Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/546399
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 26 JULY 2015 26 Letters THE vaccine against the global flu pan- demic due to strike in the next year will only be available in Malta five months af- ter the pandemic hits. Before that, Malta will still be defence- less against the killer inf luenza since current stocks of the anti-viral Aman- tadine are not strong enough to resist the f lu. A memo by primary healthcare direc- tor Dr Andrew J. Amato Gauci sent to all healthcare employees has confirmed that the present anti-viral vaccine in stock can only give 15 to 20 per cent protection. In the memo, Amato Gauci advised healthcare employees to be vaccinated along with their immediate family members. The vaccine is being offered to the employees free of charge. More worrying is the admission of deaths that the f lu will bring along. "It is estimated that besides the significant extra morbidity there will also be a number of excess deaths resulting di- rectly from the inf luenza virus," Amato Gauci's memo ominously warns. In the UK, the British inf luenza pandemic contingency plan's conservative estimate of deaths would create a mortality rate of 0.37 to 2.5 per cent. But the British government has already stockpiled against the H5N1 f lu, with 7.3 million doses of Tamif lu, the anti-viral that is consider as the first line of defence against the avian f lu, soon to mutate into a deadly human strain. Malta is however still defence- less against the f lu pandemic as the order of the anti-viral drug Tamif lu has not been finalised yet, and current stocks of anti-virals are considered ineffective against the strain of virus. The government is currently still in the process of buying the anti- viral drugs. According to Labour MP Michael Farrugia, if the order is issued now, Malta's stocks of Tamif lu will ar- rive in late 2006 or early 2007, too late if the pandemic strikes before the year is out. Countries all around the world have been rushing to stock the drug. The UK ordered its stock early this year when Tamif lu was shown to be the first line of defence against the bird f lu after researchers at Queen Mary Hospital in London revealed the effectiveness of the medicine against the avian f lu. Malta is expected to stock enough Tamif lu for 25 per cent of the popula- tion, amounting to 100,000 people, until a vaccine will be developed a few months after the emergence of the disease. Malta will then receive the vaccine three months after it is developed. Earlier this month, a 38-year-old Indonesian died on 12 July, the country's first laboratory-con- firmed H5N1 positive human case of avian inf luenza. His two daughters, aged eight and one, also died of severe pneumo- nia illness compatible with H5N1 infection, but laboratory confir- mation is not yet available. The 8-year-old became ill with fever, diarrhoea, then cough, on 24 June, shortly dying 10 days later. Tamif lu has already been used effec- tively in other strains of bird f lu. In the Netherlands in 2003, when 1,000 people were infected with the H7N7 strain, the drug proved to be very effective. Tamif lu is currently used in Europe, USA and Japan for type A and B inf luen- zas. It now seems that it is also effective against the avian f lu virus H5N1 strain. Pandemics hit the planet every 27 years. The last one hit about 36 years ago. 24 July 2005 Health director warns of 'excess deaths' pandemic will bring The fact that tourism is a corner- stone of our economy can neither be denied nor questioned, but in keeping with the subject, could we also bring ourselves to ask: what is the real cost of tourism? For one, the assumption that anything that brings in money is a good thing is a dangerous ideo- logical precedent which we would do well to jettison altogether. Secondly, while tourism brings in the obvious economic ad- vantages already mentioned, it can hardly be denied that it also places a great burden on our cul- ture and lifestyle, one we perhaps ignore too easily, and at our own peril, since it's been something of a fait accompli for a number of years. Take as an example the recent crisis of the Malta Public Trans- port changeover. Over and above the very public and dramatic case involving Hungarian stu- dent Daboma Jack, the summer months are crucial to tourism and therefore to public trans- port. The Tallinja card debacle, was incredibly baldy timed and only highlighted how misguided the decision to implement such moves during the summer months is. And what's the end result? Congested buses and streets, and residents who simply want to get to work or school on time elbowed out in favour of the lei- sure time of paying foreigners. This is just the tip of the ice- berg, of course: just one example of how unchecked tourism gluts the island and our daily life. The other problems are also plainly evident: Paceville and Valletta emphasising 24/7 en- tertainment above all, villages like Bugibba losing any shred of individuality for the benefit of tourists… the list goes on. The fact is that tourism is just another example of colonialism by a different name. Malta has been taken over by a number of civilisations over the centuries, and just because tourism is seemingly a 'willing' collaboration with other coun- tries doesn't make it any less of a colonial experience. We should look for ways to limit and weave tourism into the daily fabric of our lives without com- promising our culture and the daily lives of our citizens. Otherwise, it becomes clearer than ever before that money comes first while people come second. Raymond Hardwicke St Paul's Bay Amid some opposition, Joseph Muscat intro- duced measures to curb the power of the rul- ing class, such as the Whistleblower Act, and the end of prescription on corruption. But there is still a lot that has got to be done, and unless the working class backs him he can do very little to go against the vested interests of the ruling class. Party members must stop backing one par- liamentarian against another, quite often of the same party. They should do their utmost to change the governing system. Ministers have to start looking after a particular sector if they are qualified in that sector and voted for by the whole legislature, and only ministers who look after the interest of the districts should be voted for by the vot- ers of that district. Josephine Gatt-Ciancio Kalkara The discovery of a second pos- sibly habitable planet some- where in the universe suggests ample opportunities to some of Earth's problems - most of them applicable directly to Malta. For instance, should space travel reach a point where traversing the 1,000-light year distance to the newly-discov- ered Kepler-452b (colloqui- ally known as 'Earth 2.0'), we could use it as a place in which to put socially undesirable individuals. These would be people who, while falling short of committing any outward felony (in which case they should be processed through the usual means), harbour questionable and potentially dangerous ideas and frustra- tions. Among them would be the likes of far- right extremists or so-called 'patriots', who oppose all forms of integration between people of different races and delight in fo- menting racial hatred. On this new planet, they would find the kind of 'pristine' and 'uncorrupted' space that they would like to fantasise about, without the hassle of having to organise protests – both online and off – in an attempt to put their ideas forward. Secondly, the pro-construction lobby would find an eager and ample playground in which to live out their own fantasies of industrial expansion. It is perhaps unfair that, owing to their obvious addition to both concrete and cash, developers are constantly blind-sided by both bureaucratic exigences and the environmentalist lobby. It is clear that these people need to be cured in the same way you would cure an addict - by administering a slow and decreasing dose of their drug of choice before cutting it off altogether. But since Malta's size does not permit for the kind of construction that would satisfy these afflicted men, the new planet would, on the other hand, offer ample room for their pain to play out. Tzvetan Borg, Birzebbugia Tourism in Malta: unsustainable? Working class must back Muscat New planet, new opportunities Earth 2.0 (right) scaled against our own earth