson is further behind. So far, it has enrolled only a few thousand participants in its 60,000-person trial. That’s in part because it lost two weeks when recruitment was paused over a safety concern. Though the trial resumed in late October, J&J now expects to have an initial readout of results from the trial early next year, rather than by the end of 2020. It is turning to data experts at UnitedHealth Group Inc. to accelerate the recruitment

    Read More: Encouraging breakthroughs offer hope for controlling virus

    Novavax Inc. is preparing to launch a large, late-stage U.S. trial before the end of the month, while Sanofi and partner GlaxoSmithKline Plc, two of the world’s biggest vaccine makers, and German drugmaker CureVac NV, are all looking to start advanced trials of their candidates by year-end.

    What’s next for antibody therapies like Eli Lilly’s?

    Lilly’s emergency-use authorization widens access to a new tool for tackling the virus in high-risk patients before they’re sick enough to require hospitalization. This class of monoclonal antibody therapies, as well as antivirals, are needed so that people can get treated early on, thus sparing health-systems from overcrowding, Fauci said on Thursday.

    Lilly Chief Executive Officer David Ricks told Bloomberg the greatest challenge ahead is going to be meeting a surge in demand with limited supply. “We’re going to run out,” he said.

    Another drugmaker, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., is nearing the finish line—and could bolster supply. The Tarrytown, New York-based drug company was thrust into the spotlight when President Donald Trump received its experimental antibody cocktail in early October when he was sick with the virus. Within days, Regeneron could learn from U.S. regulators whether its therapy has been granted an authorization.

    Note: The biotech pharmaceutical companies in the race.

  46. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    I went out shopping today. I visited 4 stores, including hardware, clothing, and pharmacy/grocery I saw a universal rate of mask wearing and hand sanitising, but i did not see the thermometers today.

    It seems to me that most Bajans, all ages, all races, all genders, all religions, all social classes are being largely compliant with the covid protocols. And people were getting about their normal Saturday morning business. Nobody appeared to be scared. People appeared to be sensible.

  47. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    @ Tony,

    You have made an excellent observation concerning the high covid-19 levels of France’s Caribbean islands and how they mirror mainland France.

    You may have noted the disproportionate numbers of blacks from the USA and the UK who have faired badly compared to other racial groups.

    The figures do not lie: blacks in Barbados have avoided the covid-19 bullet unlike members of the diaspora who reside in the USA and the UK.

    I believe that Mia and the major stakeholders of Barbados tourist industry will be unable to restore cruise ship tourism to the island.

    Why would Mia facilitate the demands of a racist domestic Bajan holiday industry that craves for the reintroduction of the covid-19 super spreading cruise line industry. An industry that will bring imminent death and destruction to Barbados majority black population.

    Should such an event occur than Mia would be fully exposed. It would be a risk not worth taking.

    It was forecasted that the tourist industry would be curtailed for a number of years with the introduction of covid-19. Yet, I read in yesterday’s Nation that the agricultural industry remains in dire straits, with no strategy in place for the regrowth of this vital industry.

    The one-egg -in-the-basket tourist industry remains the focal point for Mia and the minority led tourist stakeholders. The optics will open the eyes of the public. Imagine this scenario: white cruiseship travellers debark from their ship at the port of Bridgetown and infect and bring death to Barbados black majority population in order to satisfy their lust for adventure and some sunshine.

  48. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    @ TheOgazerts,

    I was surprised that Mia brought Lt Col. Jeffrey Bostic into her cabinet. I cannot recall a public figure residing in Barbados who has brought such a high level of gravity and competency to a public position.

    The public will be able to compare and contrast both figures. I hope that Mia will seek counsel from the lieutenant. Should she screw up the solid Bostic would be an exceptional replacement figure.

  49. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @David November 14, 2020 3:15 PM

    @Critical Analyzer

    What about the staff strength of healthcare facilities that are being compromised because of Covid-19? Forgot to add this consideration in an earlier comment.

    We are already burning through our staff, healthcare and economic resources with the attempts to maintain our total COVID isolation policy. I am willing to bet the hospital being full is further unforeseen fallout from our COVID strategy, whether it is delayed treatment or financial difficulties.

    If somebody has the flu or bronchitis, we don’t tell them do nothing and go to A&E when they get worse. Until more emphasis is put on finding existing drugs that are effective in outpatient treatments for those persons at risk from complications, we are delaying the inevitable spread while destroying our economy and putting unnecessary stress on our hospital system.

  50. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    @Critical Analyzer,

    An economy should be constructed on more than one industry. Covid-19 should encourage our captains of industry and our politicians to diversify our economy.

    The government of China does not believe that the spread of covid-19 is inevitable. To date our government’s approach has been fairly good. Let’s as not put further strain on the QEH by reopening our tourist industry.

    We in the UK are living in fear of contracting covid-19. Please sir, count your blessings.

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