#1397 Vaccine Rollout Once Again Exposes the Divide in Our Global Medical Apartheid

Air Date: 2–10-2021

Today we take a look at the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in the US and around the world. Between White and Black in the US, Israeli and Palestinian in Israel and the Global North and Global South broadly, the legacies of colonialism and racism predictably play themselves out.

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SHOW NOTES

Ch. 1: Elisabeth Rosenthal on Troubled Vaccine Rollout - CounterSpin - Air Date 1-15-21

Many could and did predict that the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine would be marred by the Trump administration being the Trump administration, and the hollowing out of public health infrastructure.

Ch. 2: The Perils of Pandemic Doomsaying (and Other Covid Messaging Mix-Ups) - On the Media - Air Date 1-29-21

Zeynep Tufecki [@zeynep], associate professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, explains why public health officials send mixed messages on everything from masks to variants.

Ch. 3: Racial Disparities Already Taking Shape In Covid Vaccination Rates - MSNBC - Air Date 2-6-21

Rachel Maddow looks at how even though people of color suffer disproportionately more from Covid-19, vaccination statistics are already showing disproportionately fewer people of color being inoculated

Ch. 4: A Pastor's Plight to Address Vaccine Skepticism in Black Communities - On the Media - Air Date 12-4-20

The Rev. Paul Abernathy on his work addressing vaccine skepticism in Black communities, starting by earning trust and recruiting vaccine trial volunteers in predominantly Black neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.

Ch. 5: "Medical Apartheid" - Israeli Vaccine Drive Excludes Millions of Palestinians in Occupied Territories - Democracy Now! - Air Date 1-5-21

"Israel actually is violating international law because it is denying its responsibility as an occupying power," says Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, member of the Palestinian Parliament "Israelis are getting the vaccines, and Palestinians are getting nothing."

Ch. 6: Vaccine Apartheid: US Media's Uncritical Adoption of Racist "Intellectual Property" Dogma Part 1 - Citations Needed - Air Date 1-27-21

As COVID-19 raged and pharmaceutical companies raced to develop a vaccine, Western media routinely asserted the premise that vaccine 'intellectual property' is a zero-sum possession that's been 'stolen' by malicious foreign actors & blackmarket criminals.

Ch. 7: Who Owns the COVID-19 Vaccines? - On the Media - Air Date 1-29-21

Dean Baker [@DeanBaker13], senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, on why intellectual property may be getting in the way of vaccine distribution.

Ch. 8: Vaccine Apartheid: US Media's Uncritical Adoption of Racist "Intellectual Property" Dogma Part 2 - Citations Needed - Air Date 1-27-21

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Ch. 9: Vaccine Priorities: Politics and Ethics. Gregg Gonsalves on Covid-19 - Start Making Sense - Air Date 12-30-20

Vaccine priorities: political and ethical questions about who comes first, after health care workers. Gregg Gonsalves considers the arguments.

Ch. 10: "A Moral Catastrophe": Africa CDC Head Says Lack of Vaccines for the Continent Will Imperil World - Democracy Now! - Air Date 2-5-21

40+ African countries have been hit by second wave, and just six have received relatively small vaccine shipments. John Nkengasong, director of the Africa CDC and Prevention, says the world faces "a moral catastrophe" without vaccine equity.

VOICEMAILS

Ch. 10: Thoughts on "moral panic" - Christina

FINAL COMMENTS

Ch. 12: Final comments on corporations resisting reasonable regulation to avoid setting precedents

MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions):