Na ruim honderd dagen na de verkiezingen is er nog altijd geen zicht op een nieuw kabinet. En dat terwijl er genoeg problemen in Nederland zijn die schreeuwen om beleid door een volwaardig kabinet.
Note Almere Digest: The Netherlands still has no real functioning decission making government , 100 days after the general election. Maybe it is time for demissionnary PM Rutte to read the writing on the wall?
Read Morte at:
Dit land heeft honderd dagen na de verkiezingen een echt kabinet nodig, Nederland moet weer geregeerd worden | Commentaar - Friesch Dagblad
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July 28, 2021
Healthcare in the Netherlands: Is it really that good?
Amazingly, the Dutch rate their health care very highly. They must have low expectations. The Netherlands was number one on the Euro Health Consumer Index in 2015 for its health care system. It has also been listed in the top 3 European countries since 2005. It may be the best system in terms of economics. However, I’m not so certain it works well for everyday patients.
Dutch huisartsen (general practitioners) are notorious for sending you home from an office visit with advice to rest and take a paracetamol. Come back in 2 weeks if you’re not feeling better. This goes for everything from a sore throat to an amputated limb (ok, that may be a slight exaggeration). You have to have one foot in the grave for your huisarts to either prescribe an antibiotic or to send you to see a specialist. Now, I am not someone who believes in prescribing antibiotics for every minor illness, but for bacterial infections they are sometimes necessary. The same goes for pain meds and anesthetics. The Dutch seem to believe one needs to suffer for a while before doing anything proactive.
Read more at: Healthcare in the Netherlands: Is it really that good? – DutchReview
Dutch huisartsen (general practitioners) are notorious for sending you home from an office visit with advice to rest and take a paracetamol. Come back in 2 weeks if you’re not feeling better. This goes for everything from a sore throat to an amputated limb (ok, that may be a slight exaggeration). You have to have one foot in the grave for your huisarts to either prescribe an antibiotic or to send you to see a specialist. Now, I am not someone who believes in prescribing antibiotics for every minor illness, but for bacterial infections they are sometimes necessary. The same goes for pain meds and anesthetics. The Dutch seem to believe one needs to suffer for a while before doing anything proactive.
Read more at: Healthcare in the Netherlands: Is it really that good? – DutchReview
July 26, 2021
EU webshop sales over 63 percent up in the Netherlands
n Q1 2021, Dutch consumers spent 63 percent more in foreign EU webshops compared to the same quarter last year. Spending stood at nearly 800 million euros, versus around half a billion euros one year previously. Never before has quarterly spending increased so much year-on-year since the implementation of the present measuring method in 2014. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this on the basis of an ongoing survey.
Since 2014, spending by Dutch consumers in foreign EU webshops has been higher in each quarter compared to the same period one year previously. In Q1 2014, Dutch consumers still spent around 150 million euros. This increased fivefold to 778 million euros in Q1 2021, slightly higher than the amount spent in the final quarter of 2020. In recent years prior to this, spending in the first quarter was always lower than in the previous quarter. Especially since the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis in March 2020, spending in EU webshops has risen sharply, probably as a result of the COVID-19 measures. For example, as of 15 December many non-food shops closed their doors and shops were only allowed to have orders collected.
Read more at: EU webshop sales over 63 percent up in the Netherlands
Since 2014, spending by Dutch consumers in foreign EU webshops has been higher in each quarter compared to the same period one year previously. In Q1 2014, Dutch consumers still spent around 150 million euros. This increased fivefold to 778 million euros in Q1 2021, slightly higher than the amount spent in the final quarter of 2020. In recent years prior to this, spending in the first quarter was always lower than in the previous quarter. Especially since the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis in March 2020, spending in EU webshops has risen sharply, probably as a result of the COVID-19 measures. For example, as of 15 December many non-food shops closed their doors and shops were only allowed to have orders collected.
Read more at: EU webshop sales over 63 percent up in the Netherlands
July 25, 2021
The Netherlands: Dutch coronavirus average hits two-week low, but Covid hospital total still rising
New data from the RIVM showed that another 4,665 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection, a figure which has not below five thousand since July 7. That pushed the seven-day moving average down 11 percent in a day to 6,492.
