As this goes to press (December 30, 2020), wealthy countries and individuals are paying their way to get their hands on scarce supplies of the new Covid-19 vaccines. In the US, health workers and long term care facility residents and workers are the designated first recipients, while most workers will have to wait months for their turn. In poor countries, the wait could be years. Global inequities of Covid-19 infections and vaccine access expose the racist and oppressive conditions of capitalism, and offer revolutionaries opportunities to up the class struggle.
The Progressive Labor Party hails the development of vaccines and urges workers to take the shots. The research to develop the mRNA type of vaccines began almost two decades ago when other viral diseases (swine flu and MERS) swept areas of the world. They are not the result of speedy experiments. Unfortunately, the profit motive and racist medical care underlying capitalism heighten our fears and mistrust even when scientists get it right.
In a nutshell, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines mimic a part of the covering of the Covid-19 virus called the spike and prompt the immune system to create antibodies, particles that are ready to fight the virus, if an actual infection occurs. There is no virus in the vaccine. The vaccines protect over 95% of the people getting them compared to people who did not get them.
Judging from the long history of vaccines, it is very unlikely that there are any long term ill effects. No medication is 100 percent safe, but with 81.2 million cases and over 1.77 million confirmed deaths worldwide (and over 325,000 deaths in the US), the benefits far outweigh the risks. Because capitalists are so anxious to make the economy profitable, they want the vaccines to work as safely as possible.
Racism Kills All Workers- Some A Lot More Than Others
The causes of many viral pandemics are due to capitalism’s drive to maximize profits at the expense of safe agricultural and forestry practices.
Covid-19 infections and deaths attack Black, Latin, Asian, undocumented, imprisoned, Indigenous, and poor people in general at much higher rates than others because of differences in health, jobs and housing that increase the risk of exposure and spread. In addition, increased stress due to racism and poverty, and hunger weaken our immune systems. Poor people of all backgrounds have more limited health care, allowing medical conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease to develop and increase the risk of death from Covid-19.
The history of racist health experiments justifiably builds mistrust in science. Black and brown people have been used to test medications without receiving the benefits of their participation, which is often coerced by force or bribes (incentives). Procedures and medications have been tested on Black workers in the U.S. from slavery to recent times, as in the well-known Tuskegee experiments. Vaccines and treatments have been tested in Africa and other non-white areas. The CIA used people posing as immunizers in Pakistan to ensnare Bin Laden that led to increased mistrust and even the murder of vaccinators. White workers are also hurt when racist stereotypes of Black and immigrant people taking handouts from government programs have deterred some from accepting programs such as Medicaid and Obamacare.
These factors lead to reluctance to take the vaccine. This refusal endangers those who opt out and the community at large. Scientists predict that anywhere from 70-90% of the people need the shots to produce herd immunity, meaning that the virus cannot find enough people to infect.
Equitable Distribution of the Vaccines
The vaccines should be distributed to those at highest risk of contracting and dying from Covid-19. Black and brown workers in all groups are more severely impacted and so prioritizing them is part of the fight against racism. The most endangered groups include workers who:
* work in long term care facilities and the residents of these facilities.
*care for Covid-19 patients, including nurses, doctors, other providers, housekeeping, dietary staff, respiratory therapists, occupational and physical therapists, and home health aides.
*are considered essential and irreplaceable, such as workers in meat packing plants and grocery stores, Amazon warehouse workers, transportation workers, agricultural workers.
*are incarcerated in prisons and detention centers where the epidemic is raging.
*elderly people and those with underlying health conditions, who have higher rates of deaths from Covid-19.
Capitalism Is the Real Virus - Killing Capitalism Can Prevent Viral Diseases
We can avoid these viral diseases. Epidemiologists who study the spread and causes of disease have warned governments about the “coming plague” for decades. They charge the huge agribusinesses, such as Tyson’s Food, Smithfield, and other destroyers of natural habitats for spreading animal diseases to humans. The industrial scale production of meat and poultry involves crowding of genetically similar animals, which allows virulent viruses to flourish. As lands are deforested to enlarge farms, mines and living areas, people come in contact with viruses that were previously limited to the forest. Genetically modified crops reduce the process of natural selection.
Rob Wallace, a virus hunter and epidemiologist, blames Covid-19 on the profit driven system that mandates competition, the accumulation of wealth, and trade agreements that have no consumer, environmental, or occupational protections. With global trade routes and rapid transportation across large geographic areas, infectious people and products travel quickly and widely. In the U.S. public health infrastructure has been decimated, with 700 positions cut at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hospitals closed, and not-in-time medical equipment; there was no system in place to handle the pandemic.
As long as the capitalists have enough people healthy enough to work, they don’t give a damn about us. When they need our labor, they adopt interventions like vaccines to keep the economy profitable. When pandemics rage, they are also desperate to protect themselves.
