Irish Report Finds 9,000 Infants Died In Unwed Mother Homes
Ireland's prime minister responded to the report by saying "We did this to ourselves, we treated women exceptionally badly." News is on covid developments, as well.
The Wall Street Journal:
Irish Inquiry Finds 9,000 Infants Died In Homes For Unwed Mothers
More than 9,000 infants died in homes for unmarried mothers in Ireland between the 1920s and the 1990s, many run by Catholic religious orders, a long-awaited inquiry concluded after years of campaigning from survivors and their offspring. In some years during the 1930s and 1940s, the report said, more than 40% of the children in the mother-and-baby homes were dying before their first birthday, high mortality rates often known to the government and local authorities. (Fidler, 1/12)
NBC News:
9,000 Children Died In Irish Mother-And-Baby Homes, Report Finds
The nearly 3,000-page report describes the emotional and even physical abuse some of the 56,000 unmarried mothers — from farmhands to domestic servants — were subjected to in the so-called mother-and-baby homes.
"It appears that there was little kindness shown to them and this was particularly the case when they were giving birth," the report said. The homes, many run by nuns and members of the Roman Catholic Church, operated in Ireland for most of the 20th century, with the last home closing as recently as 1998. They received state funding and also acted as adoption agencies — with many of the children adopted to families in the United States. (Talmazan, Suliman and Skinner, 1/12)
NBC News:
She Was A 'Guinea Pig' In An Irish Institution. Now She's Hoping For Justice.
Four decades after she left the Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork, Ireland, Mari Steed made a horrifying discovery. While there as an infant, she had been part of what she calls a “highly unethical” vaccine trial. Starting at 5 months old, Steed was vaccinated at least three times with an experimental shot to prevent diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and polio, her medical records, which she shared with NBC News, revealed. Steed, now 60, later learned the vaccine was administered without the knowledge of her birth mother, with whom she lived for the first 18 months of her life at Bessborough. (Chuck and Skinner, 1/12)
In other global news —
Bloomberg:
Drugmakers Push Back on U.K. Plan to Stretch Out Vaccine Doses
Global drugmakers added to doubts raised about Britain’s strategy for giving Covid-19 vaccines to as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. Industry groups representing pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. and Europe on Wednesday joined the top medicines regulators in both markets in questioning any moves to alter the timing or dosage of Covid-19 shots in a bid to stretch supplies. “The biopharmaceutical industry supports adhering to the dosing that has been assessed in clinical trials,” according to their statement. Any changes from approved vaccine dosing and schedules “should follow the science and be based on a transparent deliberation of the available data.” (Paton, 1/13)
Bloomberg:
Mexico Posts Largest Daily Increase In Covid-19 Deaths
Mexico reported the highest daily increase in Covid-19 deaths after breaking its own record last week with the government struggling to contain the current outbreak. Deaths reached 1,314 on Tuesday, the single highest increase apart from Oct. 5, when health authorities adjusted their way of calculating fatalities from the novel coronavirus. Mexico, which has the fourth-highest death toll from the virus, now counts 135,682 fatalities and 1,556,028 cases. The nation’s capital has seen a surge in hospitalizations, and Mexico City will remain on the highest Covid alert over the coming days, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said last week. (Orozco, 1/13)
In news about Ebola —
CIDRAP:
Group Creates Global Ebola Vaccine Stockpile
Public health officials have a new tool to combat Ebola, which kills about half of the people it infects: a global vaccine stockpile. In a news release today, the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision said the effort will allow countries, with the support of humanitarian organizations, to mitigate future outbreaks quickly. This is the ICG's fourth stockpile, following ones created to combat yellow fever, meningitis, and cholera outbreaks. (McLernon, 1/12)
