8 Gulf Times
Monday, May 24, 2021
AMERICAS
‘Few reports’ of heart issue in US young people after vaccine: CDC
AFP/Reuters
Washington
U
S health authorities said
they are looking into a
small number of reports
of heart inflammation among
some younger people who re-
ceived coronavirus (Covid-19)
vaccines, with no clear link es-
tablished for the moment.
New Yorkers ready
to party again – just
not indoors for now
AFP
New York
A
fter 14 months of lock-
down and restrictions,
New Yorkers can now
enjoy a city where most of
these limitations have been
lifted.
But many have retained the
cautious approach they adopt-
ed at the start of the coronavi-
rus (Covid-19) pandemic, and
are hesitant about partying
and returning to the social life
they enjoyed “before”.
Yesenia Herra, 33, who or-
ganises dinners and special
events for tourists and who
“loves to go out”, last weekend
had her first party since March
2020, inviting around 20
friends and family to celebrate
her daughter’s first birthday.
For the safety of her guests,
almost all of whom are fully
vaccinated, she organised the
get-together outdoors in Cen-
tral Park, with folding tables
and chairs, balloons tied to tree
branches, and enough food to
feed an army.
“I didn’t celebrate or do a
baby shower. I didn’t do, like,
a ‘welcome home’ when we
got out of the hospital, unfor-
tunately because of the pan-
demic,” she told AFP.
“And so this is my first cel-
ebration for her and I really
wanted to do it with my fam-
ily and friends and you know, I
know she might not remember
it but I want her to know that
this did happen,” she said.
While her guests seemed
delighted to be together, many
pointed out that they did not
want to invite people to their
homes yet – except for very
close friends who they would
be sure have been vaccinated.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever go
back to complete comfort with
that ... not in the immediate
future,” said Merry Mathes, 58.
Farther into the park, Mar-
cus, a 25-year-old vaccinated
paralegal, was partying along-
side a dozen friends, with a
synth and a hired DJ.
He has only been to two par-
ties since March 2020, both of
them outdoors: one, which was
limited to 10 people, was for
his best friend’s wedding, and
the other was in Central Park
in early May.
“I am not ready for parties
inside, but maybe in the fall,”
he said.
“Business is picking up, it
started last week,” said Le-
muel Rodrigues, a party store
manager in Manhattan. “Most
people are having it at home,
or in parks, with other family
members that they know.”
Even though his business
is still idling, he praised the
continued caution of his cus-
tomers: despite 60% of the
People are seen in New York’s Central Park this weekend.
There were “relatively few re-
ports of myocarditis”, primarily
in adolescents and young adults,
following doses of mRNA vac-
cines like Pfizer and Moderna,
the US Centres for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention (CDC) said.
“Most cases appear to be mild,
and follow-up of cases is ongo-
ing,” the CDC said, adding that
reports were more often from
males who had received their
city’s adult population having
received at least one dose of
the vaccine, many New York-
ers continue to wear masks on
the streets, even though that
regulation was lifted at the end
of April.
“Many people just want to
go back to normal real fast. And
we are more reluctant here.
Can you imagine if this started
to come up again?”
Such caution has boosted
business for by Amanda Orso,
who organises small-scale
parties, usually at homes.
In recent weeks, she has
been asked to throw several
small gatherings by people
keen to celebrate “just being
vaccinated” – with some nods
to the pandemic, like drinks
served in syringes.
Laurence Anthony, 36, a
motivational speaker and writ-
er, was among the first, back in
April, to request her services:
After more than a year of ab-
stinence, he invited 10 people,
all vaccinated, to brunch in his
Harlem apartment to celebrate
his newfound immunity and
his new digs.
“It was kind of an opportu-
nity to reflect and to acknowl-
edge ... the importance of con-
necting” after the pandemic,
he said.
In mid-May, he went to an
indoor party that brought to-
gether some 50 people.
“It was the first event I have
been to where I didn’t know
the majority of the people,” he
said.
The gathering was so close
to the old “normal” that “a
week later we still talked about
it, and how different it felt to be
at a normal party”.
Nightspots and restaurants
have been allowed to open at
full capacity since Wednesday.
However, when will the big
gala evenings that make New
York a hot spot for the jet set
be back?
