$ 230 million to commerce in video highlights

A LeBron James highlight sold for $ 200,000. A Zion Williamson edition cost a little less. The National Basketball Association has officially set its sights on the future of the trading card market, and currently this game is sold out.

The NBA has teamed up with Dapper Labs of Canada, the makers of the CryptoKitties game, to create the version of a digital collectible. NBA Top Shot is a crypto collectible that consumers can purchase as a non-fungible token (NFT). Each collectible is tied to a blockchain – a digital ledger similar to the blockchains used for digital currencies like Bitcoin. This effectively gives each NFT a unique and non-hackable Certificate of Authenticity. Even if someone makes a perfect copy of the highlight video, it is instantly recognizable as a fake.

Current “packs” for the game are only $ 9.00 – and they sell out all the time.

Caty Tedman, director of marketing and team partnerships at Dapper Labs, says Top Shots has had sales of more than $ 230 million to date, although most of that comes from dealers who exchange the collectibles after their first sale. Dapper earns revenue from fees charged through peer-to-peer transactions and from releasing new NFT packets.

“I find it fascinating,” said Tom Richardson, professor of digital media in Columbia University’s sports management program.

“It’s a nice development and good to see that people are still making collectibles during this time,” added Lars Rensing, CEO of the blockchain service provider Protokol. “It’s a new step into the future.”

The game has also become a new source of income for the NBA. And again it’s sold out.

In the new trading card model

Top Shots emerged from a licensing agreement that the NBA and its players’ union signed with Dapper Labs in 2019. The NBA did not provide any official commentary on this story, but Richardson, who was once head of publication for the National Football League, says the league can generate 10% to 15% of the revenue of a company that uses its intellectual property.

The NBA licenses the reels to dapper laps, which digitizes the footage and leaves a limited amount available to create scarcity. Some NFTs offer highlights in different angles and digital graphics. One is currently listed for over $ 240,000.

Mark Cuban, owner of Dallas Mavericks, compared Top Shot to the old-school model of trading cards, where consumers can have fun trading and collecting rare items – just without the risk of damage or theft. “And value is still determined by the same laws of supply and demand,” he wrote in January.

“Let Mark Cuban do it in a good, sensible, and easy-to-understand way,” said Richardson, also SVP of strategy at Mercury Intermedia. “So if enough people wanted the same Zion Williamson highlight, this NFT, and bid on it, they got up to $ 100,000, that’s supply and demand. Someone thought it was worth $ 100,000.”

The bet for dealers is that in 2051 a LeBron James NFT could be worth what a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card is worth today – one of those rare cards that recently sold for $ 5.2 million. And just imagine what a rare Michael Jordan rookie highlight NFT would sell in 30 years.

“We think it could be a 100 year old product,” said Tedman of Dapper Labs. “When you think about what the rookie cards are going to be worth today in the future, especially those from this point of view of the product. Everyone who participates now is really stepping onto the ground floor.”

By using the blockchain, says Richardson, Dapper overcomes a major challenge with digital assets, namely the ease of copying them infinitely many times without friction.

“One of the things that defined the digital age is that we have moved from a world of scarcity to a world of abundance with all kinds of media resources and products,” he added. “But what the trading card business is about is a physical scarcity of cards. That’s why (Dapper) created these NFTs with the idea of ​​scarcity combined with authenticity due to the way the blockchain works.”

With this asset, Dapper is positioning itself to benefit from a digitally controlled generation that values ​​digital assets as much as physical ones.

“The new generation is more digital,” said Rensing. “I think it will stay because it’s a solution that will also attract new fans and digital natives.”

Mobile game is coming this year

Earlier this month, Dapper raised $ 250 million and is now valued at $ 2 billion, in part thanks to Top Shot’s sudden popularity, according to digital asset research and news agency The Block.

With the funds, Dapper Cotinin will expand its blockchain flow. Tedman, one of the developers at Top Shot, said they now have around 350,000 registered users, claiming that Flow could better handle the capacity of a high-quality marketplace, which was causing problems with its CryptoKitties product.

