TallGuyJohninBKK

The abovementioned BBC article on the UK's early flu season: Health officials worried as flu season comes five weeks early "The UK's winter flu season has begun five weeks earlier than usual, health officials are warning. The UK Health Security Agency said cases were rising quickly among children and young people – and warned the virus would soon start to spread across older age groups. The organisation urged people eligible for the flu vaccine to come forward to get protected. But they said it was too early to say how difficult and serious this year's flu season would be." ... Two of the worst winter flu seasons of the past decade have been seen in the last three years, something partly attributed to the bounce-back of the virus after Covid restrictions and when immunity has been low." (more) https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20pe6llg2zo

England's Covid wave recedes but is replaced by flu Oct 31, 2025 "A quick update on the latest Covid situation in England. It’s mixed news. The good news is the that significant Covid wave we saw in September/October is definitely on its way down. The bad news is that my worries of an early Flu season have been realised and we are definitely seeing a Flu wave at least a month earlier than normal. The BBC even ran an article about the early Flu season today. They quote the UK Health Security Agency as saying that at the moment cases are mostly in children and young people, but that pressures on hospitals will rise as more older adults become infected. The best case scenario for the winter is that this flu wave will be ‘normal’-sized, just shifted a few weeks earlier, and that there won’t be another Covid wave this winter. The worst case scenario is that this is just the start of a terrible flu season, RSV joins the party in November and Covid might make a December/January comeback. While the best case scenario is certainly possible, it is worrying that Japan has already declared a major early flu epidemic and has even closed many schools to try to control the spread. What to do About 50% of over 75s have received their free annual Covid vaccine and about 60% of over 65s have received their free annual Flu vaccine. I really do encourage those eligible to get vaccinated! And for those who are not eligible for the free vaccine(s), the Covid vaccine is expensive privately (£80-£90, although I still intend to get it) but the Flu vaccine is a lot less (£15-£20). Many pharmacies offer a walk-in service and the Flu vaccine will last the whole flu season, so please consider it if you can afford it!" Making Sense of blog https://christinapagel.substack.com/p/englands-covid-wave-recedes-but-is by Christina Pagel Prof of Operational Research in Health Care, UCL [University College London], UK. ... Member of Independent SAGE since May 2020. Full academic bio: https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/4185

... "Updated findings reaffirm that immunizations are associated with a substantial reduction in the risk of severe outcomes across populations, with only infrequent reports of key severe vaccine-related safety events, such as myocarditis and Guillain–Barré syndrome. Although effectiveness estimates of approximately 40% against hospitalization in some populations (e.g., Covid-19 vaccines in immunocompromised persons and influenza vaccines in adults) may appear to be modest, they still represent substantial reductions in severe outcomes at the population level and are similar to the efficacy and effectiveness of influenza vaccines that was seen during the past 15 years.145 ... Immunizations against Covid-19, RSV, and influenza have shown consistent effectiveness and safety and are associated with a substantially reduced risk of hospitalization and severe disease across populations. These findings underscore the enduring value of immunization against respiratory viruses as a cornerstone of preventive care and support the feasibility of maintaining rigorous, evidence-based guidance during periods of institutional disruption." (more) https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa2514268

Meta-analysis of COVID, RSV, flu vaccines for fall provides 'sea of data' showing efficacy, safety October 30, 2025 "A meta-analysis of 511 studies on US COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and influenza vaccines find meaningful protection against severe disease and hospitalization, evidence that can help fill the void in vaccine guidance formerly provided by independent federal review. The large-scale project, conducted by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy's (CIDRAP's) Vaccine Integrity Project (VIP), was published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. CIDRAP, which publishes CIDRAP News, started the VIP to provide science-based information to help people, communities, policymakers, and clinicians make informed vaccine choices. ... The team found that XBB.1.5-adapted COVID-19 mRNA vaccines had a pooled vaccine effectiveness (VE) against hospitalization of 46% to 50% among adults and 37% in immunocompromised adults (those with weakened immune systems). A case-control study of KP.2-adapted COVID-19 vaccines showed a VE of 68%. ... RSV prevention was especially strong, with pooled estimates of 68% for maternal vaccination protecting infants, 83% for the monoclonal antibody preventive nirsevimab in infants, and 79% for RSV vaccination against hospitalization in older adults. The pooled VE of the flu vaccine against hospitalization was 48% in adults and 67% in children across networks and countries." (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/meta-analysis-covid-rsv-flu-vaccines-fall-provides-sea-data-showing-efficacy-safety

If you're covered by standard Medicare in the U.S., the shingles vaccine is free there. Sounds like the same in the UK: Shingles vaccine A shingles vaccine is available on the NHS for: people who turned 65 on or after 1 September 2023 people aged 70 to 79 who have not yet been vaccinated people aged 18 and over with a severely weakened immune system The vaccine helps reduce your risk of getting shingles. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/shingles/

Notice the recurring theme with all of the above-cited anti-vaxer sources that get posted here: ''regularly published false or egregiously misleading claims about health and vaccines." "generally fails to maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability." These are the anti-vaxers bibles.

