This weekend once again saw hundreds of thousands take to the streets of London shortly before Health Secretary Matt Hancock fell on his sword after being caught breaking social distancing rules with his aide Gina Coladangelo.
So out he went and in came former Chancellor Sajid Javid who this afternoon has already pledged that ‘economic and cultural life’ will return to ‘normal’ on 19 July and we will need to learn to live with Covid-19. (For Scotland, there’s been no change today to the 9 August date.)
Sounds encouraging on the face of it, but once the dust settles — on Hancock’s (carefully orchestrated?) fall from grace and Javid’s triumphant return to the Cabinet — will we actually be any further forward? And if so for how long? Does Javid’s Commons address tonight give us any insights?
Join me at 6.30pm BST when I’ll be unpicking the events of the past few days and attempting to tease out what’s actually going on.
When it comes to solutions, all the focus has so far gone on one key medical intervention. But we've already seen on the Pandemic Podcast that there could be others.
My guest today is Patrick Holford who is campaigning for a simpler, proven, potentially more cost-effective solution, one that we all have unlimited access to if we choose to incorporate it into our lives.
If this comes across as coded language then we have to take it as a sign of the times that a reference to nature’s capacity to heal is considered controversial.
Patrick Holford is a leading spokesman on nutrition and health and founder of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition. He is the author of 45 books, translated into more than 30 languages, including The Optimum Nutrition Bible, and, most recently, Flu Fighters.
We will be exploring these themes in the context of our current situation and considering a path we could be choosing compared to the one we’re going down, with its many attendant implications.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j08l7TJ16o
This week MPs voted in favour of making vaccination mandatory within the NHS by 385 - 100 and as a result up to 100,000 NHS workers could lose their job by next Spring if they choose not to be vaccinated.
This is after the House of Lords Committee report found that the evidence is insufficient to back mandatory NHS staff vaccination and follows the previous madates in care homes where it is estimated that care homes stand to lose between 50,000 - 70,000 staff this winter as a result and the NHS is up next.
The NHS waiting lists are already at a record 5.98 million people, with over 750,000 people missing referrals for cancer diagnoses and over 350,000 peole waiting more than a year for essential treatment.
The vaccine mandates in the NHS will further decimate public healthcare. The good news is action is being taken despite the vote earlier this week.
The NHS100k was formed to encourage NHS and care staff to stand together against vaccine mandates, whether vaccinated or not, to protect public healthcare by defending the jobs of the 100,000+ NHS staff who have not been vaccinated.
In this episode I am delighted to be joined tonight by Lilith, a long standing parademic and activist, who is helping to coordinate the NHS100k campaign.
This interview was recorded before this weeks vote but we are streaming LIVE where we will discuss:
- The individual right to choose, regardless of profession- The false claims about the need for NHS workers to be vaccinated to protect the public and the healthcare system
- How staff losses as a result of vaccine mandates and booster requirements with result in future staff losses and deteriotation of public healthcare given existing demands and a record patient backlog.- The hypocrisy of delaying the mandates until Spring; if unvaccinated NHS staff are deemed a danger to the public, then surely they would be removed now and not be asked to prop up the NHS during winter pressures only to be rewarded for their efforts by being sacked in April.
You can find out more about the NHS100k campaign and take action here: https://nhs100k.com/
Join us LIVE at 20.00 UK time.
Please subscribe to the Pandemic Podcast for future content updates and to take part in the campaigns that we have partnered with http://www.danjgregory.com/pandemic
The mass vaccination campaign has been largely hailed as the dominant factor for the global easing of restrictions by politicians and media alike.
However, as cases begin to rise again and new evidence about vaccine safety and efficacy is emerging, are we now entering into a new phase where officials are finally beginning to question the benefits and harms of mass vaccination?
Join me LIVE at 20.00 as I unpack some of the recent stories that show how the narrative may be shifting.
PS Want to discuss this episode? Join us inside the Elevate Network http://www.weareelevate.org
Now we’ve had time to reflect on last week’s election results, it’s clear we can’t draw any overarching conclusions from them to help drive forward our increasingly fragile democracy.
