Big Pharma uses Jubilee to scare pilgrims with Covid
The Jubilee is a golden opportunity to scare pilgrims: Pfizer campaigns to encourage swabbing. But Covid-19 is still only an emergency in the interests of Big Pharma. And because the pandemic has taught us that fear is half the battle.
'Taking part in the Jubilee, beware of Covid-19'. This is more or less the appeal that is appearing in many Italian newspapers these days in the form of an advertising campaign. Pfizer is behind it and, with the support of the main medical associations, is launching a massive advertising campaign to warn pilgrims of the risks of Covid-19. And given that Pfizer is the leading Big Pharma company in the production of the Covid-19 vaccine, it's natural to think that this is precisely an attempt to remind pilgrims to get vaccinated, also considering the spectre of the 35 million pilgrims expected to visit Rome during the Holy Year.
The Daily Compass was prophetic when it warned last December that the opening of the Holy Doors: viruses will remain the main cause of fear during the Jubilee. “Health terrorism finds its next victim: the Jubilee". This was the title of an article by doctor Paolo Gulisano, in which we reported on the catastrophic appeals of the usual Virostar. Now that winter is over, we can assume that most of the risk of respiratory illness is behind us, at least until late autumn. So there are two seasons, spring and summer, when Rome receives its greatest influx of tourists and pilgrims.
What better opportunity to return and resurrect the spectre of Covid-19, which seems to be more alive in someone else's interests than in nature itself?
So Pfizer is launching a massive campaign, currently appearing in the newspapers. But it's not stopping at the press, it's investing in the entire public transport system of the Eternal City; metro, buses and local trains.
The Jubilee doesn't happen every day", read the footnote on a page of the Rome news section of Il Messaggero newspaper last Monday. Subtitled: 'Don't let Covid-19 and other respiratory infections get in your way'. The message is clear, and the pharmaceutical company itself makes it explicit on its website: More than 35 million people from all over the world are expected in Rome during the Jubilee Year, an important event that many have been waiting for and want to experience in safety. The large number of tourists and pilgrims could cause health problems if adequate attention is not paid to preventing the risk of infectious diseases, and in situations of risk we can't just 'wait and hope'".
It really does seem that the idea that large influxes of people inevitably equate to large influxes of disease has now taken hold. With such bogeymen, some pilgrims may decide to stay at home, but that is clearly not what the gentlemen are worried about.
What is important is the unavoidable smear test, which has been revived and is a condition sine qua non for the granting of the Jubilee Indulgence. Confession is important, but the certainty of not being infected by a virus is even more important.
Hence the idea," continues the Pfizer press release, "to launch a campaign to make the population, Roman citizens and others, aware of the need to pay attention to any respiratory symptoms, to carry out a smear test in case of suspicion and to contact their doctor or pharmacist for appropriate advice.
The Pfizer initiative has been supported by Cittadinanzattiva, Federfarma, FIMMG, FOFI and SIMG.
It goes without saying that the fantastic tampon will might replace the rosary in the pilgrim's bag. And for those who want to be even safer, there is the vaccine. Never mind that even the walls of Trastevere have realised that the vaccine doesn't stop any infection from spreading: the medium is the message, and if advertising says so, there must be some truth in it.
So it must mean something that, two years after the end of the pandemic, such huge resources are being invested to continue to send the message that Covid-19 is still a danger and that we need to protect ourselves.
It's the remnants of a situation that hasn't been resolved since the pandemic: the virus is enemy number one, follow the instructions so as not to ruin the party. Fear, suspicion, the unstoppable desire to communicate that we will never get rid of Covid-19, is the veiled blackmail that continues to be spread with the support of the institutions. The important thing is to frighten people into thinking that something (awful) is going to happen.
The advertising campaign is not motivated by any risk, even a feared one, or by concrete reports of an epidemic of whatever kind, otherwise the World Health Organisation would have already 'annoyed' us with various alarms and warnings. No, even when there are no particular risks, we must remain vigilant, because it is precisely when there are no risks that we must remind citizens, and especially pilgrims, that life is fleeting. And it doesn't take much to ruin it.
A message from a bird of ill omen, contrary to the spirit of the Jubilee, which is instead a very elevated form of trust in God and hope, looking more to the next world than to this one. But they don't know what hope is. Assuming, and I do not admit this, that they are not thinking of the former health minister of the same name, another person who loved to use these fear tactics and who would like to wallow in them today.
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