Last year, many countries were slow in placing orders to get the vaccines against Covid from Pfizer, Moderna or Astra-Zeneca. This, of course, caused a delay in their vaccination efforts. A sign of hope is on the horizon… an anti-Covid pill produced by Merck. The name of the pill – Molnupiravir. The tablet hasn’t been authorised yet… Merck is seeking emergency authorisation from The Food and Drug Administration FDA.

Today's Focus of Attention

New Covid pill: it’s time to place orders to be first on the list

Twenty-six scientists, from a wide range of scientific disciplines, will be involved in making a new global framework for emerging pathogens of epidemic and pandemic potential. The World Health Organisation has declared that this team of experts will, as well, reactivate the stalled inquiry into Covid-19 origins.

One last shot - WHO experts to investigate the origins of Covid-19

For over 20 years, the US ran hundreds of projects in Afghanistan through private contractors with little oversight. Many of them concluded successfully, but many didn’t.

Hundreds of billions lost in Afghanistan

The arrival of the Delta variant has shifted the course of the pandemic since it’s more transmissible than the previous variants and has become the dominant one across the world. New research from ZOE COVID Study shows that Delta has changed the symptoms of the infection.

Delta and misinformation have changed the course of the pandemic

This is an experimental drug, but the clinical trials were positive and suggest that it reduces the risk of hospitalisation by 50%. The pill: “Molnupiravir”.

Pill against Covid-19 can reduce risk of hospitalisation

Amnesty International published a report saying that vaccine developers have monopolised intellectual property, blocked technology transfers, and lobbied aggressively against actions that would expand the global manufacturing of vaccines against Covid. 

Amnesty International: Vaccine inequity is a human rights crisis

The 20-year war against ‘terror’ the US fought in Afghanistan has a new sombre chapter. Two days before the deadline for American troops to evacuate, and after a terrorist attack at Kabul airport perpetrated by ISIL-K, a US drone mistakenly killed 10 innocent people.  

Another dark stain on the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan: US admits Kabul drone strike killed innocent civilians

Natural immunity provides long-lasting and strong protection against Covid-19 but…which offers the best protection: a Covid infection or vaccines? In Israel, scientists concluded that natural immunity offers longer-lasting and stronger protection against Covid compared with the immunity induced from the Pfizer two- dose vaccine. This is yet to be peer reviewed.  

Which offers the best protection: a Covid infection or vaccines?

The Food and Drug Administration panel of advisers rejected Pfizer’s proposal to the widespread distribution of booster shots. This influential panel of scientists agrees to administer vaccines for people over 65 and those with a significant risk of infection, but not for everybody. They claimed they are not needed for younger adults yet.

FDA approves Covid-19 booster jabs for people over 65 and at-risk population

  At this stage of the pandemic, vaccine booster shots are not needed for the general population. This is according to a group of international scientists who published a new report in the medical journal The Lancet last Monday.  In the report, the scientists wrote that any decision about the need for boosting should be based on careful analysis of adequately controlled clinical or epidemiological data, or both, indicating a persistent and meaningful reduction in severe disease.

Covid-19 vaccine boosters are not needed, say scientists

The United States’ dependence on for-profit contractors for war-zone duties contributed to mission failures in Afghanistan. This information was published in a paper from Brown’s University Costs of War project and the Centre for International Policy.

Reliance on defence contractors led to US failure in Afghanistan

Last Saturday night, the FBI released a declassified 16-page document related to logistical support given to the Saudi plane hijackers on the run-up to September 11 attacks. Victims’ relatives applauded the document’s release as a meaningful step in their effort to connect the attacks to Saudi Arabia. 

FBI releases 9/11 declassified document

To defeat al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups was the promise made by George W. Bush right after the terrorist attacks on The World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon. A few days after the attacks, Bush told the congress that the war on terror begins with al-Qaeda but wouldn’t end there.   Which goals were achieved?

Did the United States win the “War on Terror”?

Covid-19 cases are rising in the Americas as vaccination rates run slowly.  Almost double are the new Covid-19 infections compared with the same period last year according to the Pan American Health Organisation. The organism director said only 28% of people in Latin America and The Caribbean are fully vaccinated - this is largely due to limited supplies of vaccines. 

Covid-19 cases skyrocketing in the Americas

A request largely ignored: a pause for the cause in the administration of booster shots. These vaccines can be used to inoculate millions of people in poor countries where its citizens are desperate to get at least one shot of a vaccine that could save their lives or their loved ones.

WHO exhorts wealthy nations to postpone booster shots until 2022

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