Read more at: Dutch coronavirus average hits two-week low, but Covid hospital total still rising | NL Times
Read more at: Dutch coronavirus average hits two-week low, but Covid hospital total still rising | NL Times
July 24, 2021
COVID-19 vaccine inequity: Inside the cutthroat race to secure doses
No one disputes that the world is unfair. But no one expected a vaccine gap between the global rich and poor that was this bad, this far into the pandemic.
Inequity is everywhere: Inoculations go begging in the United States while Haiti, a short plane ride away, received its first delivery July 15 after months of promises - 500,000 doses for a population over 11 million. Canada has procured more than 10 doses for every resident; Sierra Leone's vaccination rate just cracked 1% on June 20.
It's like a famine in which “the richest guys grab the baker,” said Strive Masiyiwa, the African Union's envoy for vaccine acquisition.
In fact, European and American officials deeply involved in bankrolling and distributing the vaccines against coronavirus have told The Associated Press there was no thought of how to handle the situation globally. Instead, they jostled for their own domestic use.
For the complete detailed report go to: COVID-19 vaccine inequity: Inside the cutthroat race to secure doses | CP24.com
Inequity is everywhere: Inoculations go begging in the United States while Haiti, a short plane ride away, received its first delivery July 15 after months of promises - 500,000 doses for a population over 11 million. Canada has procured more than 10 doses for every resident; Sierra Leone's vaccination rate just cracked 1% on June 20.
It's like a famine in which “the richest guys grab the baker,” said Strive Masiyiwa, the African Union's envoy for vaccine acquisition.
In fact, European and American officials deeply involved in bankrolling and distributing the vaccines against coronavirus have told The Associated Press there was no thought of how to handle the situation globally. Instead, they jostled for their own domestic use.
For the complete detailed report go to: COVID-19 vaccine inequity: Inside the cutthroat race to secure doses | CP24.com
July 23, 2021
Covid-19 not over yet: Surgeon General on Unvaccinated: 'I Am Worried About What Is to Come'
US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said that he is "worried about what is come" and the COVID-19 "pandemic is not over" amid a surge in cases, particularly among individuals who have yet to get the vaccine.
"I am worried about what is to come because we are seeing increasing cases among the unvaccinated in particular," Murthy said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, the Hill reported. "And while if you are vaccinated you are very well protected against hospitalization and death, unfortunately, that is not true if you are not vaccinated."
Read more at: https://www.businessinsider.com/surgeon-general-on-unvaccinated-i-am-worried-about-what-come-2021-7?international=true&r=US&IR=T
"I am worried about what is to come because we are seeing increasing cases among the unvaccinated in particular," Murthy said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, the Hill reported. "And while if you are vaccinated you are very well protected against hospitalization and death, unfortunately, that is not true if you are not vaccinated."
Read more at: https://www.businessinsider.com/surgeon-general-on-unvaccinated-i-am-worried-about-what-come-2021-7?international=true&r=US&IR=T
July 21, 2021
Covid-19 vaccines: Combatting the crooked global pharmaceutical industry: Fighting Covid-19 requires fewer patents and more state – Piergiuseppe Fortunato
On March 17th 2020, the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer officially partnered with Biopharmaceutical New Technologies (BioNTech), a spinoff of the Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz. The partnership was to accelerate a potential first-in-class Covid-19 vaccine (BNT162), using not attenuated or deactivated virus but a strand of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) to produce, and engender immunity against, the virus’ spike protein.
On March 17th 2020, the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer officially partnered with Biopharmaceutical New Technologies (BioNTech), a spinoff of the Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz. The partnership was to accelerate a potential first-in-class Covid-19 vaccine (BNT162), using not attenuated or deactivated virus but a strand of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) to produce, and engender immunity against, the virus’ spike protein.
The vaccine was expected to enter clinical testing by the end of the following month. At that point, it had already been almost entirely developed by the small German immunotherapy company. What Pfizer brought to the alliance was essentially funds for the clinical trials and commercial capabilities.