Meanwhile, the anti-vaxers here are posting content from these types:

Per the separate source credibility evalutating site NewsGuard:

Candace Owens? Paul Joseph Watson? Candace Amber Owens Farmer (née Owens; born April 29, 1989) is an American political commentator and author. Her political positions have mostly been described as far-right or conservative. She has promoted numerous conspiracy theories. ... Owens has expressed skepticism about the extent of white supremacy's impact on society and has voiced opposition to both COVID-19 lockdowns and COVID-19 vaccines. ... Owens has promoted misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.[200] In a December 2021 interview, she asked Donald Trump about vaccine mandates, and he explained that he shared her views on mandates but said that "the vaccine is one of the greatest achievements of mankind". He added: "The ones that get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don't take the vaccine. But it's still their choice. And if you take the vaccine, you're protected. Look, the results of the vaccine are very good, and if you do get it, it's a very minor form. People aren't dying when they take the vaccine."[201][202][203] In December 2022, Owens promoted the anti-vaccine film Died Suddenly." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candace_Owens Paul Joseph Watson (born 24 May 1982)[1] is a British YouTuber, radio host and conspiracy theorist.[6] In 2002 he began working at the American radio host Alex Jones's website InfoWars,[7] where Watson promoted and advocated for 9/11, chemtrail and New World Order conspiracy theories. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Joseph_Watson These are the heroes of anti-vaxers.

I think you'd be better served addressing your concerns to forum members who repeatedly post dreck here from sources like these:

The OP report was based on data from the Bank of Thailand, which looked at the tourism numbers in the context of their impact on the broader Thai economy...as bankers tend to do! Hence the related inclusion of info on the government's plans to spend 10 BILLION baht buying up bad debts....

The huge private party loan sharking business in Thailand is a terrible thing that entraps financially need people in super high interest rate debt burdens from which they virtually never can recover. That said, once the government buys out 10 billion baht in bad debits (assuming they do), what's to prevent the same or similar people from going out and wracking up new debts again buying extravagances and things not essential to their lives and well-being? More broadly, since when did it become the government's role to spend public tax dollars to buy out bad debts that were issued by lenders who presumably vetted their borrowers before giving them the money... Doesn't any of the culpability for these bad debts fall back onto the private parties that made the bad lending decisions in the first place??? Just asking....

All of the above are the best reasons I can imagine for people in general, and especially people in high risk groups like senior citizens and young children, to get their seasonal flu vaccines.

Vaccine Misinformation Outpaces Efforts to Counter It January 16, 2024 "Misinformation about vaccines has proliferated on social media where it has led to rising levels of vaccine hesitancy at a faster rate than interventions are addressing it, according to a study led by a researcher at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Some interventions to counter vaccine misinformation on social media have been beneficial, but very few test their effect on real-world behaviors. The findings are published in the peer-reviewed journal BMJ' Anti-vaccine misinformation is as old as vaccines themselves, but anti-vaccine campaigns have proliferated in recent years on social media—particularly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This misinformation targets all kinds of vaccines, including childhood vaccines, COVID-19, flu, HPV, and more. While vaccine hesitancy can stem from many sources, including mass media and political rhetoric, as well as genuine safety concerns, there is ample evidence that a proliferation of anti-vaccine messages on social media increased vaccine hesitancy and lowered vaccination rates over the same period that social media networks expanded. The return of measles after aggressive antivaccine campaigns prompted the World Health Organization to list vaccine hesitancy among the greatest threats to global health." https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/vaccine-misinformation-outpaces-efforts-counter-it

METHODOLOGY INFO: "The KFF/Washington Post Survey of Parents includes interviews with a nationally representative sample of 2,716 parents or legal guardians of children under age 18 in the U.S. The survey was conducted between July 18-August 4, 2025, online, in English and Spanish, using the Ipsos KnowledgePanel. The margin of sampling error including the design effect for total sample of parents is plus or minus 2 percentage points. For results based on other subgroups, the margin of sampling error may be higher." https://www.kff.org/public-opinion/new-kff-washington-post-survey-explores-parents-trust-in-and-confusion-about-childhood-vaccines-as-the-trump-administration-revamps-federal-policies/