Boris Johnson may have painted a picture of a newly-burnished Tory promised land on the back of the party’s Hartlepool by-election win and successes at county and local level across swathes of England.
But delve a little deeper and not only was the picture across England inconsistent but Scotland and Wales delivered clear messages to Downing Street that Johnson’s top-down approach to government — confirmed in yesterday’s Queen’s Speech — does not play universally well.
Join me at 17:30 UK time when I’ll take a whistle stop tour of the results and their immediate implications before looking beyond today’s politicking towards a future built on more equitable and democractic grounds.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBGzFtj0pmk
Today the UK regulator has approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in children aged 12-15, stating 'it is safe and effective' in this age group and the 'benefits outweigh any risks.'
However, with covid presenting an infinitesimally small risk to this group and a growing number of reported vaccine adverse reactions, is it likely the benefits will outweigh the risks?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3xKlnq4M9M
With the return of lockdowns in certain parts of Europe, now is more important than ever to ask whether lockdowns cause more harm than good.
To explore this question I will be joined by Dr Oliver Robinson, an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Greenwich, London, UK. Oliver specialises in a biopsychosocial approach to adult development and mental health and has published 40 peer-reviewed articles in this area.
In this episode we will explore the growing scientific evidence that indicate that lockdowns do not effectively reduce mortality from Covid-19 and weight up the costs and benefits of such policies.
We'll also unpack the biomedial and biopsychosocial models of illness to review what factors lead to people becoming more susceptible to covid-19.
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LIVE coverage of the 'Unite for Freedom' march in London as 100,000s gather to demonstrate against the response to Covid-19.
Are you at the march? Come and share your story with our team.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbGGOg3JNUo
In tonight’s Pandemic Podcast, I will be unpicking Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s afternoon press briefing in which we will discover whether all restrictions will really go in England on the 19th as promised or whether — yet again — swathes of the lockdown paraphernalia is going to stay and potentially hang around indefinitely.
I’ll tease out the key measures being unveiled and then take a look at the long-term prognosis for our freedoms and the prospect of future interventions in what now feels like a never-ending succession of groundhog day staged Downing Street announcements.
Join me immediately after tonight's Press Conference at approximately 18:00 and let’s unpick this one together...
Whatever is announced today, the future is unknown and unless there is a deeper evaluation of the effectiveness of the covid-19 response, we risk remaining stuck in a viscious cycle of lockdowns, restrictions and mandates.
This is exactly why we are hosting the first summit to critically evaluate the response to Covid-19 and explore practical solutions for responsibly living with the virus.
JOIN US AT THE 'LOCKDOWNS SUMMIT' SATURDAY 17th JULY
A growing body of evidence shows that lockdowns and other interventions have not only failed to influence the course of the pandemic, but have prolonged it and created a trail of devastating short-term and long-term collateral damage that now far exceeds the (actual and potential) harms caused by the virus:
UK Hospital waiting lists have reached a record high of 4.7 million people, with almost 390,000 of those waiting for over a year. (Source: NHS)
Over 3 million people in backlog for cancer screening. (Source: Cancer Research UK)
UK national debt at record high - >£2 trillion for first time ever. (Source: ONS)
Over 112 billion days of education lost around the world. (Source: Save the Children)
COVID-19 to plunge as many as 150 million people into extreme poverty around the world. (Source: The Economist)
The long-established rulebook for managing pandemics was thrown out to tackle COVID-19, and now is the time to review the evidence and ask WHY?
OUR MISSION: We aim to critically evaluate the global response to COVID-19 and present a series of responsible pandemic exit strategies to ensure that total harms are minimised.
ACTION: Please register for the livestream at http://www.questioneverything.io
FOLLOW & SHARE: Please follow and help us to share our summit social media channels:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/QETalks
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Together we can create change.
With gratitude
Dan Astin-Gregory
Host & creator, Pandemic Podcast
Founder, Question Everything
"Once priority groups are vaccinated will everyone be able to get on with their lives?" is the question that most people appear to be asking and unfortunately, 'no' is the simple answer coming out of Parliament as the Prime Minister is set to provide an update at 5pm today ahead of a full announcement on the 22nd February.
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