Pandemic
The World Health Organization has called for a moratorium on booster shots until at least the end of September in order to address inequalities in global dose distribution.
But Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said Israel is doing the world a “great service” by administering the third doses and sharing their results.[1]
I guess what’s mysterious to me is any imagination that the shortcomings in worldwide vaccine distribution, that prompt the World Health Organization to oppose booster shots now,[2] would be overcome by September. Unused doses have to be discarded when they expire and I’m not persuaded that there’s any way to redistribute those doses to the world before they do expire.
Brianna Abbott, “Covid-19 Rise, Vaccine Hesitancy Frustrate Doctors in Hospitals Saturated by the Delta Variant,” Wall Street Journal, August 12, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-rise-vaccine-hesitancy-frustrate-doctors-in-hospitals-saturated-by-the-delta-variant-11628760602
Robert Barnes, “Supreme Court won’t block Indiana University vaccine mandate as Justice Barrett rejects student plea,” Washington Post, August 12, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-covid-vaccine-mandate-indiana/2021/08/12/a2dcc2d2-fbac-11eb-9c0e-97e29906a970_story.html
Natasha Lindstrom, “Out-of-state covid hot spots ‘desperate’ to transfer patients to Western Pa. hospitals,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, August 12, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/health-now/out-of-state-covid-hot-spots-desperate-to-transfer-patients-to-western-pa-hospitals/
Times of Israel, “Israel becomes first country in world to give COVID boosters to over-50s,” August 13, 2021, https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-becomes-first-country-in-world-to-offer-covid-boosters-to-over-50s/
Evictions
There is a new blog post entitled, “To be an international human rights rogue and to spread the contagion.”
Brent Kendall, “Eviction Moratorium Left in Place by Judge Despite Legal Doubts,” Wall Street Journal, August 13, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-judge-leaves-new-eviction-moratorium-in-place-11628870224
Afghanistan
There is another new blog post entitled, “Consider a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.”
Deutschewelle, “Afghanistan: Taliban take control of Herat in major victory for militants,” August 12, 2021, https://www.dw.com/en/afghanistan-taliban-take-control-of-herat-in-major-victory-for-militants/a-58836723
Stephen Losey et al., “More US Troops Heading into Afghanistan as Taliban Conquest Approaches Tipping Point,” Military.com, August 12, 2021, https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/08/12/more-us-troops-heading-afghanistan-taliban-conquest-approaches-tipping-point.html
Ishaan Tharoor, “Afghanistan’s rapid collapse is part of a long, slow U.S. defeat,” Washington Post, August 12, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/12/afghanistan-taliban-biden-moment/
Susannah George et al., “Mass Afghan government surrenders as Taliban fighters overrun three key cities in sweeping territorial gains,” Washington Post, August 13, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/13/afghanistan-taliban-advance/
Melissa Mahtani et al., “US to send troops to help evacuate personnel in Afghanistan, as Kandahar becomes latest city to fall,” CNN, August 13, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/webview/politics/live-news/afghanistan-taliban-us-troops-08-12-21/h_75f8d8c2a81923885b9a0fe6d7e00f7a
Roland Oliphant, “Will the Taliban take over Afghanistan? Here’s what we know so far,” Telegraph, August 13, 2021, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/08/13/will-taliban-take-afghanistan-know-far/
That power outage last night lasted four hours, long enough for me to contemplate taking my perishables to my new apartment. Even if that apartment was also affected by the power outage, there’s an emergency generator that will keep the refrigerator running.
- [1]Times of Israel, “Israel becomes first country in world to give COVID boosters to over-50s,” August 13, 2021, https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-becomes-first-country-in-world-to-offer-covid-boosters-to-over-50s/↩
- [2]Helen Branswell, “WHO director-general slams notion of Covid-19 vaccine booster doses given global health needs,” Stat, July 12, 2021, https://www.statnews.com/2021/07/12/who-director-general-slams-notion-of-covid-19-vaccine-booster-doses-given-global-health-needs/↩