Trujillo

Speaking of the Chinese vaccines....

Today, the Wall Street Journal reports that the “Seychelles, which has vaccinated a higher proportion of its population against coronavirus than any other country, is struggling to contain a new surge in COVID-19 infections, raising questions about the effectiveness of a Chinese shot the island nation has administered to the majority of its vaccinated residents . . . According to the health ministry, more than one third of new active cases are people who are fully vaccinated. Authorities in the Seychelles haven’t said how many of those cases arose among people vaccinated with the Chinese shot.”

The thing is though, the signs have been there all along.

As I noted last week, the Chinese government insists that the COVID-19 pandemic effectively ended in their country last February, that their deaths and case numbers have been astoundingly low since early last spring, and that none of the variants have had any impact on their country in any significant way.

The Chinese government is so committed to this narrative that it said it could not conduct the usual testing of the effectiveness of the vaccines, because the virus was so rare in China: “China’s vaccines have had to be trialed elsewhere because the country didn’t have enough transmission itself to conduct them, says George Gao, who heads the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing.” As of this date, there is still no public large-scale trial results of the Sinopharm or SinoVac vaccines among the Chinese people.

Source: 

chinas-unreliable-covid-vaccines-are-under-fire

"And many boos for the idiots who say it is not effecting younger people..."

Uh...okay: 

I don't know where the prescription-filling doctor at  Banglamung hospital gets his information, but if the OP happens to have a link to support this claim, I am quite interested to read about it. This smacks of ill-informed, scaremongering to me. 

More to the point, variants can be more infectious, but less deadly. This would explain the uptick in cases, and an uptick in deaths, as the newer strain makes its way into previously unaffected, aged folks with comorbidities. 

"The Covid-19 variant that emerged in the U.K. and became the dominant strain in the U.S. isn’t as deadly as earlier research indicated, although it’s confirmed to be faster-spreading than other versions, according to a study."

Bloomberg -- dominant-variant-not-as-deadly-as-feared-study-finds

"Two new British studies suggest that the B.1.1.7 variant is more transmissible than the original COVID-19 variants; however, it does not appear to be more deadly or cause more severe symptoms."

ABC News --  B.1.1.7 covid-variant more transmissible but appears less deadly

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I assume this is the CoronaVac, aka Sinovac, right? 

My question is: If you want a vaccine, is this the one you are willing to take? 

I think it's very possible to spend what the OP says if you are living in a very nice house and paying very nice rent. 

By the way, the 800K baht in the bank, if you leave it there permanently for the interest and visa qualifications, is an opportunity cost that you probably should figure into your calculations, to some degree. 

Why, pray tell, are all these reports (this one and others being posted) related to foreigners? Plenty of Thais doing the same thing. Wait, this is a rhetorical question....

Some of the parking spaces appear to be for tourist buses. Interestingly, there are no spaces painted for motorbikes. 

"Like exceeding 100 m vaccination goal within 100 days. Damn he even double that. How dare he had such grand vision."

The program was on target to hit that in May anyway. Vision to use the vaccine program that President Trump managed to produce in record time, yes, quite a visionary.

That's called, "I bake the bread but you want to eat it. ..."

A vaccine that Biden forgot was even injected into his own arm when he said, "It’s one thing to have the vaccine, which we didn’t have when we came into office...."

Americans know, regardless of political stripes, that the current ability to not only get a vaccine, but to have multiple choices of which kind they want, is not due to the current administration. 

As for Thailand, I honestly don't see vaccinations happening even in the double digits any time soon. And putting the shoe on the other foot, how likely are people who are somewhat fearful going to come to Thailand for holiday when they know that vaccinated people in Thailand are scarcer than hen's teeth?

I will either pay 3000 THB and get Moderna here or get it in USA in November and pay nothing.

Assuming you will come back, the entire trip for a vaccine will be very costly, indeed, in quarantine costs, testing costs and air fare.

I read about this as well, but as I recall, has anyone notified the makers of Moderna about this? I thought there was no distribution for this vaccine here in the pipeline at all. 

There is a giant size clothing store near Bangkok Bank at Meechok Plaza. It's on the parking lot side (to the left as you face the bank), so if you don't see it, ask around. 

