Why We’re on a Long Road to COVID-19 Immunity Even With Vaccines

Prabir Purkayastha

As the pandemic continues to spread throughout the world, many countries seem to have given up the fight against COVID-19 and are now waiting for a vaccine to protect against the virus. With cases exceeding 32 million, and more than a million dead, the world economy has taken a bigger hit than at any other time since the end of the Great Depression of 1929-39.

The U.S. and India are now showing the highest numbers of total and new cases of COVID-19. Both have stopped talking about how to stop the pandemic, and are only focusing on reopening—or as India calls it, “unlockdown.”

Giving up on containing the COVID-19 pandemic is an admission that public health systems have failed. India, with a poor public health infrastructure, has one of the most privatized health care systems in the world. The U.S. has the most privatized health care system among wealthy countries, with poor outcomes. It is not surprising then that both these countries have failed in facing what is essentially a public health challenge. The COVID-19 pandemic shows the contradictions between the needs of capitalism and the health of the people. Capitalism requires ill-health for making profits: selling patented medicines, costly stays in hospitals, and expensive procedures. The objective of the public health system is to ensure that people stay healthy, robbing capitalists of the opportunity to make profits.

The good news for the world is that 41 vaccines—more accurately candidate vaccines—are currently under different phases of clinical trials, and another 151 are in the pipeline. Two of the vaccines currently in Phase 1/2 trials are being developed by Indian companies—one from Cadila Healthcare Limited and the other from Bharat Biotech—and are set to start their Phase 3 trials soon. Bharat Biotech is also working with Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis on a nasal route for delivering a vaccine.

Normally, vaccine development and testing take from five to ten years, so it would be a significant achievement if we succeed in making effective vaccines available by the end of 2020 or early 2021. The progress so far also shows that we have the scientific capacity to develop a large number of vaccines for infectious diseases. The reason we have not done so for diseases other than COVID-19 is that such infectious diseases were thought to be the diseases of poor countries, and do not provide enough profits for global big pharma to invest in vaccines against infectious diseases. It required a public health emergency in the rich countries for vaccine development to take a front seat in medical science again.

As immunity may not be permanent, unless we have herd immunity at the global level, we will continue to see outbreaks in different countries. The virus will not respect national boundaries. And while large parts of the global population have no guarantee of a vaccine, the rich countries with 13 percent of the world’s population have reserved more than half the vaccines from the leading vaccine manufacturers.

India may be luckier than most other developing countries as it has a large capacity for manufacturing vaccines. If a vaccine from AstraZeneca-Oxford comes through, Serum Institute of India, Pune, which is partnering with AstraZeneca, has earmarked a significant part of its output for India. Cadila’s and Bharat Biotech’s vaccines are currently in clinical trials. They also have a significant capacity for vaccine manufacture. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, an Indian company, has partnered with Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology for distribution of the Sputnik V vaccine. Contrary to some news reports, Russia’s Sputnik V was never authorized for the general population and is currently undergoing Phase 3 trials since August in various countries—Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Mexico and possibly India.

After the disaster of U.S. President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic, he is desperate to claim success in some way or another before the November elections. He has been pressuring the Food and Drug Administration to give emergency authorization to some of the vaccines that the U.S. has invested in through its $11 billion Operation Warp Speed program. These vaccines have to provide evidence that they are safe and provide sufficient immunity by either preventing the disease or limiting it to a mild form. As some of these vaccines are two-shot vaccines and need at least two months after the final shot to be effective, there is no way that such an exercise can be done by the U.S. presidential election on November 3.

After public criticism of the FDA’s earlier emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine and convalescent plasma therapy, both of which turned out to be of little value, the FDA is cautious about making a third mistake, especially as vaccine skepticism is strong in the United States. Dr. Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the U.S., has termed the anti-vaxxers as a part of the anti-science movement that has gained significant influence in the United States. Anti-science, racism and a deep distrust of the government are driving the rightward shift in U.S. politics. A misstep on vaccines can cause significant damage in protecting people in the long run.

We have also seen similar missteps in India, where the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) director general issued a stern directive in his letter in July to 12 hospitals participating in trials for Bharat Biotech’s vaccine Covaxin, demanding that all trials—Phase 1, 2 and 3—should be completed within six weeks so a success could be announced on August 15, which is India’s Independence Day. After an outcry, the ICMR claimed that it was not a directive but a suggestion, with no explanation about why such a harebrained suggestion should have been made in the first place.

Once a vaccine is found to be successful in the Phase 3 trials, it might appear that our problems would be over quickly. Not so fast—we then have the formidable challenge of making it available to at least 4 to 5 billion people for creating herd immunity. This means producing about 8 to 9 billion doses, as a number of these vaccines are two-shot vaccines. We then have the even more challenging task of setting up supply chains to provide vaccines to centers all over each country before people can be vaccinated. The CEO of Serum Institute, the largest generic vaccine manufacturer in the world, has already flagged that India will need about $10.7 billion to procure and deliver the vaccine, a further challenge to the government’s finances.

Several manufacturers in India have ramped up vaccine production capacity, so they may be able to produce the vaccines, even though they may not meet the requirements quickly. But an even more daunting task is to create the entire cold chain (temperature-controlled supply chain for all the elements of storage and distribution) for supplying the vaccines to the vaccination centers.

In case of the old-fashioned inactivated viruses, or the more recent use of adenovirus as vector, the cold chain required is between 36 and 46 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the cold chain requirement for most commonly used vaccines including those for the flu and polio. For Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, both of whom have developed mRNA vaccines, however, the temperatures required are between -94 and -112 degrees Fahrenheit, a far more difficult task even for countries like the United States. If the mRNA vaccines are the ones that prove to be the successful ones and the others are not, building up a supply chain for the vaccines that can provide the colder range of storage for most of the world will take far more than a year.

The other challenge is that we have never vaccinated such large numbers in such a short time ever. In India, the pulse polio program uses oral drops and immunizes about 170 million children per year. This is still well below the required 1.5 to 2 billion vaccine shots for India, whether the AstraZeneca or the Gamaleya vaccine, both of which are two-shot vaccines. And for a two-shot vaccine, we have the added difficulty of tracking the people who have received the first shot so that they do not miss their second.

Even if the major economies can solve their problems of procuring the vaccines by jumping the queue with money or captive production capacities, what about the rest of the world? For them, the only major alternative is the WHO-Gavi-CEPI’s Covax platform, which requires at least $2 billion by December 2020. It has raised $700 million, and has commitments from 64 major countries for funds, but is still short by $700-800 million.

The U.S., having pulled out of WHO, is not a part of any global effort for vaccines and says that it might help others only after it has helped itself. Russia and China are not a part of the Covax and are working out bilateral programs along with clinical trials for sharing their vaccines.