“With this, we can reach a scale that other blockchain projects have not yet reached,” said Tedman. She said that of the $ 230 million in sales to date, 95% of consumers in the market who buy, sell and trade.

She said the company released 5,000 new packs of highlights this week as a stress test for Flow, and 90,000 people lined up to buy. The packs sold out quickly.

“They come in, collect, assemble what they think are good collections, buy and sell,” said Tedman. “It’s almost like putting together trading cards with the stock market. That is a game in itself before we release the mobile game.”

This mobile game, slated to launch this year, will allow consumers to create NBA-like rosters by purchasing NFT Moments and then entering online tournaments – and potentially winning rarer NFTs that can add in value.

“It can be an opportunity to have fun with your interest and love for a sport – basketball in this case – combined with your interest in new technology and financial experiences like cryptocurrency and NFTs,” said Richardson.

Saum Noursalehi is the CEO of technology company tZERO, a company that symbolizes the assets of private or public companies and builds the platform on which the assets can be traded. He sees a bright future for sports leagues using NFT licensing agreements and suggests that this is a model of how blockchain technology can be used to track and trade other types of assets.

Blockchain technology “will change the way we trade value today, how we trade assets,” said Noursalehi.

Tedman added, “We’re just getting started. We have a lot of big plans that we can’t wait to put in front of people.”

Let the new games begin as the digital age continues to take shape. However, participation in Dapper’s NBA Top Shot competition is currently sold out.

The CDC panel recommends utilizing J & J.’s single Covid vaccine.

Illustration of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine

Given Ruvic | Reuters

An advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unanimously voted on Sunday to recommend the use of Johnson & Johnson’s one-off Covid-19 vaccine for those ages 18 and older as the federal government prepares to serve millions of doses this week to send .

As soon as CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky accepts the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the federal government can begin shipping doses to locations across the country. The ACIP met in an emergency meeting to review the vaccine dates, which took place on Saturday became the third shot to receive emergency clearance from the Food and Drug Administration.

Walensky said Friday that she “would be ready to review the ACIP recommendation” and “be ready to sign”.

“We are very close to having another vaccine in our tool boxes, the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 Vaccine. Like many of you, I am pleased to hear that another safe and effective vaccine option could be coming as soon as next week “She said Friday. “An additional safe and effective vaccine will help protect more people, faster.”

Dr. Richard Nettles, vice president of medical affairs at J&J, told lawmakers Tuesday that the company was ready to ship nearly 4 million doses once it receives emergency approval. He added that the company expects to have 20 million cans ready by the end of March.

The introduction of the J&J shot could be a boon to the U.S. vaccine supply. While the new vaccine showed signs of being less effective at preventing Covid-19 in clinical trials when compared to Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, the J&J shot was 100% effective at preventing deaths and hospitalizations, caused by Covid-19 in clinical trials.

The level of protection of the J&J vaccine against Covid-19 in studies varied regionally, according to FDA documents released on Wednesday. About a month after inoculation, the shot showed 72% effectiveness in the US, 61% in Latin America and 64% in South Africa, where variant B.1.351 is spreading rapidly.

In particular, the FDA review found the vaccine was significantly less effective in people aged 60 and over who also had comorbidities like diabetes or heart disease. However, the agency found that the data was too sparse for any conclusions to be drawn.

In contrast, in clinical studies, Pfizer’s vaccine has been found to be 95% effective against Covid-19, while Moderna’s vaccine is around 94% effective. Infectious disease experts pointed out that J & J’s numbers cannot be used as a head-to-head comparison with the other two vaccines because it is a single dose and the company’s study was conducted when more infections, as well as new, more contagious variants occurred.

However, federal health officials have indicated that the one-off J&J regime offers unique logistical benefits that could make it ideal for hard-to-reach populations.

