About Trump’s name in Mandarin Chinese
The Axios story pictured above speaks for itself. In fact the illustration they made (Trump hugging the syringe on the right above) also speaks for itself. It is Trump in his widely mocked flag hugging pose. What if the flag he has to hug is the Chinese flag? Axios used a similar illustration in another story only with Trump hugging the Russian flag.
In summary Axios says that in his new solo Coronavirus press conferences Trump “will assert that, under his leadership, the coronavirus task force has helped make major advancements in the ability to treat COVID-19” and that a vaccine will be here thanks to him in two shakes of a Playboy bunny’s tail.
It is obvious what Trump is trying to do. We know how he desperately wants to bend science to his will.
Axios reports that a government official told them "we are making significant progress on a vaccine and working simultaneously on a distribution plan so that when we reach it we can get it to hundreds of millions of people immediately." “Immediately” they say.
Perhaps someone should look at the definition of the word immediately:
Straight away, at once, right away, right now, instantly, now, directly, promptly, forthwith, this/that (very) minute, this/that instant, there and then, here and now, in a flash, without delay, without hesitation, without further ado, posthaste; quickly, as fast as possible, fast, speedily, with all speed, as soon as possible, ASAP.
This is no doubt this is being conveyed to Trump by people who know that this highly optimistic prediction curry favor with him.
We also know Trump is scientifically ignorant and delusional, a combination that leads him to think he can actually magically pull a vaccine out the labyrinth of a brain that can repeat the words “person,” “woman,” “man,” “camera,” and “TV.”
What we will be hearing from Trump is incessant hyping of progress on the vaccine front even though all reputable scientists are urging caution in expecting an effective vaccine will be ready before sometime next year.
As more and more people who Trump and his toady governors said should ignore the advice from the medical experts about masks and social distancing have close encounters with Covid all of Trump’s happy talk will look like the self-serving hot air it was. Any happy talk about progress treating and eventually preventing Covid-19 will be drowned out by the wailing of those mourning lost loved ones.
And then there’s China:
It would be naive to think Chinese experts aren’t working as diligently as any other researchers around the world. What we don't see from China is a president facing reelection who feels compelled to have press conferences to brag about himself. “Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to make any coronavirus vaccine universally available once it’s developed, part of an effort to defuse criticism of his government’s response to a pandemic that has killed more than 315,000 people around the world.” From Bloomberg May 18.
Consider this from the very start of the spread of the pandemic to the United States in March from STAT:
I'm no fan of China, their president for life, how they are stifling dissent in Hong Kong, or the abuse of Uighurs in China which meets international legal criteria for genocide. They are a repugnant actor on the world stage. This is made worse by the fact that they have become a major international economic power. However, no matter how dictatorial and authoritarian the government is no Chinese citizen deserves to die of Covid-19. If anyone develops the most effective vaccine first I hope it isn't a private pharmaceutical company but rather a goverment program like the one the United Kingdom has working on it.
It would be poetic justice for Trump, who has been trying to disparage the Chinese by persisting in promulgating an ethnic slur by calling it the Chinese virus, if it was China who developed the best vaccine.
Because of Trump there are reports of anti-Asian assaults, harassment and hate crimes as the Coronavirus spread. (ADL Reference)
It would be satisfying from the point of view of karma biting Trump in the ass. See the diary “Karma will bite you in the ass” by Old Redneck which got 845 well deserved recommendations.
Of course if Trump both got Covid-19 and the Chinese developed the vaccine it would be double karma, if there’s such a thing. Multiply that by whatever number you chose to if this caused him to go down in an historic landslide.
if If it was clearly safer and more effective than other vaccines and the Chinese could quickly share the technology and make sure enough of could be distributed worldwide to end the pandemic.
I'd like to see Trump having to call it the Chinese vaccine.
I posted the Chinese language translation in the title because for some reason as many people or more people in Hong Kong read my blog where I posted a link to this diary as do in the United States (see stats on right). It may help people using a Chinese search engine to find it both on Daily Kos and on my blog.
The most recent news about vaccines is promising. See: “Massive Coronavirus Vaccine Study Gets Underway In U.S.” HuffPost. Aside from the National Institute of Health / Moderna vaccine which has entered large stage three trials both China and Britain are close to entering final stages of vaccine testing:
… other vaccines made by China and by Britain’s Oxford University earlier this month began smaller final-stage tests in Brazil and other hard-hit countries.
But the U.S. requires its own tests of any vaccine that might be used in the country and has set a high bar: Every month through fall, the government-funded COVID-19 Prevention Network will roll out a new study of a leading candidate ― each one with 30,000 newly recruited volunteers.
The massive studies aren’t just to test if the shots work — they’re needed to check each potential vaccine’s safety. And following the same study rules will let scientists eventually compare all the shots.
Next up in August, the final study of the Oxford shot begins, followed by plans to test a candidate from Johnson & Johnson in September and Novavax in October ― if all goes according to schedule. Pfizer Inc. plans its own 30,000-person study this summer.
Tuesday, Jul 28, 2020 · 3:18:44 AM +00:00 · HalBrown
“The purpose of this work is not to discover which technology is better,” says Yin. “The purpose is to control the disease.”
In principle, SinoVac is a private company that owns CoronaVac as its licensed intellectual property, meaning where the vaccine is distributed should be a purely commercial decision. However, the Chinese government has contributed to the estimated one billion renminbi (about $140 million) the firm is investing in CoronaVac. This and other contributions from international NGOs currently under negotiation all come with distribution commitments attached.
In a speech to the World Health Assembly on May 18, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to make a COVID-19 vaccine produced in China a “global public good.” In reality, of course, every queue has someone at the back, meaning there will be much jostling for priority—and potentially boosting Beijing’s global clout.
According to Benjamin N. Gedan, a former regional director on the White House’s National Security Council now with the Wilson Center, “If China produces the first coronavirus vaccine at scale, it would be an extraordinary diplomatic tool anywhere in the world.”