The COVID denier countries
Tanzania insists COVID is a hoax, while Venezuela promotes "miracle drops".
The government of Tanzania wants you all to know you’ve been getting worked up over nothing:
A week after Peter - not his real name - arrived home from work with a dry cough and loss of taste, he was taken to hospital, where he died within hours. He had not been tested for Covid. But then, according to Tanzania's government, which has not published data on the coronavirus for months, the country is "Covid-19-free".
There is little testing and no plans for a vaccination programme in the East African country.
It is nearly impossible to gauge the true extent of the virus and only a small number of people are officially allowed to talk about the issue.
[…]
Since June last year, when President John Magufuli declared the country "Covid-19 free", he, along with other top government officials, have mocked the efficacy of masks, doubted if testing works, and teased neighbouring countries which have imposed health measures to curb the virus.
Mr Magufuli has also warned - without providing any evidence - that Covid-19 vaccines could be harmful and has instead been urging Tanzanians to use steam inhalation and herbal medicines, neither of which have been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) as treatments.
It is unclear why the president has expressed such scepticism about the vaccines but he recently said that Tanzanians should not be used as "guinea pigs".
"If the white man was able to come up with vaccinations, he should have found a vaccination for Aids, cancer and TB by now," said Mr Magufuli, who has often cast himself as standing up to Western imperialism.
The WHO disagrees.
"Vaccines work and I encourage the [Tanzanian] government to prepare for a Covid vaccination campaign," said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO's Africa director, adding that the organisation was ready to support the country.
But Health Minister Dorothy Gwajima reiterated Mr Magufuli's stance on vaccines, adding that the ministry had "its own procedure on how to receive any medicines and we do so after we have satisfied ourselves with the product".
She made the comments at a press briefing this week at which an official demonstrated how to make a smoothie using ginger, onions, lemons and pepper - a drink, they said without providing evidence, which would help prevent catching coronavirus.
Meanwhile, Venezuela’s Nicholas Maduro - you knew a story about shockingly incompetent government would include Maduro, didn’t you - is promoting his own homemade miracle cure for COVID-19:
The president announced the "medical breakthrough" with a pitch that could school a QVC presenter.
Neutralize the coronavirus without a single side effect! No needle? No problem! Just a few drops of the magic liquid under the tongue every four hours and it’s goodbye lockdown, hello good health.
“From Venezuela to the world,” Nicolás Maduro declared in a national address, unveiling two shimmering vials of Carvativir.
Venezuelan medical professionals now say that Maduro’s “miracle drops” — which he pledged would rapidly go into mass production — are actually an extract of the herb thyme, used in homeopathic therapies and ordinary cooking.
[…]
In a search for answers, Maduro’s government is venturing into magical realism, peddling homegrown remedies including herbal teas and miracle drops in an attempt to calm a long-suffering populace. When presenting Carvativir to the nation last week, Maduro claimed he could not reveal the identity of the drug’s inventor, even as he brandished a book that named the scientist on national television.
That book, easily found online, identified Raúl Ojeda as the head researcher behind a compound that contains the active ingredient Isothymol. The back cover describes Ojeda as a “writer, poet, altruistic and biochemical research,” and identifies him as an employee of Labfarven, a laboratory that produces the drops and, according to corporate records, used to sell auto parts.
Venezuelan doctors were initially cautious in their assessments of a compound which, they say, has been used in mouthwashes and antiseptics to kill bacteria. But after exploring Ojeda’s findings, they are now calling Maduro’s claims not only false, but dangerous. Maduro has dismissed the criticism, saying that “envy” has “unleashed a brutal campaign against Carvativir.”
Meanwhile, in China:
Also, I’ll leave this here:
Tucker Carlson, who ranks second on my “WTF happened to that guy?” list behind Rudy Giuliani, is using his Fox News show to spread conspiracy theories about COVID vaccines. I hope his advertisers, assuming there are any non-pillow companies, take note.
But I’ll still take a system in which people are free to say stupid shit than one in which you toe the government line or the state brings down the hammer. If Friedman would sacrifice that for fast trains, that’s on him.
Maybe Venezuela can earn some much needed hard currency by selling Carvativir through Alex Jones’ online store. Or through Gwynneth Palrow’s GOOP. They’re selling the exact same stuff:
Near the end of a profile of Amanda Chantal Bacon, founder of the “wellness” brand Moon Juice, the New York Times Magazine noted that many of the alternative-medicine ingredients in her products are sold—with very different branding—on the Infowars store. That’s the site run by Alex Jones, the radio show host and conspiracy theorist who has said that both the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School and the Boston Marathon bombing were staged. Moon Juice is frequently recommended by Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness blog, Goop; it’s a favorite of Hollywood celebrities and others who can afford things like $25 “activated cashews.” Infowars, on the other hand, is a dark corner of the American right, heavy on guns, light on government intervention, and still very mad at Obama.
We at Quartz have created a compendium, from Ashwagandha to zizyphus, of the magical healing ingredients both sides of the political spectrum are buying, and how they are presented to each. We looked at the ingredients used in products sold on the Infowars store, and compared them to products on the wellness shops Moon Juice and Goop. All make similar claims about the health benefits of these ingredients, but what gets called “Super Male Vitality” by Infowars is branded as “Sex Dust” by Moon Juice.
[Bacopa] an Ayurvedic herb, said to reduce stress, improve memory, and treat epilepsy, among other purported benefits. Goop uses bacopa in a supplement pack called “Why am I so Effing Tired;” Infowars sticks it in its “Brain Force Plus.” The science, based on animal studies, shows some preliminary—but contradictory—evidence of improvements to memory and brain function. There is minimal support for the claims about epilepsy and anxiety.
I’m a dedicated believer in “horseshoe theory,” which holds that the extreme left and extreme right eventually double back and have more in common with each other than with the political mainstream. We need a version of that for InfoWars-obsessed survivalists and the new-age natural living crowd.
How it’s going:
You’re definitely hitting your stride since you went on Substack. Bitingly funny and mercilessly to the point. Love it.