If vaccine development was simply a scientific exercise, we should have been able to address the questions of when we should consider the clinical trial results satisfactory to start mass vaccination and which section of the people should get the vaccine and when, and at what cost. We would also have been able to discuss how to create the global and national infrastructure for all countries and all people to be safe. Instead, we see the ugly face of “vaccine nationalism,” with each country for itself, which will protect neither the nations nor their people. We’ve seen tech and trade wars; here come the vaccine wars.

Ominous Economic Signs: Long-Term Employment and People Leaving the Work Force

Dean Baker

The September employment report showed a sharp slowing in the rate of job growth, with the economy adding 661,000 jobs, less than half of its August rate. The unemployment rate fell by 0.5 percentage points to 7.9 percent, but most of this was due to people leaving the labor force. The employment to population ratio (EPOP) only rose by 0.1 percentage point. At 56.6 percent, it is still 4.4 percentage points below its year-ago level.

With jobs remaining in short supply, many people may permanently leave the labor force. The labor force participation rate is down 1.8 percentage points overall since last year, and 2.3 percentage points for women over age 20. The number of long-term unemployed (more than 26 weeks) also rose by 781,000 to 2,405,000. The people who drop out of the labor force or end up as long-term unemployed often suffer permanent damage to their labor market prospects.

There are also large racial differences in the impact of the recession. The EPOP for whites is down 3.9 percentage points from its year-ago level, while the EPOP for Blacks is down 6.5 percentage points. Asian Americans have also been hard-hit by the downturn, with a drop of 5.2 percentage points in their EPOP from year-ago levels. Their unemployment of 8.9 percent is considerably higher than the 7.0 percent unemployment rate for whites. Typically, the rate for Asian-Americans is slightly lower.

There are also large differences in impact by education. The unemployment rate for people with college degrees rose by 2.8 percentage points from its year-ago level, to 4.8 percent. For those with high school degrees the rise was 5.4 percentage points to 9.0 percent.

The differential impact of the recession is also seen in the loss of part-time jobs. The number of people choosing to work part-time is down 2,641,000 (12.3 percent) from its year-ago level. This fits with the 19.0 percent unemployment rate reported for workers in the leisure and hospitality industry, a sector that largely employs part-time workers.

One piece of surprising positive news in the household survey was the increase in the number of people who report being unemployed because they voluntarily quit their jobs. This jumped 212,000 to 801,000. The unemployed due to voluntary quits is actually the same share of the workforce as in September of 2019. Less positive is the share of unemployment due to temporary layoffs which fell from 45.5 percent to 36.7 percent. While some of these workers got back their jobs, many no longer consider their layoffs temporary. Still, this is an unusually high share; in the Great Recession it never peaked over 14.5 percent.

The job growth was again concentrated in the most hard-hit industries. The leisure and hospitality sector added 318,000 jobs, accounting for almost half of the total. Restaurants added 200,300 jobs, while hotels added 50,700.  Retail added 142,400 jobs, while health care and social assistance added 107,700 jobs. Retail employment is now just 3.1 percent below its February level.

Manufacturing added 66,000 jobs, while construction added 26,000. Employment in these sectors now stands 5.0 percent and 5.2 percent below the February level. Mining reversed the pattern of sharp job losses and added 900 jobs. However, coal mining dropped another 900 jobs, with employment falling to 44,500, far lower than any pre-pandemic level on record.

The government sector shed 216,000 jobs, with a loss of 231,100 jobs in local education being partially offset by a gain in local non-education employment. While some of this is due to delayed school openings, state and local governments are struggling with huge budget shortfalls and will have no choice except to make large layoffs if more federal aid is not forthcoming soon.

This is, at best, a mixed report. Ordinarily adding 661,000 jobs and seeing a drop of 0.5 percentage points in the unemployment rate would be seen as very positive. However, we are still down by more than 10.7 million jobs (7.0 percent) from February. Also, we typically would have expected the economy to have added roughly 1 million jobs in this seven-month period. It would take us almost 18 months, at this pace of job growth, to make up that gap, and that does not even include the 130,000 monthly job creation that would be needed to keep pace with the growth of the labor force.

With several sectors, such as airlines and state and local governments, looking at another round of layoffs, the immediate picture does not look good. With more workers dropping out of the labor force and being faced with long-term unemployment, we are risking a large amount of long-lasting damage.

Rape Raj: Shrouded in Shadow

Shahnaz Islam

A frenzied attack or bouts of insanity; “rape is rape”! Every 30 minutes one rape is crafted in India. A woman or a child…they are all prey of the rape lore. The rape cases are up swinging in numbers each day. Bruises and injuries only leave scars not recoveries. The victims soon or later are succumbed or marked as grime. Sympathies don’t lie in its supreme constituents.

The list of names flourishes each year — Nirbhaya case in 2012, Aruna Ramchandra case in 2015, Asifa Bano in 2018; Priyanka Reddy in 2019; Manisha Valmiki in 2020 and who’s next in 2021? Why stated ‘she was raped’? Why not alleged ‘he raped her’? This brutality is not just an android game in contemporary society, the cruelty had been breathing since centuries ago. The social responses, the laws and sections are very tedious to heal the wounds of the victims. Justice is just a dream.

According to the survey, 87 rape cases occurs every day, recorded in 2019; 7.3 per cent stiffen last year, and the victims are mostly in anguish. From 2018, 4.5 per cent rape cases ballooned up against children, were registered in 2019. Further, the government data reveals that of men in India, at least in their entire lives one out of 5 males are either groped or molested as a child or by the stronger men. Over 50 per cent of them are boys between the age of 5 and 15 only.

Any good society is formed with people’s organisation on uniting aspects and with their contributions towards universal human values. Unfortunately, we have a society which mainly boasts over caste, creed, class, religion, language, gender, and most importantly influences of politics and power is supreme over all.

One can calm oneself by acknowledging that every individual is not the same and these disgusting acts are committed by a few only who are grounded in their different characteristics or individual behaviours. But how can one repeatedly slaughter humanity and that too with complicity of the state from top to bottom? The Hathras incidence from UP is an example in hand as why is rape trending upslope in India? Why the Rape Raj is not abolishing yet even after the harsh Constitutional Amendment following the Nirbhaya incidence in Delhi? Remember, rape has no caste, religion or identity; ‘it is an act of hysteria’, a madness and an act against any sane society.

Blaming only any government is always not wise. The crime committed by the member is from this very society, we all live in. The government is not a pessimist or mind reader of the culprits or the rapists — what are their intentions or who is to be raped next by them. However, being complacent with the crimes or protecting the criminals like rapists and human lynchers have been observed time and again from certain governments for their political interests, which obviously is an additional bolt for us all- in India.

