Thread by @astroehlein

The new restrictions that Macron has announced in France are concerning.

We need to fight the pandemic, of course, and that means protective measures will be needed. However, some of the new proposals go too far.

🧵 A thread...

theguardian.com/world/2021/jul…

There are a number of points in Macron's plans related to Covid passes that are worrying - I'll get to that in a bit - but let's focus first on what is perhaps the most troubling part of the whole thing: rolling back on testing to "encourage vaccination". This is a terrible idea.

⚠️ Knowing your status, even when vaccinated, is critical for individual health.

⚠️ Knowing case positivity rates is necessary to understand if and how vaccines are working, and critical for public health.

✅ Testing should remain free, accessible, and prioritized.

Taking away free testing as an "incentive" for vaccination is basically telling people they don’t have a right to their own health information, which isn’t exactly the trust-building exercise we all need when we're trying to convince people to get vaccinated.

Testing, tracing, treatment, isolation – these don’t all just become moot with vaccines coming into play. After all, we’re still learning about Covid’s long-term impacts on health. We need the information. We need the tools.

The deeper message here is:

➡️ vaccines should be given on the basis of full and informed consent, not coercion.

Now, on to the issue of passes...

Clearly, until vaccines are freely available to all - irrespective of country, region, economic or social status or population - the requirement of a “vaccine passport” is discriminatory.

We are a long way from a world where Covid vaccines are freely available to all.

💥 The vast majority of the world hasn't had even one shot yet.

Vaccine scarcity is caused in large part by rich governments blocking wider vaccine production globally.

https://twitter.com/astroehlein/status/1414474796604198912

We're going to be talking about this in a few hours, by the way:

https://twitter.com/astroehlein/status/1415172716353753096

Now I hear some people saying, oh, but it's just France, and vaccination numbers are increasing in Europe...

But:

1) It's still nowhere near the 70% experts estimate is the minimum needed for herd immunity.

2) France & Europe, are still part of this thing called the world.

If we should learn one thing from the last 18 months of global pandemic, it should be that it's a GLOBAL pandemic.

Efforts to isolate a subset of humanity - in one country or one region - keep failing again and again.

On discriminatory "vaccine passports", we've already seen media looking at what this means for foreigners, even if the focus has been on tourists, rather than more vulnerable groups.

Just on this level, it seems impractical apart from anything else.
politico.eu/article/emmanu…

There are also people who cannot be vaccinated for health reasons. They'll need a way to show they’ve tested negative or this effectively bars them from participating in society equally. Will they soon have to pay for a new test every few days?

And this point is a very good one: Who is supposed to police all this? Every waiter at every café? Every ticket-taker at every theater?

It seems impractical & frustration-causing - both of which will undermine the intended purpose of the measures.
theguardian.com/world/2021/jul…

But practicalities aside, from the rights perspective it boils down to this: Requiring proof of vaccination to be eligible for employment or services in your own country is coercive and renders decisions to take the vaccine not always free.

Vaccinations should only be administered on the basis of free and informed consent and should not be
mandatory.

The important objective is widespread availability of vaccines, not creating a two-tiered society - or two-tiered world - based on who was able to access a piece of biotechnology.

In that, we are failing miserably.

The solution is obvious: recognise peoples' rights and take every practical step to end the global pandemic.

It's beyond comprehension that so many leaders in western governments refuse to accept this, telling people they can solve a global pandemic by issuing national decrees.

The core problem is global vaccine scarcity.

And a key reason for it is the EU, UK & others have been blocking wider vaccine production globally by obstructing the #TRIPSwaiver, a proposal to temporarily waive some intellectual property rules on vaccines & other health products

They have been dishing out misinformation and outright lies to defend this deadly policy - all to help the pharmaceutical companies boost their profits.

https://twitter.com/astroehlein/status/1400352366134796295

Global vaccine production is being deliberately throttled by the EU, UK & others.

Leaders tell citizens this is fine.

Don't worry about the rest of humanity.

Get your shot, show your pass at the café…

Just enjoy the summer…

And don't ask questions.

☠️ Madness.

In blocking wider vaccine production globally, the EU, UK and others are prolonging the pandemic. This means:

☠️ More death.

☠️ More economic disruption.

☠️ More chance for new variants to emerge that are more deadly, more contagious, and/or resistant to current vaccines.

The longer the pandemic, the more chance for the emergence of new variants...

Public health experts have been warning about it: oxfam.org/en/press-relea…

Pharmaceutical companies are "betting" on it: bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

And as long as the EU, UK & other governments allow pharmaceutical companies to control vaccine production and maintain global scarcity of doses, a longer pandemic - and serial profits for the companies - are a safe "bet".

This is where we are headed:

➡️ a business model of serial profits for the pharmaceutical companies.

➡️ a nightmare of endless pandemic for humanity.

Don't tell the waiter at your local café to be a police officer.

Tell your government to take every step possible to END the global pandemic.

This means maximum access to vaccines globally & maximum production of vaccines globally, using every tool, including the #TRIPSwaiver

Now, to be fair, Macron is on finally board with the #TRIPSwaiver, as are other EU member state govts, like Poland, and the European Parliament. Great!

But EU policy (driven in this by Germany) is to keep blocking wider vaccine production globally.

politico.eu/article/europe…

Merkel is heading to the US this week, and hopefully, Biden (who is now in favor of waivers) will be able to convince her to drop her profits-first, longer-pandemic policy. With that, hopefully, the EU will shift its deadly position more significantly.

🤞 Fingers crossed...

The goal must be to END the pandemic, not pretend we can go back to some warped form of "normal" in a few local areas by instituting impractical and rights-limiting measures.

So, please:

💉 get vaccinated if you can;

⚠️ demand that EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE be able to get vaccinated.

That's the only way out of this, folks.

It doesn't end until it ends for everyone.

🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺
EU citizens: Please SIGN & SHARE this official Citizens' Initiative to demand that our leaders prioritise our lives over corporate profits.

➡️ noprofitonpandemic.eu

And everyone: please join us in about an hour for further discussion of the #TRIPSwaiver and #PeoplesVaccine

twitter.com/i/spaces/1yoKM…

More on the Merkel visit to the US...

https://twitter.com/citizenstrade/status/1414962873583951873