According to Marcy Blum,
who organises parties and
weddings for a wealthy clien-
tele, even if the large reception
venues do not reopen before
September, her books are al-
ready full until April 2022.
The telephone started ring-
ing a month ago, “when it was
clear we were all going to have
access to vaccines”, she said.
“Everything comes out of
the woodwork at once,” Blum
added, noting that people who
had postponed their weddings
are now scheduling them, but
“people are still cautious ...
everybody still wants an out-
door venue or a tented venue”.
The Met Gala, one of the
most popular social events in
the world, is likely to symbol-
ise this recovery: Tradition-
ally held in May and cancelled
in 2020, it is scheduled to take
place on September 13.
second vaccine dose.
The agency did not publish
detailed information such as the
number of reports or the ages of
those affected.
“Within CDC safety monitor-
ing systems, rates of myocarditis
reports ... following Covid-19
vaccination have not differed
from expected baseline rates,”
CDC added.
The United States started in
Brazil president leads
bike rally through city
AFP/Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
B
razil’s President Jair Bol-
sonaro led a motorbike
rally through Rio de Janeiro
yesterday as throngs gathered
amid the coronavirus (Covid-19)
pandemic to cheer him on.
The far-right leader was ac-
companied by a substantial se-
curity detail at the head of several
thousand motorbikes that was
screened live on the president’s
official Facebook page.
The parade comes as Bol-
sonaro has tried to galvanise his
support base at a time when his
popularity has sunk to its lowest
since he took over the presidency
in January 2019, and with the lat-
est opinion polls putting him be-
hind former president Lula ahead
of next year’s election.
A Senate commission is inves-
tigating his pandemic manage-
ment with 450,000 people hav-
ing died of Covid-19.
On Friday the senator leading
the upper house’s inquiry into
the government’s handling of the
crisis said that Bolsonaro never
wanted to buy Covid-19 vaccines
Vancouver: the ‘anti-Asian hate
crime capital of North America’
Vancouver has experienced a 717% increase in anti-Asian hate
crimes, reflecting a legacy of discrimination in a country seen
as welcoming of newcomers
By Johna Baylon and
Leyland Cecco
Guardian News & Media
S
teven Ngo had stopped at
a traffic light in a residen-
tial neighbourhood in the
eastern part of Vancouver when
passengers in another car tossed
garbage at him, shouting racial
slurs as they sped off.
The lawyer, a lifelong resident
of the city, was stunned – but not
surprised.
“The racism has never been as
overt and apparent,” said Ngo.
“I’ve never seen it so brazen.”
Over the last year, Vancouver, a
cosmopolitan metropolis set be-
tween mountains and ocean, has
experienced a 717% increase in
anti-Asian hate crimes.
The figures, which experts be-
lieve under-report the problem,
reflect a legacy of discrimination
in a city and country widely seen
as welcoming of newcomers.
Since the coronavirus first
reached Canada last year, Asian
residents across the country have
reported a dramatic surge in hate
incidents, ranging from racist
abuse to attacks with weapons.
A young Montreal man was
blinded in March by a group who
attacked him with military-grade
pepper spray.
In 1958 US considered nuclear strike on China: documents
AFP
Washington
U
S military planners
pushed for nuclear strikes
on mainland China in
1958 to protect Taiwan from an
invasion by Communist forces,
classified documents posted on-
line by Daniel Ellsberg of “Penta-
gon Papers” fame show.
US planners also assumed
that the Soviet Union would aid
mid-May allowing children aged
12-15 to get vaccinated against
the novel coronavirus.
The condition often goes away
without complications and can
be caused by a variety of viruses,
the CDC said.
CDC monitoring systems had
not found more cases than would
be expected in the population,
but members of the committee
on vaccinations felt that health-
Bolsonaro (centre) acknowledges the crowd as he heads a
motorcade rally in Rio de Janeiro.
and originally bet on herd immu-
nity beating the coronavirus.
In an interview, Senator Renan
Calheiros said it is too early to say
if Bolsonaro had committed any
criminal offence in his manage-
ment of the public health crisis,
and that more investigation is
required.
“I think everything points in
that direction,” he said, regarding
In Toronto, police say the
number of reported hate crimes
has doubled over the last year.