Rape is not enough to call it a Rape only. It is devouring humanity and undermining faith upon humans. Human constituted the laws, unlike animals, for guidance of citizens and to protect the humanity to fall apart.

Despite the harshness of these laws, an actual punishment falls less severe. The act of sexual violence, swelled underneath the bodies, mangled with a metal rod inside her, hanging her on a mango tree, cutting the throat, chopped her tongue or strangled. Indifferences and tolerance of sexual harassment are in the hilt. The agony and trauma the victim goes through, no brutality or punishment given to the rapist will justify. Rape does not cut or mark injuries into the only intimated parts of the body of a victim but pierced into their vehement. Such wounds are often unseen but never washed off. No amount of guilt or worries will cure it. No functioning of NGOs or systems run by the government or the law-makers can bestow the pride of justice. If we are in our nerves and understand ourselves then we have failed the humanity. It’s high time we wake up from slumber and educate our minds and thoughts.

Instead of ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ make the sons aware … that raping a woman is raping the womb of every mother.

Somewhere, right now in the nook of my city, before I complete this piece of writing … it may cross the line into one more rape. One more daughter or son, may be your child, is being raped this night! It pains, you may not feel the actual pain unless you are a victim or from a victim family.

Presidents and pandemic

Pradeep Krishnatray

Well, the United States President becomes the third important leader to be caged. First, it was UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, then the Brazilian President Bolsonaro, and now President Trump.

With more than 200,000 deaths, the United States is the worst hit Covid country in the world. With over 40,000 deaths, UK is the worst hit country in Europe. And with nearly 145,000 deaths, Brazil is the worst hit country in Latin America.

Strangely, the three leaders from different parts of the world share one common characteristic. They consistently ignored sane advice and showed utter disregard for those practices that value reason over risk. They moved around freely, failed to maintain social distance, met people, shook hands with several of them, addressed public gatherings, and avoided wearing mask. They played Don Quixote and let the virus overwhelm them.

Leadership matters, especially during crisis. The pandemic has shown three types of it. There are some who led by action and example. The New Zealand prime minister and the German Chancellor represent this group. When her doctor contracted the disease, Angela Merkel quarantined herself.

India’s prime minister represents the second group. He has sincerely followed the experts’ advice. Not many may recall but on March 24, toward the end of his televised speech, Modi cautioned people not to take any medication without consulting doctors, in case they show any symptoms of Covid infection. He then said, “Any sort of medical experimentation can put your life at risk.” That statement has care written all over it.

The three leaders affected by Covid 19 belong to the third group. Two of them – Bolsonaro and Trump went beyond being blithely reckless. Each one of them repudiated science and entertained exaggerated notion of self-importance. The Brazilian president was so imprudent as to let his two health ministers resign in quick succession. Trump was no less disdainful. He openly admitted consuming the drug hydroxylchloroquine when his experts said otherwise. Johnson too boasted that he shook hands with people while on a visit to a hospital that was treating coronavirus patients.

Boris Johnson, however, may have been influenced by the advice his experts offered him. The latter once believed that herd immunity would make the virus go away. Johnson therefore opposed lockdown and social distancing measures. Hospitalised for seven days, three of which were in the ICU, a chastised prime minister later said, “Things could have gone either way.” When the second wave of infections hit the country, he was no longer his arrogant self. He imposed strict restrictions on gatherings and people’s movement.

Bolsonaro initially dismissed Covid 19 as ‘little flu’. When he recovered from Covid infection, he, unlike Johnson, became more emboldened and said that Brazilians should not be forced to take a vaccine. Trump was equally contemptuous, if not cynical. He alleged that the pandemic was a Democratic Party hoax aimed at derailing his presidency. He disfavoured people around him wearing masks and even asked a reporter in a press conference to remove it. The Republican governors went along with him, as did several of his aides. None of them wore a mask.

However, age and weight do not sit favourably on Trump’s side. Among the three leaders, Trump is the oldest. He is 74 whereas Bolsonaro is 65 and Boris Johnson, 56.  Trump suffers from another risk. Weighing about 110 kgs, the six ft 3 inches president is also obese. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), those aged between 65 and 74 are at a higher risk of a hospital admission compared to people under 30. It is noteworthy that eight out of 10 Covid 19 related deaths in the United States are among people aged 65 years and older. We can only guess how President Trump will behave when he emerges out of isolation.

Several US presidents have fallen ill during crises. Wilson suffered from Influenza during 1918-19 when Spanish Flu ravaged several parts of the world. The US administration and Wilson’s wife were not transparent about the president’s illness. Similarly, the four-time President Roosevelt, handicapped by polio, and weakened and tired by war efforts, died immediately after World War II, as did Nehru after the Chinese debacle in 1962. Roosevelt’s deteriorating health was common knowledge. Trump too has been open and upfront about his illness. In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Falstaff says, “Thou sees I have more flesh than another man, and therefore more frailty.” The question is will Trump or his administration continue to be transparent about his frailty.

Healing India’s Healthcare

Moin Qazi

Healthy families are the foundation for healthy communities. When people are healthy, humanity moves forward. There is nothing more important than good health, and reliable healthcare for all the family.  Universal health coverage (UHC), which aims to ensure that all people receive quality and adequate healthcare without suffering financial hardship, is an integral part of achieving the UN-mandated Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

A sound health system enables countries to make the most of their strongest asset: human capital. Physical and mental well-being is at the core of creating communities that thrive. Poor access to healthcare is a main impediment to poverty reduction and driver of inequality. Health is, therefore, a foundational investment in human capital and in economic growth — without good health, children are unable to go to school and adults are unable to go to work. There is nothing more important than good health, and reliable healthcare for all the family. That health is a clear priority for present and future generations underpins the objective of achieving universal health coverage.

India’s economy is soaring and is now the world’s envy but its healthcare system remains an Achilles’ heel. For millions of people, the high costs of treatment continue to undermine economic progress. This is largely on account of the country’s dilapidated healthcare system — a major symptom of the dire lack of funding. India ranks poorly in international rankings on most health indices. Illnesses are a severe risk and can shave off most of the hard-earned savings in low income communities. They are the number one route to bankruptcy. Much blame has to laid  at our screwed-up healthcare system, which scorns the very idea of public health and treats access to medical care as a private luxury that is rightfully available only to some.

Healthcare has now become a critical leverage point where government action could have the maximum impact. The government’s development wisdom is now focused on identifying the strategic leverage points where successful action could trigger many supportive reactions

Poor people get sick quicker stay sick longer need medical aid most yet get it least. In war times and peace times, fair weather and foul panic and prosperity .Some are poor because they are sick. Others are sick because they are poor

The growth of healthcare facilities has been concentrated in the private sector even as the government hospitals continue to be under-resourced, understaffed and poorly managed, thus delivering poor quality care. This has led to a rapid mushrooming of unregulated private providers. Health systems—including strong primary health care services as a foundational cornerstone of UHC—are imperative if the world wants to deliver on health for all.

