Pharma companies make fantastic claims about the efficacy of COVID vaccines. But, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. A peer-reviewed study in The Lancet states that vaccines that are hyped to have over 90% efficacy may in reality have under 2% efficacy.
When the rest of the world – people and economies are falling like dominoes, China, the nursery of the virus, recorded very few COVID cases and deaths. What is more, its first-quarter GDP grew 18.3 percent year-on-year. So, what’s cooking?
It was in late-2007, I was a young magazine editor invited to a social do at the French Consulate in Mumbai. It was a nice party and I had had one champagne too many. Who else would I be talking to, but the then French Consul General. Having just come off a trip to Paris, I had quite a few things to say to him, mainly on the art, culture and business landscape…but also about geopolitics.
Here we are at the cusp of another COVID panic creation campaign just when the global economy has begun limping towards recovery. But the vaccine market (upon which many billions in revenue are riding) cannot really flourish if people get too comfortable living with the virus.
The visual spectacle is unfortunately an intrinsic part of Christopher Nolan’s TIRED and TESTY formula that we have seen through Inception and Interstellar. Think of him as a bad mix of film makers Rohit Shetty, Gene Roddenberry, Mani Ratnam, and classic surprise-ending storyteller O’Henry.
Depending on who you speak with, astrology/palmistry/face-reading or any other form of prediction is either a science or a pseudo-science. I had my first encounter with astrology at age 23. It had been a chance encounter with a face-reader, who didn’t charge me a penny while making these two dramatic predictions:
There is no absolute truth. There are many.
Grey Truths explores life, news, and opinions beyond the obvious. Detail, depth, and nuance are of the essence.
This blog is an attempt to find balance in a world defined by black truths, white lies, prejudices, and closed extremist positions.
Context, connections, and perspective separate truth from lies and one truth from another.
Truths converge and diverge like drops of rain. Some have longer shelf lives. Others have nine lives.
Ultimately the truth(s) lie(s) in your eyes.
Happy reading!
A communications professional for nearly two decades, I have studied accountancy, management, and journalism. But more than anything else, I am a student of and for life.
Rebel against left and right-wing extremism, kite-flying, pretentiousness, and determinism. Fan of dry humour.
I run regularly. It is a form of meditation. I enjoy reading and watching eclectic content. But second only to observing people and nature.
Writing poetry and cooking are occasional indulgences.
Sridhar Chari
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