J & J’s vaccine “makes it easier to use in many contexts,” said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases of the CDC, told the Journal of the American Medical Association during a question and answer session Friday. “I suspect that much of the national health consideration given to these vaccines is more about the ease of use of the J&J vaccine and how it might be better suited to some populations.”

J&J has announced that it will ship the vaccine, which contains five doses per vial, at 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit. In comparison, Pfizer’s vaccine typically has to be stored in ultra-cold freezers, which are between minus 112 and minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit. However, the FDA recently announced that it could be stored in pharmacies for up to two weeks at standard freezing temperatures. Moderna vaccine must be shipped at 13 to 5 degrees above zero Fahrenheit.

– CNBC’s Berkeley Lovelace contributed to this report.

Rachael Kirkconnell reacts to Rachel Lindsay leaving Instagram

The bachelor star Rachael Kirkconnell defended Rachel Lindsay After The Bachelorette alum left Instagram, Bachelor Nation fans were upset over a controversial interview with the host Chris Harrison and his temporary exit from the franchise.

The conversation between Lindsay and Harrison centered on resurfaced photos of Kirkconnell attending an antebellum-themed party that sparked online allegations of racism. Several stars of the Bachelor Nation have gathered behind Lindsay, who bombarded many fans with hateful messages about their role in the interview and also blamed Harrison’s exit. On Saturday, February 27, Kirkconnell joined them.

“You have an opportunity to make a positive difference, use your energy to make change and come together and see what’s right at a time like this,” she wrote on Instagram. “If you choose to spread hatred, send cruel, malicious messages, be angry at people who are hurt by racism … do better. Be better. Rachel Lindsay and other BIPOC have called for that I and others will be held accountable. This is necessary and she does not deserve the hatred she receives. “

Cuomo agrees to an impartial investigation into allegations of sexual harassment

Andrew Cuomo, New York Governor, speaks to reporters during a press conference at a COVID-19 pop-up vaccination center in the William Reid Apartments in Brooklyn, New York City, the United States, on Jan. 23, 2021.

Mary Altaffer | Reuters

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday withdrew his plan to appoint a former federal judge who is in close contact with one of the governor’s top advisors to oversee an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against him.

The Cuomo administration said it would ask New York attorney general Letitia James and Janet DiFiore, the chief justice of the state’s highest court, to decide who will oversee an independent investigation. The decision would help “avoid even perceiving a lack of independence or inferring politics,” Cuomo’s special adviser Beth Garvey said in a statement.

“We will leave all decisions regarding the investigation at the discretion of the independent attorney chosen by the Attorney General and the Chief Justice,” Garvey said.

James said in a statement on Sunday that she was ready to oversee an investigation and make any necessary appointments. However, she said this can only be done through an official referral from the governor’s office and must include subpoena powers.

“I urge the governor to make this transfer immediately,” said James.

The governor’s reversal came after a number of Democrats criticized the governor’s initial decision to conduct a review and called for an independent investigation into the allegations after a second aide came forward to allege sexual harassment against Cuomo. Some Democratic lawmakers also joined some Republicans in urging Cuomo to resign immediately.

Cuomo’s office initially said it would select former federal judge Barbara Jones to lead the review. Jones had worked with Cuomo’s top advisor, Steven Cohen.

The calls for an independent investigation follow a New York Times report released Saturday night describing the allegations made by Charlotte Bennett, a 25-year-old former aide to the governor, who said Cuomo asked her about her sex life and whether she did it was monogamous in relationships and had ever “been with an older man”.

It was the second allegation against the governor in a week. Former adjutant Lindsey Boylan, a former state economic development officer, released detailed information about sexual harassment against Cuomo last week, including a kiss without her consent in his Manhattan office. Cuomo has denied Boylan’s allegations.

Cuomo responded to Bennett’s allegations in a statement on Saturday, saying he intended to act as a mentor and “never make any progress on Ms. Bennett, nor did I ever intend to act in an inappropriate manner”.

Pressure from democrats

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Cuomo should undergo an independent review of both allegations in an interview on CNN on Sunday. President Joe Biden supports this and “we believe we should move forward as soon as possible”.