Healthcare expenses are a major cause of impoverishment for working families. Private healthcare has catastrophic costs that shave off hard-earned savings of patients and their families, thereby becoming a primary route to bankruptcy. All these have spillover consequences for families, resulting in less money being available to households for food, education, housing and long-term plans. A health event is a bigger risk to farmers than an unsuccessful crop. Once they sell their land or livestock, they become indentured labourers and that takes a generation or more to fix. The effects of poor health on workforce productivity are well documented, too. Indians work for just 6.5 years at peak productivity (compared to 20 years in China, 16 in Brazil and 13 in Sri Lanka), ranking 158th out of 195 countries in the International Ranking of Human Capital.

Health insurance is emerging as an important financing tool in meeting the healthcare needs of the poor. Life is a tough ordeal for families hit by “health shocks”. Poor families have long suffered the triple curse of sudden illness — the trauma associated with sickness, the financial burden of intensive healthcare and the loss of wages. By managing risks and avoiding debt, those who have micro-insurance policies are in a position to protect the meagre wealth they accumulate, generate more income and even get a fair chance to rescue themselves and their families out of the mire of poverty. The poor prefer health insurance to life insurance, as they say, “We die once but go to the doctor many times each year.”

Community-based health insurance, rather than market-mediated or government-provided insurance, is widely considered an appropriate way of reaching and protecting the poor. The development of private health insurance has potential risks and benefits in terms of healthcare access for the poor. It could result in substantial long-term welfare benefits but it is unaffordable for most low-income families.

In the last few years, the microfinance industry has been at the forefront of creating innovative insurance products for the underserved, which complemented the government’s pension platform. The synergy between the private sector and government can help ensure that everyone has the rights and access to improved health outcomes.

India must revitalize its public health system to ensure access, outcome, quality and affordability. The focus must be on finding solutions which are affordable, scalable and yet of a high quality. The government needs to supplement curative services with preventive measures by strengthening ancillary civic services like insect management, water purification systems, sewage systems and plants for the treatment of industrial effluents and waste. Due to poor hygiene and sanitation, people are suffering from preventable diseases like pneumonia, malnutrition, malaria and tuberculosis.

The biggest disease burden sits on the bottom pyramid of 500 million people. They don’t have access to reliable diagnosis or proper treatment. If they get diagnosed, they find it hard to get treatment. Government-run hospitals are free for everyone but access is difficult, quality is abysmal and corruption is endemic. Another challenge for the health sector is the lack of provisions to deal with non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes.

Unlike the short-term effects of communicable diseases, the dual health and economic impacts of non-communicable diseases on individuals, families and households are devastating and long-lasting.  Changing this would mean providing a clean environment and potable water so that infectious diseases are contained to the minimum and a stress-free and healthy lifestyle to ward off the growing threat of non-communicable diseases.

There is a massive shortage of healthcare professionals in the country and their supply must therefore be expanded rapidly if we want to fulfil our commitments in this sector.

Our public health system isn’t geared toward noncommunicable diseases. So, the challenge going forward is to focus on  disease control, prevention,  surveillance, support,  and awareness and helping ensure easy, inexpensive, and reliable availability of medicine to everyone, Communicable diseases make their presence by making an individual fall ill, which makes her want to seek medical care. In contrast, non-communicable disorders generally do not produce symptoms until major complications involving important organs – like heart attack, stroke, kidney failure or blindness – develop, which is generally too late. Non-communicable disorders like high blood pressure, diabetes and kidney disease may be discovered either during a routine health check or when the patient undergoes evaluation for an unrelated condition.

Competing priorities force patients to the demands of daily life more seriously, and a disease that is not bothersome is ignored. Further, the main providers of healthcare are doctors, who are relatively scarce and quite expensive. The need to repeatedly visit a faraway doctor for management of conditions that are likely to be present for a person’s lifetime makes optimal sustainable care unaffordable

All stakeholders now agree that increasing penetration in care delivery for chronic non communicable diseases will require us to move away from the West’s physician-based models of healthcare delivery, which favours the relatively privileged. The democratisation of this process requires us to identify resources in the community and co-opt them to improve efficiency. Programmes have to be transparent to the people to ensure fairness. To make health services more available and effective , policies should remove user fees, tackle discrimination, foster  innovations in  service delivery, and break  down public expenditure by quintiles.

Rural India has seen several innovative efforts in community-based  health services which enable members living in remote communities to  have access to affordable preventive and primary healthcare .The village health workers provide prenatal care, monitored child immunizations and also initiate self help groups to fund cooperative business enterprises. Any visitor to villages, where these community healthcare models are primary drivers of health awareness, will marvel at the ability of these health workers to connect with and explain things to women.

Their lack of education is not a handicap; it is an advantage. They understand how to reach the people who most need reaching: Illiterate, vulnerable and poor village women. They know how they think and live, because they are one of them. Co-designing co-creating, and co-owning health services is an increasingly effective and scalable path to inclusive and sustainable health outcomes. Putting people and communities in charge of their own healthcare also leads to better outcomes and increased productivity through leverage of traditional knowledge and local healing plant material.

The Government, too, has learnt from these initiatives and its public health programmes are modelled around them. The community health workers, including the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) and the Auxiliary Nurse Midwife, are indeed the foundation of our public health care system and have played a central role in its success, thereby reducing maternal and child mortality. ASHAs are central to India’s strategy to improve maternal and child health and are selected by the village they serve.

Without keeping the “last mile” in mind, global health targets are set, and programmes are designed and implemented. We cannot achieve the goal of reaching everyone, everywhere with vital health services without an effective last mile. And ensuring all people can access quality and affordable health services is essential. The government too has embraced the lessons from these grassroots initiatives and the public health programmes are modeled round them. The community health worker, including cadre such as the ASHA worker and the Auxiliary Nurse Midwife, is indeed the foundation of our public healthcare system. These professionals have played a central role in the success of our public health programmes which substantially reduced maternal and child mortality.  They are the best health mentors, since they are often closest to the people in most need.

Public policy needs to actively promote those innovations that can accelerate our journey to universal healthcare: increased access, quality and affordability of healthcare; increased responsiveness of the system to healthcare needs; greater health equity; autonomy in healthcare choices; and above all, improvements in the social determinants of healthcare.

