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Oh, the books you'll stop printing!

» Dr. Seuss Enterprises pulls some of their books that have been accused of racism

Luana Ross
Contributor

 

1D: Seuss Enterprises decided to

pull several Dr. Seuss books out of
publishing because of imagery that has
been called racist appearing within the
children’s books. Some have mistaken
Biden as the preparator for this recent book
banning. A Facebook post stating “Trump
took down ISIS, Biden took down Dr. Seuss
and Mr. Potato Head” was circulated on
the social media platform. This is not true,
and neither is the term “book banning”
appropriate for this instance.

The well-known and well-loved
children’s author makes the second most
money out of all dead celebrities. Seuss’
organization cites a preservation of the
late writer’s legacy as the main driver in
stopping the print of those specific books,
and the enterprise mentions that a panel
of academics and teachers were consulted
in this decision in their statement. They
state that are “committed to action” and
acknowledge that depictions of certain
people in Seuss’ books are “hurtful and
wrong.” Even though the organization says
these actions are only part of their larger
plan, Dr. Seuss Enterprises has yet to take
their other heavily criticized titles out of

circulation—like breadwinner The Cat in
the Hat. The book is consistently one of
Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ best sellers and is
a constant focus for criticism—so much
so that Was the Cat in the Hat Black? The

  

Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature, and
the Need for Diverse Books was written and
published in 2017.

And on the topic of best sellers,
after the controversy broke out, Dr. Seuss

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and |

Photo by Arnaldo Fragozo

books monopolized the best-seller spots

in the book section of Amazon. Classics
like The Cat in the Hat consistently held
first place. USA TODAY also put The Cat

at the top of their best-selling book list. A
list of the all-time best-selling children’s
literature in Publishers Weekly from 2001
features Seuss several times but does not
spotlight any of the pulled titles. Other top
lists of children’s books found the out-of-
circulation books to be absent as well. A
Publishers Weekly article from this year
highlights that Seuss books consistently
experience a bump in sales during this time
of year as Dr Seuss’ March 2 birthday is also
a holiday: National Read Across America
Day. The publishers use Seuss’ birthday to
promote his books. The press release about
taking the books out of circulation was
published on March 2.

In response to this change, people
have also been trying to upsell their old
copies of the books that are now out
of print. Popular marketplace website
eBay saw people trying to sell hardcover
copies of If I Ran the Zoo climb to
$5,000. A spokesperson for eBay said the
website was trying to unlist these books
but several of the transactions went
through regardless.

Comparing coronavirus vaccines

» There will be a vaccine for everyone

Jerrison Oracion
Senior Columnist

 

year after the World Health

Organization declared the coronavirus
outbreak as a pandemic, many people
are starting to get vaccinated after the
first vaccine was found and approved in
England three months ago. Since then,
more vaccines have been made available.
Despite the fact that there were fewer
shipments in Canada during the early
months because of factory renovations
and vaccines going through the approval
process, it is now starting to speed up.
Four vaccines have been approved so far,
and they have different efficacy rates—and
some of them need special refrigeration.

What they all have in common is that
they work, and each vaccine can be used
for a specific age group. You are probably
wondering which vaccine to get, and it
is recommended to get the vaccine that
is offered to you—and Provincial Health
Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry agrees with this
as she mentioned it in a press conference.
Most of the vaccines require two doses
including the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines
(which are mRNA vaccines).

AmRNA vaccine is a new type of
vaccine where cells give instructions on
how to make spike proteins to boost the

 

immune system against the virus. The
cells are protected by a lipid nanoparticle
to allow it to get inside the body. The
Pfizer vaccine (which is developed with
Germany’s BioNTech) and the Moderna
vaccine both have an efficacy rate of 95

 

percent and can be used for anyone 18 years
and older. Currently, the Pfizer vaccine
must be stored at very cold temperatures,
but they are currently developing a

version of it that can be stored in regular
refrigerator temperatures like the Moderna

vaccine.

Two vaccines that are like the Moderna
vaccine are the AstraZeneca and Johnson
and Johnson vaccines which were recently
approved. In the AstraZeneca vaccine,
which is developed with Oxford University,
a non-replicating viral vector uses a
coronavirus gene to boost the immune
system. The vector is delivered in the form
of an adenovirus which is a live virus.

The National Advisory Committee on
Immunization currently recommends that
the AstraZeneca vaccine be only given to
those who are under 64 years old though
other countries recommend that it can
be given to everyone. The Johnson and
Johnson vaccine being recently approved
on March 5 sped up the amount of people
being vaccinated as it only needs one dose.
Although the efficacy rate of both vaccines
are 66 percent, it is more effective in elderly
patients when they are being hospitalized.

All the vaccines only focus on the
originating version of the virus but can
also protect from various variants of
the coronavirus through booster shots.
Everyone in the province is starting to get
vaccinated and with more vaccines arriving
and being approved, there is a possible
chance that the pandemic will end this
summer.