A spokesman for Senator Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said the Senator believes the allegations “should be investigated thoroughly and independently.” Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, DN.Y., also called for an “independent, transparent and prompt investigation into these grave and deeply worrying allegations.”

MP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., along with other Democrats, called for an independent investigation into the governor, led not by someone chosen by Cuomo, but by the Attorney General.

“Lindsey Boylan and Charlotte Bennett’s detailed reports of sexual harassment by Governor Cuomo are extremely serious and painful to read,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a tweet on Sunday morning. “There needs to be an independent investigation – not one led by someone chosen by the governor, but by the attorney general.”

The new allegations also come after a January report that the Cuomo government failed to report thousands of Covid-19 deaths in state nursing homes.

New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio, a Democrat, said Sunday that Cuomos state lawmakers must immediately revoke emergency powers overriding local scrutiny and called for two separate independent investigations into the sexual misconduct allegations and the undercounting Deaths in nursing homes.

“New Yorkers have seen detailed, documented reports of sexual harassment, multiple cases of intimidation and admitted withholding of information about the deaths of over 15,000 people,” De Blasio said in a statement. “Questions of this magnitude cannot hang over their heads as New Yorkers fight a pandemic and economic crisis.”

New York State Senator Alessandra Biaggi praised the two women for their allegations and called on the governor to step down in a statement posted on Twitter Saturday night.

“The harassment of these former employees is part of a clear pattern of abuse and manipulation by the governor, and that pattern makes him unworthy of the highest office in New York,” wrote Biaggi.

Republicans again urged Cuomo to resign after the second allegation, including MP Elise Stefanik, RN.Y., who described the governor as a “criminal sexual predator” in a statement on Saturday and said he should resign immediately.

All three extremely efficient Covid vaccines urge folks to take an out there shot

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a press conference at the White House in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on January 21, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Alex Wong | Getty Images

The Chief Medical Officer of the White House, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday he would be taking the newly approved Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine and urged Americans to take the available shot if they are eligible.

The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday approved J & J’s vaccine, giving the US a third tool to fight the pandemic after vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer. The company expects to ship 20 million cans by the end of March.

“All three of them are really pretty good, and people should go for the one that is best available to them,” Fauci said on NBC’s Meet the Press.

“If you go to a place and have J&J, and that’s the one that’s available now, I’d take it,” Fauci said. “Personally, I would do the same. I think people need to be vaccinated as soon and as quickly as possible.”

The J&J vaccine is different from the others in that it is a single dose and patients do not have to return for a second dose. It can be stored at refrigerator temperature for months. The shot has shown an overall effectiveness of 66%, 72% in the USA and 57% in South Africa, where variant B.1.351 has spread rapidly.

Although the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines showed higher efficacy rates in two-dose studies compared to J & J’s single-dose vaccine, Fauci insisted that the J&J shot isn’t a weaker vaccine, and the trial data shouldn’t be for the three Shots are compared as they were tested at different times.

“You must now have three highly effective vaccines,” said Fauci. “There is no doubt about that.”

As the country sees a decline in new coronavirus cases and an improvement in vaccination rates, Fauci warned states to relax restrictions on pandemics prematurely, which could lead to a renewed spike in infections.

Cases have dropped from 300,000 a day to around 70,000, a baseline that’s still too high, Fauci said.

“We don’t want to keep preventing people from doing what they want. But let’s get to a good level,” Fauci told CBS ‘Face the Nation. “Let’s vaccinate a lot more people. And then you could withdraw these kinds of public health measures.”

“But right now that we are going under and reaching a plateau, it is not time to declare victory because we are not yet victorious,” he said.

Unique: Queen Naija steps into the shadow room to speak about her ex, family cleansing preferences, and extra! (Video)

Queen Naija

Roommate, Queen Naija is known for sharing her personal life with her fans – and she decided to keep that energy with us during our final installment in our Keep It 100 series. While Queen Naija enjoyed a little shopping therapy, she kept her updated on a variety of hot topics, including her relationship with her ex, Chris Sails and more.