Global Access to Vaccines
Another way of illustrating the inequities of capitalism is seeing how the Covid-19 vaccines will be distributed throughout the world. Under the auspices of the World Health Organization, a program called COVAX pools resources in order to help poorer countries gain access to the vaccines. They have acquired only enough doses to vaccinate one out of ten people by the end of 2021. Nearly three billion people, living mostly in Africa and the southern hemisphere may not get access to a Covid-19 vaccine for years.
Rich nations represent 14% of the world’s population but have bought 53% of the developing vaccines (BBC News, 12/9/20). The richer countries are hoarding the vaccines and pharmaceutical companies, like Pfizer and Moderna, have made sure their intellectual property rights are protected through international agreements. This limits the ability of production facilities in India and Africa to produce vaccines. It’s no surprise that corporations put their pursuit of profits above anything else, including the health of the world’s workers.
The rivalry between China and the US has been intensified by the Covid-19 pandemic. It has sped up efforts to disentangle the two economies and accelerated mutual distrust and antagonism. China has sent medical supplies to African nations and will send millions of vaccines to curry favor for markets and resources. The US does not have the capacity to compete. “European and American influence is on the decline in Africa, and China’s medical diplomacy will only further accelerate it” (Al Jazeera Opinion Piece, Vaccine diplomacy and the US-China rivalry in Africa, 11/7/2020).
In a recent Pew Research survey, 73% of Americans view China negatively, while Chinese media has portrayed the US as a diminishing and hostile power (Wharton-What Lies Ahead? 4/16/20). The downward spiral of this inter-imperialist struggle will mean a higher likelihood of war, which will kill millions more workers.
Fighting Back with Reforms and Communism
Workers must demand equitable access to vaccines globally. We can address people’s fears with honesty, acknowledging ongoing medical racism and inequities. We must also offer social support, encourage masks and social distancing, and organize mutual aid. We can mobilize massive numbers of neighbors, as Kerala, India did, to provide resources and check-ins on people. China mobilized millions during the 1950s to remove disease-spreading snails.
We can demand that governments release all prisoners from jails, prisons and detention centers and provide safe support once released; house the homeless immediately, stop evictions, and halt rents and back payments. We can demand that Native Americans have access to vaccinations and the medical staff to get the job done.We can educate people through outreach programs that trusted community members lead, making sure people get the vaccines, apply for health insurance, attend appointments, and receive food.
We can strike and protest when vaccines are diverted from the most vulnerable people to politicians and the wealthy. Medical residents who treat Covid-19 patients walked off the job when hospital administrators working at home received vaccines ahead of them.
Pfizer and Big Pharma will design their distribution to maximize their profits in the United States and worldwide but couldn’t develop these vaccines without the millions of hard working laboratory staff, scientists, clinicians, public health workers, and trial participants who are truly fighting for the health of the working class and trying to control this virus.
Ultimately, accommodating ourselves to capitalism is a loser. A communist society would have the ability to prevent pandemics and prioritize care for sick people. While the Soviet Union was socialist, the government mandated vaccines for an infectious disease by taking vaccines to the neighborhoods and prevented a widespread outbreak. China’s socialist government eradicated syphilis by giving jobs to sex workers, legalizing divorce, and providing medical care.
Without the profit motive and a wage system where people could buy their way to health, workers could reconfigure the economy. The causes of many viral pandemics are due to capitalism’s drive to maximize profits at the expense of safe agricultural and forestry practices. It could develop new ways to produce food, guarantee occupational safety, and give workers the power to decide what and how to produce. Under communism, workers’ interests will be the primary consideration in determining policies. Workers would determine the best practices in order to ensure the best outcomes without endangering millions of people for the sake of private gain.
For now, taking the vaccines to protect oneself AND others is an excellent way to practice communist values of community and social responsibility.
FAQs:
Q. FDA insisted that these companies wait at least two months after the 2nd dose to look for adverse events. Is that enough time?
A. Short answer: yes for serious adverse events like Guillain- Barre or transverse myelitis.
Q. What kind of reactions should I expect?
A. Bad reactions, if any, are to be expected early and the only ones seen have been very rare allergies,which are treatable. Once you get the shot, injection site reactions are common. Generalized malaise, fatigue, redness, soreness and fever are more common after the second dose, but most people just have soreness in their arms.
Q. How long will immunity last?
A. Unknown at this time.
Q.Can people still get infected and transmit the virus?
A. Unknown. “Sterilization immunity” will be under study by the University of Washington as the vaccines are rolled out.
Q. How many people need to be vaccinated to get the pandemic under control?
A. Not clear. If you have a vaccine that is 90% effective and the Ro is 2 (Ro is the number of people the average infected person infects), then you would need to vaccinate 55-60% of the population. But that assumes 90% effectiveness against a significant amount of shedding which is still under investigation. Different models show a need to vaccinate up to 90% of the population.
Q. Is the vaccine safe for everyone?
A. Studies of pregnant and breast-feeding women, children, and those with compromised immune systems are not yet complete.