TallGuyJohninBKK

COVID #7 overall cause of death among U.S. children age 10 to 14, 2021-2022. And #4 cause among diseases, after only cancer, congenital disorders and heart disease: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1017954/distribution-of-the-10-leading-causes-of-death-among-children-ten-to- fourteen/ Not so "miniscule": Year 2021: "COVID-19 remained the third leading cause for the total population in 2021, but its rank varied by age. COVID-19 was the second leading cause of death for age group 25–44 (10.7% of deaths) and the third leading cause for age groups 45–64 (15.9%), 65 and older (11.3%), and 85 and older (8.6%). COVID-19 ranked fifth for age group 10–24 (3.5%) and sixth for age group 1–9 (1.9%). https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr73/nvsr73-04.pdf Year 2022: "COVID-19 was the fourth leading cause for the total population in 2022, but its rank varied by age. The highest rank for COVID-19 among age groups was third for age 65 and older, accounting for 6.0% of all deaths. The lowest rank for COVID-19 was seventh for ages 1–9, 10–24, and 25–44, accounting for 2.4%, 1.3%, and 2.9% of all deaths, respectively." https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr73/nvsr73-10.pdf

Always looking to deflect to something else, and try to ignore the COVID deaths and hospitalizations staring you in the face: “Through much of the pandemic, COVID was in the top 10 causes of death among children, and it was not just children with severe comorbidities. There were, unfortunately, lots of pediatric deaths, many of them in healthy children — and certainly, you know, thousands of hospitalizations as well.” --Dr. Sean O’Leary, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado and chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases https://www.factcheck.org/2025/05/rfk-jr-misleads-about-safety-of-covid-19-vaccine-in-children/ Unlike some here, I take public health seriously, and consider all needless and preventable deaths that weren't prevented as tragedies, whether they're from COVID, the flu, measles or other maladies.

As previously noted when this poster has posted this same bogus chart before, these aren't any actual numbers based on COVID outcomes, but rather, are PROJECTIONS done by UK academics in the very first few months of the COVID pandemic (March 2020), before things really spread and exploded, disease-wise. The chart above means nothing and is irrelevant to what actually happened during a now 5-plus year-long pandemic. Here's real, actual numbers on COVID's impact on children in the U.S.: American Academy of Pediatrics analyzes pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations from 2020-’24 July 1, 2024 About 234,000 children under age 18 were hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19 from fall 2020 to spring 2024, according to AAP analysis of data collected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). [emphasis added] ... The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations varied substantially across time by waves of infection and emergence of new variants (see figure). The largest peak was in winter 2022 during the omicron surge, with 6,527 child hospitalizations the week of Jan. 15. In the final week of the report, April 27, 2024, 310 children with a confirmed COVID-19 case were admitted, among the lowest levels reported during the pandemic. Starting in January 2022, HHS also required hospitals to break out child admissions by age group (0-4 years, 5-11 years and 12-17 years) in their weekly reports. While children ages 0-4 comprise about 26% of the U.S. child population, they accounted for 58% of the confirmed COVID-19 [juvenile] hospital admissions from January 2022 to April 2024. This may be related to greater vulnerability or to lower vaccination levels among this age group. (more) https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/29182 AND According to CDC data, more than 1,800 minors died of COVID in the U.S. from the pandemic up through mid-2023: Provisional COVID-19 deaths by age group, by sex: United States https://data.cdc.gov/National-Center-for-Health-Statistics/Deaths-by-Sex-Ages-0-18-years/xa4b-4pzv AND as previously posted above: According to provisional CDC data presented in the last ACIP meeting, COVID-19 was an underlying cause of death for 152 children under 18 years of age between September 2023 and August 2024. “About 4 of every 10 children hospitalized with COVID-19 did not have any pre-existing conditions,” Moser told us. (more) https://www.factcheck.org/2025/05/rfk-jr-misleads-about-safety-of-covid-19-vaccine-in-children/