Queen Naija and Chris Sails haven’t had the smoothest transition to parenting, so we had to ask her how she feels about it when he comments on practically everything she does on social media. She says she’s mostly undisturbed, but it seems like she’ll let him know when he crosses the line.

Queen was a little more carefree when we asked her how and what she likes about her housekeeping. She let us know that when she was washing clothes or dishes, she was more than ready to blow up foam – but only by hand.

“I always hand wash them and always add bleach to my water. I might make some little caps of bleach and like the regular dish soap and stuff. I just grew up in a household where my mom said, “Just use bleach in the water.”

She also gave us tea about her upcoming deluxe album, which will hopefully include a collaboration with fellow artist Ari Lennox – which makes the ladies compete against each other.

You can watch the full episode of ‘Keep It 100’ starring Queen Naija on our official YouTube channel!

Would you like tea right in your inbox? Visit us at 917-722-8057 or click here to join!

To save lots of democracy and obtain unity, the Senate Democrats should kill the filibuster

Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz spoke at the Conservative Political Alliance (CPAC) conference last Friday about the objections they had raised to the typically superficial and ritual Senate endorsement of the election that confirmed Joe Biden’s election as president . These objections undoubtedly contributed to Trump’s months of inciting the rioters who murderously besieged the nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6.

I’m not going anywhere, “Hawley told the audience. “I thought it was an important point of view.”

Cruz even went so far as to downplay the real threat the murderous mob posed to Congressmen, staff, police, and other Capitol workers. He mocked Rep Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s expressions of fear and effectively ignored the mob’s screams to lynch Mike Pence and kill Nancy Pelosi.

And of course, they’re not alone, along with Republican Senator Johnson, who continues to claim the violent protests were led by fake Trump supporters, let alone the vast majority of senators who refused to talk to Trump in recent hearings impeachment and the many who continue to spread the conspiracy theory that Trump’s election was stolen.

One of the many conclusions that we draw from this behavior and must emphatically underline is that political unity between these parties is not possible in view of the strongly, indeed diametrically opposed positions which the parties themselves have taken with regard to our democratic system.

The Republicans have made it clear in their behavior that they oppose democracy and have used all means to undermine democracy in order to secure the power of the US government. For example, they continue to pursue their historically aggressive agendas of wandering and voter repression. So far, since the elections in November last year, the GOP legislators in 28 states have tabled over 100 bills to restrict access to voting.

You are far from lovers of democracy.

By and large, they along with Trump advanced the conspiracy theory that all federal court officials, including Trump-appointed judges, local officials, voting machine manufacturers, and postal workers, worked shamefully together to steal Trump’s election. This theory rests on the premise that Republican governors like Brian Kemp of Georgia and Dough Ducey of Arizona, both Trump supporters, as well as Trump-appointed federal judges, Republican secretaries of state, Mitch McConnell and others, are all involved in the lies. Only Trump, documented as a notorious pathological liar, can be believed.

They want power, not representative democracy. They don’t care that the majority of Americans support the increase in the minimum wage. They don’t care that the majority of Americans desperately want and need a COVID relief package. They have no desire to represent the interests and needs of the American people just to impose their own moral and economic vision on Americans.

You have not behaved like a party to law and order based on the rule of law. They behave like a party of anarchic autocrats trying to enforce a republican order that is largely shaped by hatred, regardless of the will and desires of the American people, especially LGBTQ people, colored people, immigrants, workers, women, disabled people and people who practice religions other than Christianity and more.

Democrats tend to honor the democratic system and to work to maintain and expand its functioning so that they refrain from taking power, respect and privilege the system over the interests of gaining political power in order to push through and enforce their own agenda.

Given these different attitudes – and actions – towards democracy itself, political unity is not possible.

Political unity, however, is different from national unity. A government that promotes national unity is arguably a government that works to serve the lives and needs of all Americans.

