Covid live news: warning over large gatherings as UK reports 35,847 cases; Pfizer seeks US approval for booster jab
UK reports 149 new deaths as expert says large gatherings will cause ‘significant surge’ in cases; Pfizer and BioNTech seek US approval of vaccine booster dose
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The World Health Organization director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has again said that the data on the benefits and safety of a Covid-19 vaccine booster shot is inconclusive – but richer states continue to move towards the policy.
On the boosters, first of all, its not conclusive, in terms of its benefits; and also, we don’t know, if its safe. The second problem is that when some countries can afford to have the booster and others are not even vaccinating the first and second round, it’s a moral issue.
Its like saying okay, you have a life jacket and you’re adding another one, while others don’t have a single lifejacket. But its not just a moral issue, with a big part of the population unvaccinated – especially in low- and middle-income countries, we are giving opportunity to the virus to circulate, meaning new variants will emerge.
Media briefing on #COVID19 with @DrTedros t.co/w7oQ9TZdct
With most UK formal Covid restrictions all but melted away, freedom prevails, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones. Urm, sort of, he writes, calling for a true workers democracy.
Back to the workplace, Tory ministers make demands of our newly liberated workforce: the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, warns young workers that continuing to work from home may risk their careers. Though markedly softer in tone than last summer – when ministers demanded, through the press, to “Go back to work or risk losing your job” – the message is clear, at least in England: pubs and bars may be thronged again, but the ancien regime of work must be restored in full.
The case for workers’ democracy is overwhelming: for health, wellbeing, the quality of services and economic performance. The lot of millions of workers is subordinated to the whims of unaccountable bosses. If any good is to come from Britain’s nightmarish experience with the pandemic, it should be to follow the example of the postwar generation and reject the old ways. Here is a start.
Related: Workers sacrificed plenty due to Covid, so let’s reward them with new rights | Owen Jones
Read the original article at The Guardian