As you leave the cashier in Makro, before the exit turn left toward the mini food court. Just there, on the right, they have blank colored shirt, T's mostly I think, that I believe also have ginormous sizes. 

BigC and maybe Tesco, are starting to stock bigger shoe sizes. I've seen 45 I think. 

The only place he could have gotten this figure of 70 percent was from the only other big thinker with that grand vision who said it first --  US President Harr...Biden. 

Thapae Walking Street road, aka Rachadamnoen Street, is now one way. 

Thanks the gods that someone in government is a genius. Don't you hate streets that go both ways? I know I sure do.

Why on earth someone would want to come down the same street they just went up is beyond me. 

And parking in the middle of the road? Brilliant! 

And what is that sliver of road to the left, you ask? A BIKE PATH, of course. And yes, it's only one lane too, so up you go with your bicycle (built for two, I hope) and then have your private van awaiting you at the far end to pick you up and take you to our private helipad and back to Sardinia. 

Hopefully, this is just the beginning of bright ideas. Anyone have any guesses what's next? 

"A tough choice for those who are in the high risk groups for sure."

"On paper, one of Sinovac's main advantages is that it can be stored in a standard refrigerator at 2-8 degrees Celsius, like the Oxford vaccine, which is made from a genetically engineered virus that causes the common cold in chimpanzees."

Source: BBC

ARE WE NOT MEN? WE ARE DEVO!

Source: Thai Department of Disease Control (see top of graph)

"How much credit should the government get for last year’s “success” in keeping COVID-19 at arm’s length...."

"...the single most important factor has been early border controls - as of January or February 2020 - something all low-covid countries indeed did. There are two overlapping groups of countries with successful early border controls: islands and countries neighboring China.

Border controls are easiest for islands , which most low-covid countries indeed are, including Taiwan, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Cuba, and also, essentially, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore. Many other, smaller islands also did well, including Iceland, Greenland, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Mauritius and Haiti, but not complex island states such as Indonesia and the Philippines, which 'despite' extended lockdowns could not contain the coronavirus.

In addition, countries neighboring China - many of which already had experience with the 2003 SARS-1 epidemic - also introduced early border controls . This group includes Thailand and Vietnam, and in extension Laos and Cambodia, plus Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, and also Singapore . Thailand, in particular, appears to have been very lucky, as some Chinese tourists could enter the country until March, although requiring a 'health certificate' since January."

Source (hyperlinks active in link): The Zero-Covid Countries

So according to at least one analysis, Thailand was "very lucky." Does the government get credit for luck? You decide. 

"The DDC Director General Dr Opas Karnkawinpong says there are different goals in the vaccination program, from infection prevention, to the prevention of severe illness, and the prevention of death.

He said Sinovac’s vaccine may not have a 100% infection prevention efficacy, but the number is acceptable at more than 50%."

Source: Thailand-reassures-safety-and-effectiveness-of-chinese-made-sinovac-covid-19-vaccine

"The recent China’s Sinovac BioTech trial data reporting 50.4% efficiency does not “impact” Thailand’s plans to receive and administer vaccines for Covid-19 next month, according to director general of the Medical and Science Department Supakit Sirilak.

Questions have risen around the vaccine’s efficacy rate, which was originally reported as 78% in trails in Brazil, but recently downgraded to just over 50%."

Source: Trail-data-doesnt-impact-thailands-plans-to-use-sinovac-covid-19-vaccine

So a university professor posts something on his own Facebook page (undeniably one of the premier medical resources in the world), and someone actually gives it solid credence? It's bizarre. 

This is a hypothetical question. 

What if someone tests positive, has no symptoms and is forced to go into containment --either a "field hospital holding area" or a hospital proper -- who lives alone and has an old dog that must be taken care of?

What if that dog has a reoccurring wound that must be dressed twice a day? What if there were also tropical fish to feed? Plants to water? 

What if that person lived alone and did not have a handy girlfriend or friend/relative to take on these duties? 

As I say, this is just a hypothetical question, but this could, in fact, become a reality. Is the idea that the dog's wound should just fester as the dog starves and perhaps dies from lack of water?