Many pediatricians and leading pediatrician groups in the U.S. disagree with that assessment, especially for the youngest children who never before have received any COVID vaccinations, and thus are at greater risk of COVID illness. (Subsequent booster shots for previously vaccinated children is a different and separate discussion.) "Although there is no consensus among [U.S. CDC advisory group] ACIP members yet, O’Leary, who is an AAP liaison to ACIP, said removing the universal recommendation for kids under 2, where they’re seeing the highest rates of hospitalizations among children, is not on the table. “We are not discussing removing that recommendation for the younger kids,” he said. “And whether that cut-off is 2 or 4 or 5 — right now, the discussion has basically been for kids under 5 to continue with the universal recommendation.” [emphasis added] ... “A non-negligible proportion of children are hospitalized with COVID-19 or even end up in ICU, and a small but non-negligible proportion suffer inflammatory syndromes (MIS-C) after infection, or suffer from post-COVID-19 sequelae (PASC),” he said, referring to long COVID. According to provisional CDC data presented in the last ACIP meeting, COVID-19 was an underlying cause of death for 152 children under 18 years of age between September 2023 and August 2024. “About 4 of every 10 children hospitalized with COVID-19 did not have any pre-existing conditions,” Moser told us." (more) FactCheck.org May 7, 2025 https://www.factcheck.org/2025/05/rfk-jr-misleads-about-safety-of-covid-19-vaccine-in-children/

RFK Jr. Misleads About Safety of COVID-19 Vaccine in Children May 7, 2025 "In recent interviews, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has minimized the risk COVID-19 poses to kids and exaggerated the risk of the vaccine, incorrectly claiming that the shot poses a “profound risk” to children. While serious side effects can occur, they are rare, and have not been shown to outweigh the benefits of the vaccine in protecting against COVID-19." ... It’s true that kids are typically at much lower risk of getting severely ill from COVID-19 than adults, and some physicians do not think it’s necessary for healthy children to receive annual updated doses. But the risk of COVID-19 to children is “not no risk,” said [Dr. Sean O’Leary, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado and chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases.] “Through much of the pandemic, COVID was in the top 10 causes of death among children, and it was not just children with severe comorbidities. There were, unfortunately, lots of pediatric deaths, many of them in healthy children — and certainly, you know, thousands of hospitalizations as well.” ... According to provisional CDC data presented in the last ACIP meeting, COVID-19 was an underlying cause of death for 152 children under 18 years of age between September 2023 and August 2024. “About 4 of every 10 children hospitalized with COVID-19 did not have any pre-existing conditions,” Moser told us. (more) https://www.factcheck.org/2025/05/rfk-jr-misleads-about-safety-of-covid-19-vaccine-in-children/

CDC tweaks — but does not remove — COVID-19 vaccine recommendation for kids May 30, 2025 Key takeaways: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced this week that the CDC would stop recommending COVID-19 vaccines for healthy kids and pregnant women. The CDC tweaked but did not remove its recommendation. ... "The update is not just a matter of language — it could help cover the payment for parents who want their children to be vaccinated. According to the CDC, vaccines with a shared clinical decision-making recommendation should be covered fully by health insurance, same as other vaccines, “when they have been adopted by CDC and are listed on the immunization schedules.” [emphasis added] (more) Healio https://www.healio.com/news/pediatrics/20250530/cdc-tweaks-but-does-not-remove-covid19-vaccine-recommendation-for-kids

Sheryl, the Thai Travel Clinic at Mahidol Univ. in BKK, on their updated website, specifically says they have the JN.1 COVID vaccine, which here I believe would be from Pfizer, and which dates to the 2024-2025 version that replaced the XBB version.... However, I don't know what their posture would be toward children, and I haven't talked to them directly of late on the subject. When I dealt with them in the past, AFAICR, they were only doing COVID vaccines for adults. https://www.thaitravelclinic.com/cost.html FDA Approves and Authorizes Updated mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines to Better Protect Against Currently Circulating Variants August 22, 2024 "In early June, the FDA advised manufacturers of licensed and authorized COVID-19 vaccines that the COVID-19 vaccines (2024-2025 formula) should be monovalent JN.1 vaccines." [emphasis added] https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-and-authorizes-updated-mrna-covid-19-vaccines-better-protect-against-currently

The U.S. posture on COVID vaccines for children is evolving as we speak, and still allows for childhood COVID vaccinations if the parents and doctor involved agree.