But with 98 reported cases
over the last year – more than all
US cities combined – Vancouver
was recently dubbed the “anti-
Asian hate crime capital of North
America”.
The city’s proximity to major
cities across the Pacific has made
it a popular landing point for re-
cent immigrants for generations.
But upon arrival, many have
faced discrimination.
“The government promotes
Canada as a multicultural and
diverse country, an idea that’s
been ingrained in our psychol-
ogy since we were in school,” said
Ngo. “But when you start seeing
friends and family who are get-
ting hurt, you start to wonder
how accurate that narrative is.”
His cousin was recently spat
on while running in a park.
The attacks have made head-
lines in recent months, but resi-
dents say they reflect a spillover
of longstanding discrimination.
After using Chinese workers
to finish a transnational railway,
Canada halted immigration from
China.
During World War II, Cana-
dian citizens of Japanese ances-
try were detained in internment
camps.
China and retaliate with nuclear
weapons – a price they deemed
worth paying to protect Taiwan,
according to the document, first
reported by the New York Times.
Former military analyst
Ellsberg posted online the clas-
sified portion of a top-secret
document on the crisis that had
been only partially declassified
in 1975.
Ellsberg, now 90, is famous
for his 1971 leak to US media of a
top-secret Pentagon study on the
care providers should be made
aware of the reports of the “po-
tential adverse event”, the CDC
said in the statement.
Dr Amesh Adalja, senior schol-
ar at the Johns Hopkins Centre
for Health Security, said vaccines
are known to cause myocarditis
and would be important to moni-
tor to see if it is causally related to
the vaccine.
It is important to look at the
Bolsonaro’s preference for herd
immunity.
“The president first denied the
disease, called it a flu, and then
argued against social isolation
and lockdown. Then he played
down the use of masks and en-
couraged crowds to gather,”
Calheiros said. “Why is that?
Because of herd immunity, the
natural immunity ... you have to
Even seemingly benign poli-
cies, like British Columbia’s
“foreign buyers tax”, meant to
cool real estate prices, was wide-
ly seen as targeting Asian buyers,
despite little evidence implicat-
ing them in the surge in housing
prices.
“Living with the anticipa-
tion of when something might
happen to you, or worse, when
something might happen to your
parents – it’s very stressful,” says
Ellen, who asked to use only her
first name. “I feel like I’m just
waiting for the phone call. It’s
not a matter of if, it’s a matter
of when. You’re kind of always
bracing for that impact.”
Ellen, the co-founder of
project 1907 – a reference to the
city’s infamous anti-Asian riots
that led to widespread property
damage – has worked with the
Vancouver Asian Film Festival
to launch Elimin8hate, an online
campaign and reporting platform
for racist experiences.
Since April 2020, the project
has mapped a portion of the
1,500 submissions, many of
which the police wouldn’t con-
sider a hate crime.
In addition to frustration that
there is little police can do when
a person is spat or coughed on,
Ngo says the reporting process
also left him confused.
After waiting on the phone for
nearly half an hour, he went to the
Vancouver police website, only to
find that he could only submit a
Vietnam war known as the Pen-
tagon Papers.
Ellsberg told the Times that
he copied the top-secret Taiwan
crisis study in the early 1970s,
and is releasing it as tensions
mount between the United States
and China over Taiwan.
Had an invasion taken place,
General Nathan Twining, the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff at the time, “made it clear
that the United States would
have used nuclear weapons
risk-benefit ratio, he added.
“Vaccines are going to unequivo-
cally be much more beneficial
outweighing this very low, if con-
clusively established, risk.”
Israel’s health ministry said
in April that it was examining a
small number of cases of heart
inflammation in people who had
received Pfizer’s vaccine, though
it had not yet drawn any conclu-
sions.
encourage crowds and the spread
of the virus.”
“This is why he never wanted
a vaccine,” Calheiros said of Bol-
sonaro, noting that the president
was slow in spending billions of
dollars given to him by Congress
earlier in the pandemic to buy
vaccines from overseas.
Herd immunity occurs when
a large portion of a given popu-
lation achieves immunity to a
disease, sometimes through
widespread infection, thereby
reducing the chances of person-
to-person spread.
The president’s office did not
immediately respond to a request
for comment.
