It’s good news that effective vaccines against covid-19 might soon be available - exactly what’s needed to save lives! Because the bad news is that the official British death toll from covid is now 61,648. Excess deaths are 70,089 and rising.

    No wonder. The government’s current restrictions are as half-hearted as ever. As are its half-measures to “help” workers who have lost their jobs, struggling on the pittance offered by benefits and the pathetic £500 for self-isolating, or much worse, trying to live on nothing at all.

    But of course, this mini lock-down is all about looking after the Tories’ friends in business: construction, manufacturing, transport - and schools - all stay open, keeping the virus circulating. On 2 December, shops will reopen in time for the Xmas rush, and in time for another rush of viral infections. Yet even so, Tory MPs are rebelling against lock-downs. That’s the level of ignorance and cynicism amongst this “cream” of the political crop!

    And now, two vaccines are announced which claim covid protection rates of over 90%: one from Pfizer-BioNTech and another from Moderna - neither of which are fully evaluated. But both are already a huge success for the capitalists: as soon as the news was out, Pfizer shares soared 15% and BioNTech’s shot up by 26.5%!

    The CEO of Pfizer cashed in straight away, making £4m! Moderna shares are up over 9% and stock market indexes around the world all hit new highs, while companies which had suffered lows because of C-19, like British Airways, saw shares up by 10%!

    What's also clear is that the pharmaceutical companies are ensuring that the intellectual property rights of "their discoveries" are protected, first and foremost. And the "modest"(!) prices of the jabs are already decided!

    Health Secretary Hancock is delighted to be able to draw attention away from the government's serial failures, by announcing that millions of doses have been ordered already, including from other companies, like AstraZeneca. And that Britain is ahead in the queue for more! Yes, jumping in front of the poor countries which don’t even have oxygen, ventilators or basic medicines for their covid patients! That is the real "success" of this abhorrent system.