EDITORIAL by Dhiren Shah
Hello Readers,
The U.S. government has paid vaccine development money to Johnson and Johnson, which is $456 million. The Trump Administration bought 100 million doses in 2020, which is worth $100 million, so the cost per dose is $14.50 of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Per the reports, J&J is not as successful as they have announced previously. Johnson and Johnson claimed that they created better antibodies with just one shot. The Biden Administration then bought another 100 million doses from Johnson and Johnson, which is over $1 billion (maybe $1.45 billion dollars at 14.50 each). However, it has been proven that Johnson and Johnson’s shot is not that effective. Congress and Senate approved conditions that all three vaccination companies (J&J, Pfizer, Moderna) cannot be sued, even though J&J’s vaccine is not as effective as they promised. With this in mind, the Biden Administration must cancel the contract of Johnson and Johnson. It is the taxpayers’ money, and they must handle the money to save as much as necessary for the people. However, this is not the case for most governments.
Due to the new Omicron variant, the U.S. has declared that international passengers travelling to the country require a negative Covid test one day prior to coming. This test will be for any passenger, citizen or non-citizen. Also, they need a test within 5 days after landing in the United States. Yes, I agree, but a one-day test is not feasible in many countries. Right now, it is three days, so they can make it a two-day test, but not a one-day test. Also, why not do a test at the airport, immediately after landing? Finally, all of them must self-quarantine for two days until the result comes back, and all passengers must declare where they will be for the two-day self-quarantine, so in case of a positive result, the authorities can locate them easily.
Some groups do not believe in vaccination. They think that it is a hoax, and that it is a money-making and power control program by some of the rich people in the world. When more than 25% of the people did not want to vaccinate themselves, the Delta variant came into existence. Despite the Delta variant still being in play, the unvaccinated group of people are still not ready to vaccinate Then came the dangerous new variant called Omicron. The fear is that even vaccination may not protect people from Omicron. Meanwhile, some people think that the booster every six months is a way for certain people and pharmaceutical companies to get more money, with it being billions of dollars. Even though vaccination may not be fully effective for Omicron, Biden and vaccine supporters are insisting that people get vaccinated. In my family, we have so many doctors and medical professionals, so I believe in vaccination to protect ourselves, as well as masks and social distancing to protect others as well. I have taken the Pfizer vaccine and a booster.
The U.S. government spent trillions on vaccinations and COVID-19 expenses since the pandemic came in 2020. And they spent about the same amount for vaccination development and administration. So, everything tied to vaccination is equal to one year of U.S. government spending. My figures might not be accurate, as I have taken those figures from simple search engines and some government websites. When it comes to these kinds of large-scale money transactions, we must investigate how the money has been spent. How many shares have been bought by big government and non-government leaders who are dire supporters of money to the three vaccine companies? There were about 22 companies that worked on developing vaccines, including some small companies, but the advance money has been distributed to only a few large companies. Why? I have no problem with the government spending money to make vaccines, but I only want to make that is exactly what the money is being set for, and that there is no leakage.
After 400 years of British Rule / British Management, Barbados has been declared independent from British rule now. In 1964, Barbados became independent, but accepted the rule of Queen Elizabeth. Sandra Mason was serving as a governor general and the queen’s representative. Mason will be the first president of the independent Barbados, and was sworn in while in the presence of Prince Charles.
Have a wonderful week.
I’ll talk to you next week.