The OP report here was pretty vague about just when these closures are/were supposed to take effect, in typical Thai style: "decided to suspend operations at the following six permanent checkpoints, but no date for the closure was given:" [emphasis added] And now we have the updated news report above saying as much: Stay tuned for further developments! 😄

From the same WAPO report, with Kennedy's HHS spokesman Nixon acknowledging the latest CDC guidance, not rejecting it: "When announcing this week that coronavirus vaccines would no longer be recommended for healthy children and healthy pregnant women, Kennedy did not say patients could consult doctors about the decision. He said there was a “lack of any clinical data to support the repeat booster strategy in children.” Nixon said there was no contradiction between Kennedy’s position and the CDC’s actions. “The old recommendation that was on the vaccine schedule that said get a covid shot for a healthy kid is no longer there,” Nixon said. “The only recommendation is go talk to a health-care provider.” Vaccine experts said maintaining a “shared clinical decision-making” recommendation for childhood coronavirus immunization should preserve parental choice and compel insurers to cover the shots. But they cautioned that it can lead to more confusion than a blanket recommendation, leading to some parents paying out of pocket or prompting some doctors to not vaccinate their patients." [emphasis added] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/contradicting-rfk-jr-cdc-keeps-recommending-covid-vaccine-for-kids/ar-AA1FNKH0

Contradicting RFK Jr., CDC keeps recommending covid vaccine for kids "Coronavirus vaccines are still recommended for healthy children if their doctors approve, according to updated immunization schedules published late Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, contradicting Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s announcement earlier this week. The revisions, which also say the vaccines are no longer advised during pregnancy, add to the confusion surrounding the Trump administration’s move to bypass the traditional system for immunization advice through expert review and CDC guidance. The CDC did not remove the coronavirus vaccines from the childhood schedule, as Kennedy said it would, when it updated its website late Thursday. Instead, the agency recommends the shots based on “shared clinical decision-making,” meaning children can get vaccinated if their parents and doctors agree." (more) Washington Post https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/contradicting-rfk-jr-cdc-keeps-recommending-covid-vaccine-for-kids/ar-AA1FNKH0 Interestingly, in the WAPO article above, a spokesman for the U.S. HHS [Kennedy's agency] acknowledged the CDC's updated guidance and claimed it was not in conflict with Kennedy's purported positions and statements, saying: "If a parent desires their healthy child to be vaccinated or if a pregnant woman desires to be vaccinated, their decision should be based on informed consent through the clinical judgment of their healthcare provider.” [emphasis added]

May 30, 2025 WASHINGTON −The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still recommending COVID vaccines for healthy children, according to the CDC's latest published immunization schedule. The schedule, published late on May 29 by the public health agency, comes after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr − alongside the heads of the FDA and the NIH − earlier this week said the U.S. would stop recommending routine COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women. The new guidance says parents who want to vaccinate a child for the coronavirus "may receive COVID-19 vaccination, informed by the clinical judgment of a healthcare provider and personal preference and circumstances." (more) USA Today https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cdc-still-recommends-childhood-covid-vaccines-despite-rfk-announcement/ar-AA1FNYa1 Child Immunization Schedule Notes Recommendations for Ages 18 Years or Younger, United States, 2025 Health Care Providers May 29, 2025 ... https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/imz-schedules/child-adolescent-age.html