Since Republicans have no interest in this type of national unity, as evidenced by their opposition to Biden’s COVID relief package and the minimum wage increase, both of which are largely supported by the American people, we can see that a political unity, a garbled compromise, between Democrats and Republicans would, in fact, undermine Biden’s genuine efforts to unite the nation.

And therefore, Democrats need to use the mechanisms that the democratic system provides to get rid of the filibuster.

The spirit of the filibuster, a mechanism that effectively means that Senate legislation must earn 60 votes to pass instead of getting a simple majority, has been to suggest, yes, insist on a political compromise.

However, compromise is not necessarily the spirit of democracy, especially when that political compromise results in the will and needs of the American people being crossed and disregarded.

The democrats are fully in their rights and would play within the rules of our democracy to eliminate the filibuster. Mitch McConnell was perfectly happy to eliminate the Filibuster in 2017 when it came down to ratifying Supreme Court justices. That’s a pretty big deal. These nine people exercise an incredible amount of decision-making power over the lives of Americans.

Certainly we can allow 51 elected officials to make decisions about important laws that affect millions of lives, such as whether or not the minimum wage should be increased.

As Democratic Senator Brian Schatz stated in a tweet, “The filibuster was never in the constitution, largely a coincidence, and has been used in the past to block civil rights. It’s time to toss the Jim Crow Filibuster in the trash. “

In short, the filibuster was a Senate instrument that was typically used to disrupt democracy rather than enable it.

It has shorted out the Senate’s ability to legislate on behalf of the majority of Americans as elected representatives to honor their will.

If Democrats want to save democracy and work towards unity, they must remove the filibuster obstacle.

Rest assured that the American people will not greet and re-elect the Democrats for keeping this mechanism of fruitless and mangled compromise. You will accuse them of not serving them, honoring their will, and acting to meet their needs.

Tim Libretti is a professor of American literature and culture at a Chicago state university. A longtime progressive voice, he has published numerous academic and journalistic articles on culture, class, race, gender, and politics, for which he has received awards from the Working Class Studies Association, the International Labor Communications Association, and the National Federation of Press Women and the Illinois Woman’s Press Association.

In keeping with CDC research, Israeli information means that mass vaccinations resulted in a lower in extreme Covid instances

An Israeli health worker from Maccabi Healthcare Services prepares to administer a dose of the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine in Tel Aviv on February 24, 2021.

Jack Guez | AFP | Getty Images

Data from Israel, which vaccinated the vast majority of its elderly population with the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, suggests that mass vaccination has prevented people from getting seriously ill, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While clinical studies have shown the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine to be 95% effective at preventing Covid-19, the Israeli data provide early insight into the vaccine’s effectiveness in an uncontrolled, real-world setting.

The study, published Friday in the CDC’s weekly report on morbidity and mortality, found that among the most vaccinated portion of the Israeli population, the percentage of patients requiring ventilation has dropped dramatically, suggesting a reduction in the serious illness.

“Taken together, these results suggest a reduced rate of severe COVID-19 after vaccination,” wrote researchers from Ben Gurion University in the Negev, Tel Aviv University and Maccabi Healthcare Services.

Israel launched its national vaccination campaign in December, prioritizing people aged 60 and over, healthcare workers and people with comorbid illnesses. By February, according to the researchers, 84% of the population aged 70 and over had been fully immunized with the Pfizer-BioNTech two-shot vaccine. Only 10% of the population under the age of 50 had been vaccinated at any one time, the researchers said.

The researchers compared the number of Covid-19 patients aged 70 and over who needed a mechanical ventilator with those under 50 who needed a ventilator. The researchers said they needed a ventilator, a medical tool that helps patients breathe, to measure severe Covid-19.

Between October and February, the number of patients aged 70 and over who needed a ventilator decreased. At the same time, the number of people under the age of 50, a generally unvaccinated population, who needed a ventilator, the study found. The country began using gunshots on mostly elderly people on December 20. A second round of shooting followed three weeks later.

