Not unexpectedly, with their emphasis on “how to” react to pandemics rather than on what needs to be changed, they do not offer suggestions about ending the socially structured racism that both underlies the extra burdens of pandemics on racialized peoples and contributes substantially to white “anti-science” opposition to public health actions. They say almost nothing about Long COVID — two short paragraphs and a short footnote. They do recognize that Long COVID is poorly understood and that some people with Long COVID have organized for care and research. One might think that these uncertainties about the extent of Long COVID, its duration, and thus the threat it poses to the population and the workforce would make it worth discussing in depth. After all, if too many people become disabled by it this would show that the COVID Crisis Group was badly mistaken in claiming that getting people back to school and work is a main priority of policy and in supporting the policy of getting back to normalcy in 2023.
From what it sounds like the book “Lessons from the COVID War” basically chalks everything up to incompetence or just dropping the ball on the part of government and business leaders, and not deliberate decisions made by their policy priority – getting butts in seats downtown for The Economy, the false god of people in power. Apparently the book embraces that priority even to this day, which completely misses the point of our failures in society.
I know people in charge had a solid pandemic plan at the start, and I watched every level of government fold like cheap lawn chairs under the pressure of BIG MONEY and EUGENICIST LIBERTARIANS, and abandon every last public health measure, and turn their backs on the needs of the people.
Now people are writing books helping the people in charge say “oopsies!”
Commentary: Elite Panic vs. the Resilient Populace by James B. Meigs, MAY 2020
“Too often, the need to “avoid panic” serves as a retroactive justification for all manner of official missteps.”
But I refuse to read that book and find out exactly what their points were, and I don’t recommend this book at all, because Zeke Emmanuel was involved, and I don’t support the work of eugenics pushers.
If young Zeke wants to stop living at 75, that’s fine with me. But the arguments he lays out are not really meant to be just about himself. He argues that essentially, one should stop living after he or she has led a complete life. According to him, by 75, people have passed their creative peaks. It is all downhill from there. They are being kept alive by the likes of flu and pneumonia shots, vaccines, antibiotics, and better medical care, which keeps them going instead of allowing nature to take its course. That is why, he says at one point, he does not believe people should get flu shots in their 60s: because each one taken by an elderly person is depriving a younger person who needs it to live a full life from having access to it. (He does not explain why both cannot get them.)
The ideology of the most powerful people calling the shots seems to be that people over 75 have no business living anyway, anyone over 50 should just feel lucky to still be alive, young people should risk it for “natural herd immunity” for the population – who gives a shit if some die, and only the “strong” children should survive – so definitely don’t vaccinate any children.
Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine scientist and professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the advisory committee, emphasized before the meeting that it’s important to discuss who needs an updated vaccine this fall. “What’s the goal of the vaccine?” he asked. “If the goal of the vaccine is the stated goal, which is protection against severe disease, do you really need a yearly vaccine for otherwise healthy people less than 75? I mean, is this the flu model? Because I would argue it shouldn’t be.” Flu shots are updated each year and recommended annually for everyone over 6 months old because the strains can change so dramatically from season to season. With Covid, Offit said, it’s important to have evidence about whether protection from the vaccine against hospitalization and death is waning and, if so, in which groups.
We’re not allowed to want to avoid Long Covid. We’re not allowed to want to avoid getting sick for weeks at a time. We’re not allowed to want to avoid using up all sick time with covid repeatedly. We’re not allowed to want to avoid rolling the dice on organ damage.
The only thing we’re allowed is to maybe reduce the chances of hospitalization and death a bit. That’s it. That’s all people in powerful positions, these experts, with many many options for themselves, think – that we’re not worth keeping actually safe and healthy.
I reject this bullshit and demand better.
File under: book reviews of books I’ll never read.