World leaders recognized the importance of primary health care forty years ago at Alma-Ata. That declaration did gain traction, but there was slow implementation for a variety of reasons—especially lack of political will. Today, we have political momentum and the technological advancements to make achieving universal health access   a reality. Universal health coverage will become a reality only if individuals, families, and communities are empowered to identify their own health needs—taking action to address the diseases that increase cost of care and contribute to the burden on our health systems

The pandemic has already exposed the grim state of the social sector and it doesn’t need to be overstated that, far from engaging in public relations exercises that apparently demonstrate an extraordinary commitment to development issues, we need to understand the role of the state in protecting and promoting the social sector. An examination of the budgetary allocations made in the last few years plainly shows that the policies for social security in India have been designed to support corporate capitalism and private interests. While the need for privatisation is understandable, there is need for stringent regulations and consumer protection measures to protect the general public from the insidious ways the private hospitals use to soak   social care funds to bolster their profits. While we must harvest the benefits of globalisation, we must also remedy its ugly manifestations.

Fifty years ago, during the Cultural Revolution in China, a cadre of “barefoot doctors”—some 1.5 million peasants who received intensive three- to six-month training in anatomy, bacteriology, birth control,   infant and  maternal care, and other areas—were sent  to remote pockets of the country to  provide basic health care  . This low-tech medical corps (named for the fact that many pursued their occupation when they weren’t tending to patients in the community) was highly successful in significantly reducing infectious disease and boosting life expectancy.   The programme served as a model and inspiration for the famous 1978 Alma-Ata Declaration on primary health care.

Twenty-first-century barefoot doctors will be most suitable in areas that are remote   and have large populations of older people and women left behind in the global wave of migration to cities. These doctors will need to be empowered to become the foundation of the health care system. They will also need to earn a decent income—although income alone is not what will keep them in their jobs. If 21st-century barefoot doctors become a reality, it could transform today’s treatment-centric health care systems into systems that keep people healthy.

India is now far better placed to make inclusive health a reality. An enormous social capital has been built up over the years, which can be leveraged to support innovations in healthcare for the development of new and affordable drugs, therapies or medical devices.

Several laudable policies are already in place. The direction of travel, so to speak, is right but we have to accelerate the pace of the journey. For reforms to be successful we need hard-coded timelines and the accountability of those tasked with the administration. It is now for the policy doctors to collaborate with the medical professionals to come up with radical solutions that can build a healthier world for everyone. Our collective end goal must be towards achieving high-performing health systems where people have access to, affordable reliable, accountable and accessible and health care.

Extinction Possibility

David Anderson

Our Homo sapiens reality is that global warming, if it continues at the current rate, could trigger a sixth planetary extinction. Unlike past extinctions, this one will not be brought on by a random meteorite/asteroid strike or a convulsive planetary volcanic eruption. It will be self-inflicted; the result of Biosphere degradation because of our use of fossil fuels. CO2 in the planet’s Biosphere is increasing exponentially and as a result, permafrost in the Arctic is warming. Excessive amounts of Arctic methane release have begun and will continue. Methane is much more potent as a heat-trapping greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. The combination could lead to temperatures similar to those of the Permian-Triassic.

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All past CO2 Treaties Have Failed

Here is the multinational political reality: From the meeting in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 to the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 to the Paris Accord in 2015 to the last 2019 meeting all carbon reduction has been a failure. CO2 emissions continue to climb. Public response to the failure has been mixed and largely ineffective.

Survival Homo sapiens

Only by the establishment of a new multinational Institution formed for the purpose of orchestrating a world-wide increase in the price of carbon from its first moment of entry into the system through to its becoming a part of all derivative goods and services can this human tragedy be avoided. Board Members must be of the stature and critical thinking skills of today’s Nobel Prize winners and UN Secretary Generals, skills that can put in place measures over a 10/15 year period that will eliminate our carbon dependency. And they must be given powers under its authority well beyond those of existing global institutions today; powers of international law and enforcement.

Carbon Transition

The COP meetings were a definitional starter for this call. They showed a unity of common purpose among many world leaders. But they also showed the lack of enforcement and the immediate need for a new multinational institution able to enforce firm and binding commitments.

There needs to be strong world leadership. Within the next 12 months a multinational body as here described needs to come together to outline a plan for the orchestration of a graduated increase in the price of carbon world-wide.

Market Based Approach

Reduction in CO2 can be accomplished by a market based approach. National and international markets can serve as disciplinarian. They would force alternative forms of energy to be brought into the system up and down the production/consumption line. It can be achieved by Nations pricing in gradual increases in carbon beginning at its source. This would force higher prices of all derivative goods and services to be passed on internally and externally. Non-carbon derivative forms of energy would then be given an incentive to become increasingly competitive. They eventually would replace carbon. Many end products that are solely reliant on the burning of large amounts of carbon would be eliminated from the system by way of price appreciation.

There are far reaching social implications. Present consumers of carbon energy dependent goods and services will have to switch over to non carbon goods and services. Carbon producers will be forced out of the market. Carbon reliant socio/economic activities too will be forced out of the market. Price will force change.

This approach is congruent within the currently established framework of existing capital market systems both within nations and internationally.

Transition Timing

This raises many questions. How much time do we have? How much fossil fuel energy will be needed for the conversion? Will that amount of fossil fuel energy requirement in itself put us over the CO2/CH4 Arctic feedback loop edge? Will industries such as air, automobiles, trucking, ocean shipping and metals now so reliant on fossil fuels be able to make the transition; and if so, what can be the alternative they employ? How will highly carbon consumptive basic industries such as concrete and steel make the transition? How will the citizens country by country, region by region, respond to such a state of economic disruption and reorganization?

And then there is the biggest obstacle, a major hurdle we have had addressing the climate issue. It lies at the heart of the failure to deal with climate change. It is called “free-riding” by countries that take advantage of the lack of multilateral discipline.

Negative Externality Tax

For producers of oil, gas and coal a tax (Negative Externality Tax – let’s call it NET) will be levied at the points of national extraction based on extraction cost. That national tax will bring the price up to an internationally agreed carbon equivalent tax figure. It will be increased year by year over a fifteen year period. It will therefore become integral to the pricing of all domestic goods and services in the producing country and the export pricing of those goods and services.

That carbon tax figure would be increased year by year based on a graduated 15 year price increase. Here is an example for equivalent grade diesel: Given today’s $10 $20 $30 cost the point of entry into the system, the NET would bring the cost up to say $70 per barrel at its source of extraction and then internationally when exported. Then an increasing NET would raise the cost incrementally over a 15 year period to $ 250 per barrel – or whatever end price brings about global carbon emissions down to an ecologically acceptable level.

In the case above; revenue from the domestic tax will first be the difference between the internal extraction/production cost and $70, then year by year the increasing formulaic amount. That revenue will be retained by the producing nation where it can be used for needed internal investment and social adjustments arising from higher prices for carbon consumptive consumer and industrial products. It can also be used to encourage non carbon activities and to develop non carbon sources of energy.