Thank you for reciting the above info. What you posted is entirely correct, and the author of this pre-preprint, as well as the Cleveland Clinic, have indeed rejected and rebutted the anti-vaxer claims being made about the conclusions of the study. As usual, anti-vaxers here and elsewhere presenting misleading versions of what research actually concludes. The OP post tries to extrapolate the preprint study's findings to the vaccine's effectiveness for the general public, when in fact there's no basis for making that kind of claim. One important detail about this study is that it involved exclusively health care workers -- not the general public. Health care workers potential exposure to the flu virus and various other illnesses could well be greater than the public at large, because they're working in a setting where they're regularly in close contact with people who are ill. Fact Check: Cleveland Clinic Study Did NOT 'Reveal' That The 2024/2025 Flu Shot Increases Flu Risk -- Vaccine Ineffective, But Not Cause Of Infections Fact Check Apr 15, 2025 Does a draft paper by scientists at The Cleveland Clinic "reveal" that the 2024/2025 flu shot increased the risk of flu, as social media posts claim? No, that's not true: This study's finding that vaccination was "associated with" a higher risk isn't the same as showing the vaccine is what caused increased risk. The authors of the study found that vaccinated health care workers had a 27% higher incidence of flu than those who were not vaccinated.The researchers said their paper did not identify what factors caused the higher infection rate, only that the shot was relatively ineffective. ... The Cleveland Clinic study collected data on about 40,000 adult health care workers. In its draft form, the paper reports vaccinated health care workers were significantly more likely to catch the flu than the non-vaccinated. The authors' conclusion was that the shot was not very effective against flu. What they did not conclude was what factor specific to the vaccinated portion of the 40,000 made them more likely to get infected. https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2025/04/fact-check-cleveland-clinic-study-did-not-find-flu-shot-increased-risk-of-adult-flu.html The U.S. CDC in February of this year reported on the effectiveness of the 2024-2025 flu vaccine in the general public, based on a sampling of selected U.S. health networks, as follows: Interim Estimates of 2024–2025 Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness — Four Vaccine Effectiveness Networks, United States, October 2024–February 2025 "Among adults, VE [vaccine effectiveness] was 36% and 54% in outpatient settings (two networks) and 41% and 55% against influenza-associated hospitalization (two networks)." [emphasis added] "Among children and adolescents, VE was 32%, 59%, and 60% in outpatient settings (three networks) and 63% and 78% against influenza-associated hospitalization (two networks)." "Influenza vaccination prevents hundreds of thousands of outpatient medical visits, tens of thousands of hospitalizations, and thousands of deaths from influenza every year." https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/74/wr/mm7406a2.htm So the CDC's findings among the general public clearly are at odds with the claims being made about the Cleveland Clinic preprint. Lastly, if folks here read the comments on the preprint posted along with the preprint, you'll find several commenters pointing out what they say are design flaws with how the study was conducted and how it's findings were calculated, arguing that the findings likely aren't supported by legitimate numbers.

Can COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer? Can the vaccines cause cancer to recur or make it more aggressive? There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer, lead to recurrence, or lead to disease progression. Furthermore, COVID-19 vaccines do not change your DNA (i.e., your genetic code). U.S. National Cancer Institute https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccines-people-with-cancer#:~:text=Can COVID-19,your genetic code). Can COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer or make cancer grow? There is no information that suggests that COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer. There is also no information that suggests these vaccines can make cancer grow or recur (come back). American Cancer Society https://www.cancer.org/cancer/managing-cancer/coronavirus-covid-19-and-cancer/covid-19-vaccines-in-people-with-cancer.html#:~:text=Can COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer or make cancer grow%3F

Another worthless, nonsense post sourced to a well-known anti-vaxer and conspiracy theory and misinformation spreader: "Mark Crispin Miller (born 6 November 1949[2] ) is a professor of media studies at New York University.[3] He has promoted conspiracy theories about U.S. presidential elections, the September 11 attacks and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as well as misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines." ... Anti-vaccination and COVID misinformation Miller has also screened for his students the anti-vaccination film Vaxxed, produced by disgraced[18] former physician Andrew Wakefield (who was struck off the medical register in the UK for scientific misconduct).[10][13] Miller has spread COVID-19 misinformation, including misleading claims about the efficacy of face masks and false claims that COVID-19 vaccines alter recipients' DNA,[9][19] and believes the virus may have been an artificially created bioweapon.[20] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Crispin_Miller

Hey, let's call it what it really is!!!