The researchers noted some limitations to the study. Israel put in place a strict national stay-at-home order on Jan. 8, weeks after the vaccination campaign began, which could have resulted in a decline in seriously ill patients who would have needed ventilators. The introduction of new variants of the coronavirus could also have affected the data.

The researchers said their results are preliminary, “important evidence of the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing severe cases of COVID-19 at the national level in Israel”.

“Getting COVID-19 vaccines to eligible individuals can help limit the spread of disease and potentially reduce the incidence of serious diseases,” they write.

Well being professionals are deeply involved

A passenger wearing a face mask shows an employee her passport and boarding pass at a security checkpoint at El Dorado International Airport in Bogota on September 1, 2020.

DANIEL MUNOZ | AFP | Getty Images

LONDON – Public health officials and civil liberties organizations are calling on policymakers to oppose calls for coronavirus vaccine passports at a time when many countries are considering adopting digital passports.

The US, UK and European Union are among other things considering introducing a digital passport that citizens can use to prove they have been vaccinated against Covid-19.

The certificate system can be used for travel abroad as well as for access to venues such as restaurants and bars.

It is believed that a digital passport could contribute to an economic recovery as countries prepare to ease public health measures in the coming weeks. The ailing aviation industry, which was particularly badly affected by the spread of the virus last year, is calling on governments, among other things, to introduce laws that support Covid vaccination certificates.

However, doctors and rights groups are deeply concerned.

Dr. Deepti Gurdasani, clinical epidemiologist at Queen Mary University in London, told CNBC over the phone that vaccination records could be inadvertently used to give “false assurances” to vacationers.

“I can see that they might be useful in the longer term, but I have some concerns that if I think the scientific evidence doesn’t support them at this point, I have some concerns that they will be considered. And there are many ethical concerns about me consider that to be legitimate, “Gurdasani said on Thursday.

Amid these scientific concerns, Gurdasani said it was clear that the protection offering for coronavirus vaccines was “far from complete” and “we know very little about the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing infections or even asymptomatic diseases different variants circulating in different countries. “

In addition, most countries do not have sufficient access to vaccines to immunize their populations, and Gurdasani warned that a certification system similar to vaccination passports would “further” discriminate against these populations.

Vacation plans

President Joe Biden outlined a 200-page national strategy for a coronavirus pandemic on his first full day in office last month. The plan included guideline for several government agencies to evaluate “the feasibility” of linking Covid shots to international vaccination certificates and creating digital versions of them.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also ordered a vaccine passport review while the European Council will meet on Thursday to discuss the next steps in introducing and moving vaccines across the EU across the 27-nation bloc.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets 11th grade students during a visit to Accrington Academy on February 25, 2021 in Lancaster, England. (Photo by Anthony Devlin – WPA Pool / Getty Images)

Anthony Devlin | WPA pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images

With the International Air Travel Association, which represents around 290 airlines from all over the world, more and more airlines have registered for the so-called IATA Travel Pass. The initiative is designed to help passengers manage their travel plans and provide evidence to airlines and governments that they have been vaccinated or tested for Covid-19.

In a letter from EURACTIV, IATA reportedly called on the EU leaders’ meeting on Thursday to approve vaccination records and reach an agreement “on the critical role of secure digital solutions like the IATA passport”. IATA wasn’t immediately available for comment when it was contacted by CNBC on Thursday.

The World Health Organization is currently not interested in vaccination certificates. In a statement released Jan. 28, WHO officials said governments should “not introduce requirements for proof of vaccination or immunity for international travel as a condition of entry” at this time.

The United Nations Health Department added, “There are still critical unknowns about the effectiveness of vaccination in reducing transmission and the limited availability of vaccines.”

“What happens to everyone else?”

A report released last month by the Economist Intelligence Unit forecast that most of the adult populations in advanced economies would be vaccinated by the middle of next year. In contrast, this period extends to early 2023 for many middle-income countries and even until 2024 for some low-income countries.