Pfizer, along with the rest of the industry, has been lobbying to stop a temporary waiver of IPR, endorsed by the current US administration under Joe Biden, to allow generic Covid-19 vaccines to be distributed at low cost in the global south. Instead, the industry is asserting monopoly rights in all those developing economies that ratified the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which came into force back in 1995—even at the cost of delaying Covid-19 immunisation worldwide.
Patenting vaccines (and drugs) is particularly problematic, since public research irrigation is preponderant and large companies typically come into play only in the phase of clinical trials, right before patenting, usually when the resources to be invested exceed the financial capacities of small inventors. The pricing of the patented products, however, does not internalise the contribution by other actors, including public institutions, or public-health objectives (such as global immunisation in the case of Covid-19), since the IPR system has not been designed to do so. On the contrary, being subject to intense lobbying and regulatory capture by large companies, the system is often abused and high prices persist, granting to the privileged holders profits not justifiable by their contribution.
This is as socially inequitable as it is economically inefficient—its inadequacy dramatically exposed by the pandemic. Vaccines developed with substantial public contributions are generating hundreds of billions of dollars in sales for the pharmaceutical companies, while the coronavirus is still ravaging poorer nations which cannot afford immunisation.
The vaccine was expected to enter clinical testing by the end of the following month. At that point, it had already been almost entirely developed by the small German immunotherapy company. What Pfizer brought to the alliance was essentially funds for the clinical trials and commercial capabilities.
This is as socially inequitable as it is economically inefficient—its inadequacy dramatically exposed by the pandemic. Vaccines developed with substantial public contributions are generating hundreds of billions of dollars in sales for the pharmaceutical companies, while the coronavirus is still ravaging poorer nations which cannot afford immunisation.
Read the complete report at Fighting Covid-19 requires fewer patents and more state – Piergiuseppe Fortunato
On March 17th 2020, the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer officially partnered with Biopharmaceutical New Technologies (BioNTech), a spinoff of the Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz. The partnership was to accelerate a potential first-in-class Covid-19 vaccine (BNT162), using not attenuated or deactivated virus but a strand of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) to produce, and engender immunity against, the virus’ spike protein.
The vaccine was expected to enter clinical testing by the end of the following month. At that point, it had already been almost entirely developed by the small German immunotherapy company. What Pfizer brought to the alliance was essentially funds for the clinical trials and commercial capabilities.
Pfizer, along with the rest of the industry, has been lobbying to stop a temporary waiver of IPR, endorsed by the current US administration under Joe Biden, to allow generic Covid-19 vaccines to be distributed at low cost in the global south. Instead, the industry is asserting monopoly rights in all those developing economies that ratified the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which came into force back in 1995—even at the cost of delaying Covid-19 immunisation worldwide.
Patenting vaccines (and drugs) is particularly problematic, since public research irrigation is preponderant and large companies typically come into play only in the phase of clinical trials, right before patenting, usually when the resources to be invested exceed the financial capacities of small inventors. The pricing of the patented products, however, does not internalise the contribution by other actors, including public institutions, or public-health objectives (such as global immunisation in the case of Covid-19), since the IPR system has not been designed to do so. On the contrary, being subject to intense lobbying and regulatory capture by large companies, the system is often abused and high prices persist, granting to the privileged holders profits not justifiable by their contribution.
This is as socially inequitable as it is economically inefficient—its inadequacy dramatically exposed by the pandemic. Vaccines developed with substantial public contributions are generating hundreds of billions of dollars in sales for the pharmaceutical companies, while the coronavirus is still ravaging poorer nations which cannot afford immunisation.
The vaccine was expected to enter clinical testing by the end of the following month. At that point, it had already been almost entirely developed by the small German immunotherapy company. What Pfizer brought to the alliance was essentially funds for the clinical trials and commercial capabilities.
This is as socially inequitable as it is economically inefficient—its inadequacy dramatically exposed by the pandemic. Vaccines developed with substantial public contributions are generating hundreds of billions of dollars in sales for the pharmaceutical companies, while the coronavirus is still ravaging poorer nations which cannot afford immunisation.
Read the complete report at Fighting Covid-19 requires fewer patents and more state – Piergiuseppe Fortunato
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