I'm still trying to figure out how, in the heart of Bangkok, they managed to arrest ONE Thai! Surely that must have been a case of mistaken identity, thought she was Vietnamese or Burmese, but turned out to actually be Thai! 😄

" In making the announcement, Mr. Kennedy seems to have reneged on a promise he made to Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, not to alter the childhood immunization schedule. [emphasis added] ... Mr. Kennedy’s decision upends the standard process for such recommendations, which are made by advisers to the C.D.C. and accepted — or overruled — by the agency’s director. The health secretary is typically not directly involved in these matters, but the C.D.C. does not currently have a permanent director. New York Times https://archive.ph/Aoz36#selection-731.0-731.308 Background re the role of Republican Sen. Cassidy, who's also a physician who played key role in getting Kennedy confirmed by the Senate: Why the 1 senator who can rein in RFK Jr. isn’t calling him out May 14, 2025 ... "After his tough questions in January, Cassidy voted to confirm Kennedy, saying Kennedy had promised to uphold the current vaccine approval and monitoring system. [emphasis added] “I will carefully watch for any effort to wrongfully sow public fear about vaccines,” Cassidy said in a floor speech explaining his vote. Since then, Cassidy has refrained from publicly criticizing the secretary, even as Kennedy has pledged new scrutiny for Covid-19 vaccines, offered lukewarm endorsement of the measles shot during an outbreak and reportedly hired a vaccine skeptic to lead a search for autism’s cause." Politico https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/13/rfk-jr-set-to-face-the-senator-who-grilled-him-00346321

The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials "Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Tuesday said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will no longer recommend Covid-19 shots for "healthy children and healthy pregnant women." He announced the policy change in a social media video in which no CDC officials appeared. [emphasis added] Who said what "CDC officials were not informed in advance of Kennedy's decision," The Washington Post said, citing a former agency official. Public health experts "immediately questioned" the announcement, The Associated Press said, in part because Kennedy, a "leading anti-vaccine advocate," bypassed a "scientific review process that has been in place for decades, in which experts — in public meetings — review current medical evidence and hash out" policy recommendations. [emphasis added] ... Pregnant women are "at high risk of severe illness and complications from Covid," and vaccinating them also "extends the protection to their unborn until the babies are about 6 months old," a period in which infants' risk of severe disease and hospitalization from the virus is "comparable to that among adults 65 and older," The New York Times said." The Week https://theweek.com/health/rfk-jr-covid-vaccine-pregnant-women-kids

Once again, RFK Jr. is not only a serial anti-vaxer and COVID misinformer, but now also a proven liar: RFK Jr: ‘We’re not gonna take vaccines away from anybody’ November 6, 2024 "Anti-vaccine activist and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who’s been promised a prominent health care role by President-elect Donald Trump in his administration, sought to allay concerns Wednesday that he would seek to halt vaccinations. “We’re not going to take vaccines away from anybody,” he told NPR in an interview this morning after Trump’s overnight victory. He repeated the message a few hours later in an interview with MSNBC." (more) https://www.politico.eu/article/robert-f-kennedy-jr-not-taking-vaccines-away-from-anybody/

"Since the vaccines became available, the government has been recommending the shots for nearly everyone, including children and pregnant people. Although children don't tend to get seriously ill from COVID, some do, especially very young children, and pregnant women remain at high risk for serious complications from the virus. [emphasis added] ... Dr. Steven J. Fleischman, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said his organization is "extremely disappointed" by the removal of the recommendation for COVID shots during pregnancy. "As ob-gyns who treat patients every day, we have seen firsthand how dangerous COVID infection can be during pregnancy and for newborns who depend on maternal antibodies from the vaccine for protection," he said in a statement. "The science has not changed. It is very clear that COVID infection during pregnancy can be catastrophic and lead to major disability." [emphasis added] NPR https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/05/27/nx-s1-5413179/covid-vaccine-children-pregnant-rfk-cdc

"Amesh A. Adalja, MD, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, strongly disagreed with the decision and was critical of Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine advocate who Adalja noted recently said during a congressional hearing that people should not be taking his medical advice. “These are bad recommendations that no one should follow,” Adalja told Healio. “Pregnancy is a high-risk condition for COVID, as recently indicated in the FDA’s announcing of new clinical trial guidelines,” he said. “Healthy children — at least for their initial vaccine series — benefit, as hospitalization rates for COVID in those under 2 is unacceptably high, and routine childhood vaccination schedules include vaccines with lower morbidity levels. This decision should be viewed exclusively as the actions of an anti-vaccine advocate who unfortunately has the ability to wield government power.” [emphasis added] Healio https://www.healio.com/news/infectious-disease/20250527/kennedy-cdc-will-stop-recommending-covid-shots-for-healthy-children-pregnant-women