Universalism

This will be the first of other calls for change away from our singular tribal nationalism and toward a world-wide human universalism leading to a framework for a universal societal cooperative order. That framework must consist of mutually coordinated decision networks. The grand strategy we now have of decentralism and incrementalism will not suffice.

Countries That Refuse to Comply

For those carbon producing countries that refuse to comply, each and every export to a compliant country will be evaluated by the compliant as to the carbon producing country non internally taxed NET content. Such imports will then be import duty taxed – let’s call it IDT. Such IDT funds will be turned over to the World Body described below.

Countries that import from non-compliant countries and refuse to comply with this repricing formula and then re-export to compliant countries will also have their exports to compliant countries taxed based on missing NET content.

Can this be accomplished? Some of the finest mathematical minds on our planet now spend their time devising algorithms for computerized trading of securities in order to exploit the weaknesses of other algorithms. The time has come for the economics profession to give these minds a new challenge, one that will benefit human civilization – and save it from the possibility of extinction.

As stated above all Import duty revenues (let’s call them IDR’s) collected by compliant countries will be turned over to a body such as the World Bank to be used to assist compliant countries with their difficulty in making necessary economic/social adjustments. These adjustments will fall into two categories; one from the decline nationally in fossil fuel export revenues and the other from climate change ocean rise.

Countries That Will Suffer

Immediate examples of the second category are a number of Island nations being inundated by rising waters and Arctic settlements being affected by global warming. Most will be without internal resources to resettle population. Many other nations with low land areas being inundated by rising oceans will also need assistance.

Populations in many areas of the planet will be severely affected as revenues from fossil fuels are eliminated. Russia, Australia and the Middle Eastern countries are examples. Many Middle Eastern countries are now totally reliant on oil revenues to pay for food imports. Such revenues will decline to the point where they will be insufficient for feeding the population. This also will have an impact on Middle Eastern oil and gas non-producers and minimal producers, those countries that have relied on grants from their wealthy neighbor producers. Egypt, reliant on neighbor contributions for food imports is a prime example. The future for Egypt will be bleak. Although extrapolating from present trends to make predictions is always problematic, current projections are a population there that will have increased from 90 million to 138 million by 2050. The Nigerian situation will be even more bleak. Its petroleum industry is the largest in Africa. Its population of 186 million is expected to grow to 390 million by 2050.

Time will be needed to allow many of these countries to restructure and rebalance their economies – as well as population levels – relative to available resources. Some in need of substantial assistance will be countries like India with pockets of poverty, minimal originating carbon revenue and low lying ocean populations. Many such countries will need massive injections of capital in order to restructure their industries and feed their populations. As a general rule, all nations that are unable to fund societal adjustments will need assistance.

A pricing/costing methodology needs to be implemented that will allow the world within this critical 10/15 year period to turn to carbon free sources of energy. Nation states at all levels of technological development must be given time to adjust. As they do, high carbon input products and services will leave the market and be replaced by products with low or no carbon energy input. Societally, this will force nations at all ends of the planet to adopt a different social political economic energy structural logic from that which exists today.

And Our Problem Goes Well Beyond Carbon

It must be understood: This is just the first step toward human planetary resource control – and human survival. Pricing in of other negative externalities harmful to humanity and all other life on the planet can come next. All nations need to acknowledge that our planetary problems can only be solved multi-nationally. The future of human civilization hangs in the balance.

Wildfires continue to rage across western United States

Alexa Castro

Wildfires continue to ravage the western United States after weeks of destruction spanning across California, Oregon, Montana and Idaho, among other states. This ongoing disaster has underlined the severity of the climate crisis and its horrific effects.

At the time of publication, according to Cal Fire, California continues to battle 24 major wildfires throughout the state, with the total number of evacuees currently at over 96,000 and the death toll at 30. Since the beginning of this year, there have been over 8,100 wildfires which have been responsible for the destruction of over 3.9 million acres in California.

Meanwhile, other states have also felt the sharp effects of these fires, with currently 11 active wildfires in Oregon, 14 in Idaho and 10 in Montana, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

A firefighter walks a path as the Glass Fire burns along Highway 29 in Calistoga, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

However, these wildfires, which have claimed dozens of lives and caused thousands to be evacuated throughout the western region, did not just happen by chance but are rather a direct byproduct of the climate crisis facing humanity.

Record-hot temperatures, and the vastly arid conditions that result from it, have been found by scientists to be a significant cause of the growing prevalence of wildfires.

The correlation between these fires and global warming have fallen on deaf ears within the political establishment, however. President Donald Trump continues to blatantly ignore the climate catastrophe, going so far as to negate the opinions of experts when asked to acknowledge the link between wildfires and climate change during his fly-by visit to California on September 14.

Rather, Trump continues to reiterate a false narrative that forest management or lack thereof is largely responsible for the havoc wreaked in the western region, trying to shift the blame to the state agencies in charge of forestry. Ironically enough, in California for example, 57 percent of forests are controlled by the federal government.

In fact, when asked about climate change at the September 29 debacle of a presidential debate, Trump diverted the question to the wildfires, utilizing his classic tactic of downplaying the obvious and denial of scientific facts.

He stated, “You can’t every year have hundreds of thousands of acres of land just burned to the ground—that’s burning down because of a lack of management.”

Despite these absurd claims, the wildfires of 2020 have underlined the severity of the climate catastrophe and its deep social repercussions. The destruction of homes and livelihoods, the fact that overnight tens of thousands of people have been made homeless, putting even more stress on a virtually non-existent welfare net, emphasizes the dire need to properly address the issues at hand.

Strikingly, the year 2020 has set a historic precedent in the United States for the most amount of time spent in evacuation shelters. According to data provided by the American Red Cross, the organization has provided approximately 807,454 nights of shelter through September 25 to those who have fallen victim to natural disasters (this number also includes those affected by hurricanes).

This staggering data points to how global warming can and will exacerbate the housing crisis, increasing the number of climate refugees—a number that can only worsen in the coming years as large-scale disasters continue to reach unprecedented heights.

For some, this reality is nothing new—those who lost their homes and businesses in wildfire disasters from years prior again face the same grim possibility.

In Paradise, California, for example, residents were hit with evacuation warnings from county officials due to the North Complex Fire’s vast spread. Tragically, Paradise is still in the process of both physically and economically rebuilding from the 2018 Camp Fire, which destroyed virtually the entire town, with over 18,000 structures decimated and 85 fatalities.

For others, the massive wildfires not only threaten to demolish their homes and livelihoods, but their health as well, especially for those whose jobs depend on working outdoors.

Farmworkers in California are exposed to highly dangerous air quality as they work the fields, such as in the Central Valley, an agricultural area bordered by swarming wildfires.

Personal protective equipment (PPE), such as N95 masks, were mandated last year by California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) to be provided by employers during wildfire season. According to one poll, 84 percent of farm workers (of the 350 who responded) were not provided a mask by their employers.