It highlights the large gap between high and low income countries when it comes to access to vaccines.

“These so-called passports claim they will ensure that those who can prove they have coronavirus immunity can get back to normal life. Which begs the question – what happens to everyone else?” Liberty, the UK’s largest civil liberties organization, said in a press release earlier this month.

Airport workers unload a shipment of Covid-19 vaccines from Covax’s global Covid-19 vaccination program at Kotoka International Airport in Accra on February 24, 2021.

NIPAH DENNIS | AFP | Getty Images

“There are innumerable proposals for immunity passports around. Some suggest that their use would be limited to international travel – others are less specific. In the meantime, various technologies have been introduced, from QR codes to apps and physical cards,” he said the explanation continues.

“One thing that every proposal has overlooked is that it is impossible to have immunity passports that don’t lead to human rights abuses.”

Big Brother Watch, a UK-based rights and democracy group, also warned against the use of vaccination cards, citing implications for privacy and freedom of movement, among other things.

What happens next?

In a report published February 14 by the Science in Emergencies Tasking: Covid-19 (SET-C) group of the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science, university professors outlined 12 questions that needed to be met To achieve this, provide a vaccination certificate.

This included: taking into account the differences between vaccines in terms of their effectiveness and changes in effectiveness against newly emerging Covid variants, international standardization, security of personal data, compliance with legal standards and compliance with ethical standards.

“Understanding what a vaccination card can be used for is a fundamental question – is it literally a passport to allow international travel, or could it be used domestically to give holders greater freedom?” Professor Melinda Mills, director of the Leverhulme Center for Demographic Science at Oxford University, said in the report.

“We need a wider discussion of various aspects of a vaccination record, from the science of immunity to privacy to technical challenges and the ethics and legality of its use,” said Mills.

Josh Silverman, Etsy CEO, on how the corporate grew after Covid

Josh Silverman, Etsy CEO, told CNBC on Friday that no one knows what will happen to the coronavirus pandemic this year, but he hopes the company will “outperform e-commerce as a whole”.

“Neither of us have a crystal ball,” Silverman said on Squawk Box, the day after the online market posted much better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and sales.

Etsy was a big beneficiary of the stay-at-home economy during Covid.

“If I look at 2020, e-commerce has grown at a crazy rate. E-commerce has grown over 40% year-over-year, and yet Etsy has grown 2.5 times the e-commerce rate” , he said.

“I don’t know what ecommerce will do in 2021,” he admitted, but added, “I hope and believe that Etsy can continue to outperform ecommerce overall.”

Etsy revenue for full year 2020 was $ 1.73 billion, up 111% year over year, while net income increased 264% to $ 349 million. Gross merchandise sales in the company’s marketplace – known for its independent artisans who sell a range of products – rose to $ 10.28 billion last year. That’s an increase of $ 4.97 billion in 2019.

The company declined to issue full-year projections due to the pandemic and instead offered them quarterly. For the current first quarter, Etsy expects sales between 513 and 536 million US dollars, which is significantly better than the 383 million US dollars expected by Wall Street.

In a conference call following the profit on Thursday, Silverman told analysts that Etsy had met its 2023 business goals three years ahead of schedule after the pandemic accelerated online shopping adoption and demand for essentially new product categories in its market like Face masks.

Silverman told CNBC that when looking at Etsy’s position after Covid, he saw two competing forces. On the positive side, millions of people who typically shopped in brick and mortar stores prior to the pandemic have started buying goods online. On the flip side, he said retail will make up a smaller portion of consumer spending as a full economic reopening occurs and more people eat and travel in restaurants again.

“What I don’t know – and what I don’t know that any of us know – is what will happen to overall consumer spending as restrictions wear off,” said Silverman. “What I do know is that if you look long-term, if you look to 2022 and 2023 and beyond, e-commerce just keeps getting bigger and I think we’re getting bigger and bigger.”

Etsy stocks rose 9% just after Friday open. The company’s shares are up nearly 300% in the past 12 months.