ozimoron

The Chinese vaccines are effective against serious disease. "Recent studies suggest that China’s main vaccines from private maker Sinovac and state-owned firm Sinopharm are highly effective in preventing severe illness and death among those fully vaccinated" https://fortune.com/2021/08/31/china-covid-vaccine-sinovac-sinopharm-delta-variant-effective/ Omicron: good signs that Sinopharm and Sinovac shots fend off severe illness, WHO expert says https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3162208/omicron-good-signs-sinopharm-and-sinovac-shots-fend-severe

Inability to disprove corruption does not prove it exists. Allegations of a crime without evidence is a conspiracy theory.

Lock downs work China reports major drop in virus cases in locked-down Xi’an Health officials said they have basically achieved the goal of halting community transmission because the new cases were among people already quarantined. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-winter-olympics-sports-health-beijing-a91fff9b1312e2e5bea4f4ed789e9d4f

I alleged that it was a conspiracy theory and challenged you to say who and where, not to reiterate a hypothetical. Until you do, it's a conspiracy theory. edit: That's what ALL conspiracy theories are - unprovable hypotheticals. They don't deserve oxygen.

Many brothels in cities such as Manchester, London and Cardiff operate under the moniker of "massage parlours". Although the age of consent is 16 throughout the United Kingdom, it is illegal to buy sex from a person under 18 where the perpetrator does not reasonably believe they are 18 or over. source: wikipedia

I have already explained in this thread that the modelling you referred to was based on an assumption of no vaccines. It has since been updated. No the goalposts have not changed, the vaccines have arrived. I posted the link above as well. Those are not statements of deliberate over exaggeration intended to support pharmaceutical companies which was your original claim. Try again or find more data to support your conspiracy theory.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/french-scientists-discover-new-mutant-covid-variant-which-could-be-more-resistant-to-vaccines/news-story/3f0f3dd255130ce57d68cde9292a94d6

Are you kidding? A respiratory specialist isn't qualified to discuss a disease of the respiratory system?

It was not a joke. Who would you believe was doing that? We know the virus is terrible. It doesn't need overblowing. The press and doctors have been upfront in saying that initial data was pointing to omicron being milder (by about 50%) than delta. I haven't read any accounts of over exaggeration of the dangers of any variant. Have you? If so, where?

The local nurses union in the small town where I live is warning of an imminent collapse of the health system due to omicron cases causing overload and there is a young child described as "seriously unwell" in hospital. .

Then you shouldn't even say it. Unsubstantiated "opinions" about scientific issues are verbal garbage and a waste of everybody's time. What you are suggesting is nothing less than a conspiracy theory and patently unlikely to be true. The authority is not suggesting that the virus has been overdone or that it's pursuing an agenda,

NOBODY is over blowing coronavirus in order to promote the interests of pharmaceutical companies.

A few months ago, before omicron, charts clearly showed a strong decline in delta cases world wide. Do you dispute this? If so I will post more links to prove it was the case. https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/covid-cases-are-dropping-u-s-delta-wave-over-ncna1282585 https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/10/08/delta-variant-pandemic-decline https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/28/health/us-coronavirus-thursday/index.html As for my claim that omicron mutated in an unvaccinated person. Here are some links. I had already posted links to this effect at the time and so for those paying attention this was well established. "“No question there's a lot more replication happening among unvaccinated people, and replication is the heart of mutations that lead us to” variants such as omicron." https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/coronavirus/2021/12/02/dr-ashish-jha-breaks-down-omicron-and-why-covid-mutates-so-easily-in-the-unvaccinated/8836141002/ The mutation of the Omicron variant could be down to "reservoirs" of the virus lurking in the unvaccinated and immunosuppressed. https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-emergence-of-omicron-variant-could-be-down-to-reservoirs-of-virus-in-the-unvaccinated-and-immunosuppressed-12481188

They have a strong purpose. Planning. What would happen if they wildly underestimated the deaths? You are ignoring that they had no vaccine when these estimates were formed. Worst case scenario is always the required scenario. Anything less becomes a bonus but the worst case allows effective planning.

He has some basis for making those comments. "With new versions forcing vaccine makers to retest jabs, the virus that causes COVID-19 has proven highly unpredictable. But the latest variant to sweep the globe has persuaded some experts that long hoped-for collective immunity is in sight, and that the virus may be evolving into a relatively benign seasonal illness." https://japantoday.com/category/features/health/weaker-virus-herd-immunity-omicron-sparks-cautious-hopes

That wasn't my point and would have been revealed if the poster had bothered to provide some links. It pains me greatly when people make pronouncements of facts without substantiation. It is a HUGE red flag.

It wasn't "scare" modelling. It was valid scientific modelling based on the information at the time. The estimate isn't unreasonable given the lack of vaccines at the time and the current estimates are still very scary. https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-kingdom?view=cumulative-deaths&tab=trend Here is a revision and discussion of those initial Imperial College estimates. If you do provide references then try to make sure you have the latest information otherwise you are misleading people by omission. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(21)00029-X/fulltext.

There is a vaccine.

All the anti vaxers say that. It's a dog at my homework response. In general it's a red flag for came from a conspiracy theory or pseudo science site. You could at least have mentioned that the study came from the Imperial College, better than nothing at all which is what we had to put up with. edit: I could find nothing from the Imperial College which supported your claim. Do be so kind as to provide a link, it's basic forum etiquette.

Shingles vaccinations here are free for the over 70's but cost a bit less than AUD $300. My point was that it seemed you were suggesting that "natural immunity" through infection to those and all diseases was still the best option. If that wasn't your intention then I apologize. It does seem now that you recognize the value of vaccinations.

We currently have a baby who is severely unwell in hospital because of omicron in my small town. Intubation in anybody isn't cheerful.

Proof or lies? You challenged the modelling yet declined to provide a shred of evidence which supports your challenge. Incredible.

Yes I do remember when my mum sent me to pay with kids who had chicken pox and I was reminded about it recently when I had eye herpes following a routine cataract operation which nearly cost me my eyesight. The doctors told me that childhood chicken pox was to blame. Every time I go to a doctor I see posters about shingles, a debilitating disease which mainly afflicts the elderly who had chicken pox as a child. Witchcraftery, huh?

There are dozens of other news articles citing the same research. I could have just as easily posted a link to the research paper itself but chose a more readable summary.

The more coronavirus is circulating in the community the greater the prospect of a new variant with unknown characteristics. It is not time to let it rip, less severe or not. It seems like people are seizing this story as greater justification for not getting vaccinated, that would be a gross misinterpretation of the available data.