On the surface, wildfire smoke can result in burning eyes, dizziness and coughing. However, on a much deeper level, prolonged exposure to toxic smoke has been found to lead to chronic health conditions, such as damage to the respiratory system, especially for those with preexisting health conditions.

Those who work in the fields oftentimes do not have the luxury to choose between their health and their jobs. A large number of farmworkers are undocumented, leaving them ineligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits or any other social services even during these times of crises. This undocumented status also tends to stifle complaints for fear of retaliation or deportation, leaving these individuals with no choice but to continue to show up to work and put their health at risk, facing the possibility of exposure to noxious levels of smoke and to COVID-19.

Despite their lack of access to necessary resources—be it rental assistance, unemployment insurance or PPE—farmworkers have been deemed “essential workers” during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet are continuously shown by employers and the elite that their lives and their health are disposable.

The chaotic conditions of 2020, and the lack of effective leadership and social infrastructure, whether it comes to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, the wildfires and their link to global warming, the climate refugee crisis and the plight of workers, have all exemplified the dire consequences of a capitalist state and its failure to address the needs of the people.

The international mobilization of the working class under a genuine socialist program would be the only feasible and effective solution to the disastrous consequences of the failed capitalist state.

Israel: 130,000 protesters demand resignation of Netanyahu government

Jean Shaoul

Demonstrators took part in rallies in hundreds of locations throughout Israel Saturday, in defiance the government’s new legislation banning protests during the lockdown.

The protests, encompassing an estimated 130,000 people in total, follow the months-long twice weekly protests calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign. Netanyahu has been indicted on charges of bribery, corruption, and breach of trust in three separate cases and faces growing anger at his disastrous mishandling of the pandemic and the economy. His ban on protests backfired, swelling the numbers who took to the streets.

The protests were organized by the Black Flag movement, Arise Israel, and the “Crime Minister” campaign, under the banner “A kilometer it is,”—a reference to the law passed by an all-night Knesset session on Wednesday night, banning protesters from rallying more than one kilometre from their homes and outdoor gatherings of more than 20 people during the coronavirus lockdown.

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu (Credit: en.kremlin.ru)

Protesters included members of the opposition parties, Netanyahu’s Likud voters and religious and ultra-Orthodox Israelis. Some called for former army chief of staff Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party to withdraw from the National Emergency Government formed just four months ago.

Clashes with the police broke out in Tel Aviv leading to at least 38 arrests, with arrests in other parts of the country and police dispersing demonstrations and imposing hundreds of fines for violating restrictions. Videos circulating on social media show police violence, including stopping journalist Jonathan Hempel from photographing a march in Tel Aviv and throwing him to the ground.

There were several reports of Netanyahu’s supporters attacking protesters, prompting the rallies’ organisers to accuse him of incitement that could lead to civil war. Netanyahu has denounced protesters as “anarchists,” “leftists” and “traitors” out to topple “a strong right-wing leader.” It is part of Netanyahu’s move to assert his own political dominance amid a broader range of authoritarian measures aimed at curbing opposition and dissent under the cover of the pandemic.

Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit has sanctioned the transfer of personal data to the head of Military Intelligence, Major General Tamir Heyman. He was given sweeping access to all the Tax Authority’s data on private Israeli citizens. Tax Authority spokeswoman Idit Lev Zerahia refused to explain the new measure, whose legality is unclear, but revealed that a similar permission had been given to the heads of the Shin Bet security service, Mossad, the Crossing Points Authority in the Defense Ministry, the Anti-Terrorist Unit, the Defense Ministry department for the Oversight of Defense Exports as well as the Money Laundering Authority at the Justice Ministry.

With the onset of the pandemic, the government, using its emergency powers, authorised Shin Bet to use its technological surveillance tools; gave the police sweeping powers to pinpoint cellphone location and use drones to catch quarantine violators; allowed the hospitals to film and eavesdrop on patients; and installed facial identification systems.

Israeli workers now face measures long associated with the suppression of the Palestinians in the territories illegally occupied by Israel since their seizure in the June 1967 war. The new legislation follows the tightening of the second lockdown restrictions—Israel is the first country to impose a second national lockdown, albeit less strict than the first.

According to opinion polls, only about a quarter of the public has confidence in the way Netanyahu has dealt with the pandemic. Such is the dissent within his dysfunctional cabinet that it rarely convenes and did not meet for more than a month in the run up to the second lockdown.

Netanyahu tried to argue that the move was similar to the limitation on the size of synagogue services over the Jewish holidays, even though these were held indoors in crowded spaces and were attended by the ultra-Orthodox communities that have by far the highest infection and morbidity rates. Likud had sought to have the ban on mass protests remain in effect even after the lockdown was lifted, a demand the Knesset rejected. Netanyahu had called for a state of emergency to be declared, a move disqualified by Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit on legal grounds.

Earlier demonstrations saw soldiers deployed to help the police, leading to widespread public outrage. Gantz, as Minister of Defence and Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi, the head of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), were forced to says they would stop the use of soldiers. Gantz nevertheless praised the “unparalleled” work being carried out by police officers and soldiers, stating, “I strongly condemn the attempts to attack them as they carry out their duties.”

His real fear was that the army would be seen for what it is, the armed body of men and women imposing the rule of Israel’s venal bourgeoisie, of which Netanyahu is only the most noxious example.

Israel, with a population of 9 million, has recorded more than 260,000 infections and nearly 1,700 deaths, the highest toll in the world on a per capita basis. The most susceptible to the virus are Israel’s Palestinian citizens, who suffer budgetary discrimination, and its ultra-Orthodox communities, the poorest communities in the country with inadequate housing and poor education, health, and other public services.

The number of confirmed cases has risen to 51,000 in the West Bank and 2,613 in Gaza, while there have been 376 deaths in the West Bank and 19 in Gaza. With totally inadequate healthcare facilities due to Israel’s occupation, its punitive withholding of taxation and utility revenues to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the 13-year long blockade of Gaza, the lockdown has taken a heavy toll on people’s livelihoods and brought many to the brink of starvation.

The protests, while growing, are still relatively small, in part because they have no political party or program but also because of the disillusionment with all the official parties that claim to oppose Netanyahu. Blue and White, the main “centre-left” opposition bloc under Gantz’s leadership, fought three elections claiming it would not serve under a Netanyahu-led government, only to do so as the pandemic brought Israel’s economy to its knees and Netanyahu reopened the economy in the interests of Israel’s corporate and financial oligarchs. But the fact the protests have taken place after the ban was put in place testifies to the explosive nature of social relations in Israel today.