Another load of meaningless data (for current discussion in 2025) that predated the bulk of the COVID pandemic, and the later periods that had the highest COVID fatality rates: From your cited source: "We report IFR estimates for April 15, 2020, to January 1, 2021, the period before the introduction of vaccines and widespread evolution of variants." More broadly, it's a typical ploy of anti-vaxers and COVID deniers to express deaths and hospitalization data as population level percentages (which are going to be small under almost any circumstance, and to then totally ignore the thousands of child deaths and hundreds of thousands of COVID hospitalizations in minors. Child mortality and COVID-19 Last update: March 2023 UNICEF reported that more than 17,400 children and adolescents under age 20 had died of COVID, based on sampling and incomplete data from reporting countries. https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-survival/covid-19/

That from March 2020 was at the very beginning of the COVID pandemic, and has little relevance to what actually occurred during the ensuing years of the pandemic. And on top of that, the chart reflects their early 2020 modeling estimates, not any actual real data on fatalities from that chart. Put it all together, and it's totally meaningless irrelevant for the current discussion/topic! Especially when there's REAL actual data available on the point. According to CDC data, more than 1,800 minors died of COVID in the U.S. from the pandemic up through mid-2023: Provisional COVID-19 deaths by age group, by sex: United States https://data.cdc.gov/National-Center-for-Health-Statistics/Deaths-by-Sex-Ages-0-18-years/xa4b-4pzv And below is data on minors' COVID hospitalizations - some 234,000: American Academy of Pediatrics analyzes pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations from 2020-’24 July 1, 2024 About 234,000 children under age 18 were hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19 from fall 2020 to spring 2024, according to AAP analysis of data collected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). [emphasis added] https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/29182 Real numbers. Real deaths and real illnesses from COVID in young people. Not the 2020 chart nonsense posted above.

Thailand has long liked favipiravir, also sold under the brand name Avigan, because the government's GPO has the rights to manufacture and sell it locally... But there's little evidence it does much to help COVID patients, and Japan -- where the drug was developed -- previously dropped it as a COVID treatment. And AFAIK, it was never approved or used in the U.S. or UK for COVID. From 2022: Japan's Fujifilm to halt enrollment in Avigan trial for COVID-19 March 11 (Reuters) ... "Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he hoped Avigan would be approved in May 2020 for COVID-19, and he pledged donate supplies to needy countries. ... ...studies in Japan have been inconclusive, leading domestic regulators to hold off approval for it, partly because animal study data showed it could lead to birth defects. As Avigan stumbled in clinical trials, other antiviral pills have come to the fore against COVID-19. Japan has bought millions of doses of oral treatments developed by Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and Merck & Co (MRK.N)." https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/japans-fujifilm-says-terminate-enrollment-avigan-trial-covid-19-2022-03-11/ Fujifilm's Avigan shows no significant benefit on COVID-19 mortality - study TOKYO, Feb 18 (Reuters) - A study of global trials of Fujifilm Holdings Corp's (4901.T) antiviral drug Avigan suggests it has little benefit for COVID-19 patients once their symptoms become serious. .... But it failed to demonstrate statistically significant results in reducing mortality among those with mild to moderate COVID-19. ... In January, Indian drugmaker Dr.Reddy's Laboratories (REDY.NS), which bought the global rights to Avigan from Fujifilm last summer, halted a clinical trial of the drug in Kuwait. (more) https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/fujifilms-avigan-shows-no-significant-benefit-covid-19-mortality-study-2021-02-18/ A 2024 Cochrane review of favipiravir for treating COVID found: "Due to a lack of robust evidence, we are unclear if favipiravir provides any benefit in the treatment of people with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) infections who do not require hospital admission, as well as those admitted to hospital." • We do not know if favipiravir reduces the number of people who die from COVID‐19 when compared to dummy treatment, standard of care, or other antiviral medicines. The evidence supporting this is not very strong (derived from 11 studies involving 3459 people). • It is also very unclear if favipiravir reduces the need for people to be put on ventilators compared to a dummy treatment or any other antiviral treatments (derived from 8 studies involving 1383 people). (more) https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD015219.pub2/full