Calheiros is a veteran lawmak-
er and Bolsonaro critic.
Yesterday’s rally started at the
2016 Rio Olympic Park and lasted
an hour and half while heading
along the city’s iconic beaches,
Ipanema and Copacabana.
Supporters lining the route
cheered on the president and
waved Brazilian flags.
About half an hour into the
parade, the motorbikes stopped
for a few minutes while Bol-
sonaro, wearing a helmet but no
face mask, stood on his machine
People are seen at a ‘Stop Asian Hate’ rally in Vancouver in March.
hate crime report in simplified
Chinese.
“There’s this perception that
only the Chinese community are
affected by anti-Asian racism.
I’m part Cantonese, part Viet-
namese. It means only one part
of me can report it – the other
part can’t,” he said. “At the same
time, why wasn’t it in English? It
just didn’t make sense.”
Vancouver police said the Chi-
nese forms were developed in re-
sponse to the “drastic increase”
in hate crime and incidents tar-
geting Vancouver’s east Asian
community specifically.
“However, we heard from the
public that they would like the
forms in other Asian languages
as well,” the police said.
Residents can now report hate
crimes in traditional and simpli-
fied Chinese, English, Japanese,
Korean, Punjabi, Tagalog, and
Vietnamese.
“The social histories of these
groups called ‘Asian Canadian’
are a pretty wide span,” said
Andy Yan, director of the city
against Chinese air bases to pre-
vent a successful air interdiction
campaign”, the document’s au-
thors wrote.
If this did not stop an invasion,
then there was “no alternative
but to conduct nuclear strikes
deep into China as far north as
Shanghai”, the document said,
paraphrasing Twining.
In the event, then-President
Dwight D Eisenhower decided
to rely initially on conventional
weapons.
Most of the cases in Israel were
reported among people up to age
30.
Pfizer at the time said it had
not observed a higher rate of the
condition than would normally
be the case in the general popula-
tion and that a causal link to the
vaccine had not been established.
Pfizer and Moderna did not
immediately respond to requests
for comment on Saturday.
and waved to the crowds, who
chanted “legend” back at him as
engines were revved.
On Friday, Bolsonaro was fined
by a northeastern state govern-
ment “for the promotion in Ma-
ranhao of gatherings with no
sanitary safeguards”.
Bolsonaro had handed out
rural property titles in front of
throngs of maskless people at
an event in a town in Maranhao
state, where gatherings of more
than 100 people are banned.
Bolsonaro’s office has two
weeks to appeal, after which the
amount of the fine will be set.
At the end of April, Bolsonaro
said he was waiting for “a sign
from the people” to put an end to
the pandemic restrictions taken
locally by mayors and governors
to try to slow the virus spread,
insinuating that he could even
deploy the army.
Since then, pro-Bolsonaro
demonstrations have taken place
every weekend with no hint of
social distancing.
Brazil has recorded nearly
16mn cases of Covid-19 and
nearly 450,000 deaths, the sec-
ond-highest death toll in the
world after the United States.
programme at Simon Fraser Uni-
versity.
He pointed to recent media
coverage of hate crimes that
seem to single out the Chinese
Canadian community in Van-
couver, even though a wide range
of communities has been affected
by the spike in assaults.
Trixie Ling, founder of Fla-
vours of Hope, a non-profit social
enterprise that supports new-
comer refugee women, called for
a broader conversation around
systemic racism in the city.
“The conversation needs to
go beyond the Asian community
[that’s] now in the public eye,”
said Ling, who was recently as-
saulted by a man who spat on her
and yelled racial and sexual slurs.
“But I want to see more than
just talk. Words without action
are meaningless. [The conver-
sations] need to be translated to
action and accountability,” she
said. “It’s not just about inter-
personal racism, it’s the systems
and structures that are in place
that perpetuate it.”
The 1958 crisis ended when
Communist forces halted artil-
lery strikes on islands controlled
by Taiwan, leaving the area under
the control of Nationalist forces
under Chiang Kai-shek.
China considers Taiwan to be
a rebel province that will one day
return to the mainland’s fold, by
force if necessary.
Washington has recognised
Beijing since 1979, but maintains
relations with Taipei and is its
most important military ally.