These new protests are developing alongside struggles in Iraq, Lebanon, Iran, Egypt, and Sudan as well as in the US and Europe. The key issue this raises is to establish the political independence of the working class from all of the various bourgeois parties and the unification with workers in struggle throughout the region.

In 2011, a social justice protest movement over the soaring cost of housing erupted, at the same time as the Arab Spring protests in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere. But as with Egypt, a leadership drawn from the pseudo left milieu that reflected the interests of affluent sections of the upper-middle class served to prevent the emergence of a unified political challenge to the bourgeois powers of the region and to imperialism. Two of their leaders went onto to serve in the Knesset as members of the Labour Party, which later joined Blue and White and the National Emergency Government, with Itzik Shmuli now serving as Welfare Minister.

The fundamental issue remains that of building a new leadership to unify and mobilise the working class across the region against capitalism, imperialism and war, and for socialism. Such parties must be built as sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International in Israel and across the Middle East.

Almost half of UK coronavirus infections in schools, colleges and universities

Harvey Thompson

A series of surveys and reports have exposed the disastrous effects on teachers and children of school reopenings. Figures from the latest Public Health England’s COVID-19 epidemiology surveillance summary show that educational settings now account for 45 percent of all positive cases in the UK. This is the highest level of infection of any sector of society.

The report is based on data from week 39 (between 21 August and 27 September 2020) and, for some indicators, daily data up to 29 September 2020.

Around 30,000 school pupils are infected according to the Office for National Statistics, with its October 2 statement reporting “clear evidence” in recent weeks “of an increase in the number of people testing positive for COVID-19, with the current rates highest in teenagers and young adults.” The fastest increases among school ages are the 7 to 11 year groups and the 12 to 24 year group.

Year seven pupils are directed to socially distance as they arrive for their first day at Kingsdale Foundation School in London, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020. AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

According to the ToryFibs twitter group—which collates a daily tally of school infections based on reports from school websites, local news reports and National Health Service updates—as of Saturday 2,576 schools across the UK have been infected with COVID-19. Nearly 2,000 are in England (1,909), 337 are in Wales, 203 in Scotland, and 127 in Northern Ireland. ToryFibs reported 595 live coronavirus clusters within educational settings throughout England, including over 100 in the capital. London councils, of all political stripes, have been concealing accurate figures, resulting in a massive underreporting on school infections in the capital.

The Boycott Unsafe Schools web site has produced a valuable map showing the evidence of infections at over 2,000 schools from every corner of the country.

According to the Manchester Evening News, 369 schools across Greater Manchester—the third largest regional authority in England—have confirmed they have pupils and staff self-isolating. It only reported those cases it knew of. “The true figure is expected to be much higher.”

This horrific situation is the direct result of the government’s forced reopening of unsafe schools, to reopen the wider economy amid a deadly pandemic.

According to a survey carried out the week ending September 25 among UK teaching staff by the TES (Times Educational Supplement), almost half said they felt “drained and exhausted” just weeks into the new term. Around one third of the 7,582 school staff surveyed, including teachers, teaching assistants, and senior leaders, said they were “just about coping” and 15 percent described themselves as “physically and mentally on the brink.”

One school leader told TES, “We’re in a climate where everyone is on edge and stressed out and worried the whole time. If I’m still in this job by Christmas, I’m going to be amazed. I’ve had enough.”

The Boycott Unsafe Schools map showing the evidence of infections at over 2,000 schools from every corner of the country

Sinéad Mc Brearty, CEO of charity Education Support, said its own findings based on a YouGov survey, published September 17, revealed that half of teachers suffered a decline in their mental health during the initial stage of the pandemic. The findings extrapolated from research carried out with over 3,000 education professionals in schools and colleges.

Commenting on the failure of the government to develop a functioning test and trace system, Mc Brearty said, “Schools are left to pick up the pieces whilst staff and students are forced to self-isolate and wait for a golden ticket to a test appointment... If we are reckless with the health of the education workforce, we cannot expect children and young people to have the support they need to get through this difficult year.”

On September 14, at a meeting with the Department for Education, the Chartered College of Teaching warned that teachers and school leaders were already exhausted just two weeks into the new term. Cited were concerns around testing for COVID-19, staff and pupil absences, and uncertainty regarding next year’s exams. Nine out of ten teachers of GCSE and A levels say their students have fallen behind, with many demanding a postponement of exams.

In the last week of September, the NASUWT teaching union conducted a survey of its 6,445 members which found that 86 percent felt their workload had greatly increased with an expectation that they develop remote learning in addition to their current duties. Over half said they now go without regular breaks. Fully 83 percent believed that the government was not providing the necessary support during the pandemic.

On October 3, a survey by the National Education Union (NEU) found that 84 percent of respondents did not trust the government to keep schools safe, to protect workers, to support vulnerable or disadvantaged children, or to ensure adequate safety and resources around exams and assessment.

The trade unions are reporting the results of their own treachery. In alliance with the Labour Party, they have played the critical role in enforcing the Tory government’s school reopening drive.

In recent days the government has announced onerous new conditions on the allocation of already rationed laptops for school pupils. If a school is operating a rota system to limit school attendance or has fewer than 15 pupils self-isolating, it cannot now access laptops or other devices from the government. The government is also threatening to use powers under the draconian Coronavirus Act against schools struggling to provide adequate levels of remote learning!

These surveys and studies disprove the government’s dangerous and deceptive propaganda campaign that insisted schools were “COVID secure”. While life inside schools becomes ever more unbearable due to increasing numbers of pupils and staff falling ill or self-isolating, the governments’ herd immunity policy means the virus is being allowed to spread unchecked throughout society.

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) is opposed to the reopening of unsafe schools and puts forward a programme with which educators can fight back against the threat to their lives and that of pupils.

The SEP’s August 8 statement, For a general strike against the reopening of schools, called on “all education workers to mobilise against the Johnson government’s plan to open schools in September despite the threat to health and lives. This homicidal policy can only be challenged through an independent mobilisation, uniting workers in education with all sections of the working class in a general strike movement against the ruling elite.”

The statement explained that the ruling elite’s “crocodile tears are shed in order to transform schools into holding pens so that their parents can be driven back to work in unsafe conditions. The price will also be paid by education workers and children, whose surroundings will be just as dangerous as they are on public transport, and in factories, offices and shops. There will be no social distancing and no personal protective equipment (PPE), with primary school classes of 30, ‘bubbles’ of 240 in secondary schools, no school closures if there is an outbreak, and fines for parents who do not comply.”

In issuing a call for a general strike, the SEP demanded:

• Keep all schools closed until the virus is eradicated! With the virus spiraling out of control across the UK, in-person instruction cannot be done safely.
• Full funding for public education and online instruction! High-speed internet access, food distribution, mental health care, special education supports, and all other resources needed to provide the best quality remote learning, must be guaranteed to every student and education worker.