TallGuyJohninBKK

Happened across further info on this (future use of mRNA) in my nightly reading today: August 31, 2023 Physicians reckon with 'profound' impact of COVID-19 ... "The technology is being explored for other vaccines. The NIAID initiated a phase 1 clinical trial of three experimental mRNA HIV vaccines last year and, in May of this year, launched a phase 1 trial testing an experimental universal influenza vaccine that uses the technology. Also, in July, Moderna asked the FDA to begin reviewing its application to approve a respiratory syncytial virus vaccine candidate based on mRNA technology." https://www.healio.com/news/infectious-disease/20230831/physicians-reckon-with-profound-impact-of-covid19

When the original vaccines were released aimed at the original COVID strain, they did a pretty good job also at preventing routine infection... But then the original virus mutated into different and more vaccine-resistant strains, and the protection against mere infection lessened at that point, while the protection against serious COVID illness and death remained relatively strong. One of the challenges with COVID as a pandemic is that the virus spreads and mutates far faster than science can research, test, produce and roll out billions of vaccine doses... So the vaccines these days are, at least for now, usually playing a bit of catch up. Science is working right now on trying develop longer lasting, more broadly protective COVID vaccines for the future, but they're not here yet.

Not really tough.... Just potentially a boring and time-consuming (but necessary) waste of time.

I'm fine for credible sources and opinions of whatever stripe. I'm not fine for proven and documented junk and misinformation peddlers who misrepresent, distort or just plain lie about stuff. Or, as is sometimes the case with rubbish sources posted here, anti-vax computer scientists, psychologists, veterinarians and the like who pose as experts about COVID, immunology and vaccines when they're way way out of their fields.

For the re-entry permit, assuming you don't have an appointment, you first stop at the large queue counter inside the main Immigration office, just past the smaller customer service counter closer to the front entrance. You go to the far right end of the queue tickets counter, to ask for and get the reentry permit queue ticket which will have a number on it... Then go further onward to the C2 (I believe) section that is the Reentry Permit section area, and see on the digital display boards what number they're currently calling and how far down you are... It's a two step process... When your number is called the first time, you go to the officer and submit your paperwork. They quickly check it, and if everything is OK, you pay them the fee... Then they tell you to go and wait... And then after that.... you may have another long wait before they call your queue number again to come back to an adjoining cubicle in the same section to pick up your passport with the newly stamped reentry permit inside. In my case in August, I waited from about 10 am until after 1 pm just to be able to submit my paperwork. And then another two hours after that before I was called to come and pick up my stamped passport. PS -- Immigration closes their office and has everyone leave to go outside between noon and 1 pm.

BKK CW does have that...and there are cafe / restaurant and shopping places in the building there to spend one, two...four...five hours... if so inclined.... ???? For me, I try to get in and out of there as quickly as possible, and go there only when absolutely necessary. ????

I guess it comes down to whether to believe your personal opinion as someone who rarely presents a credible source for anything, or that of respected scientists and researchers and the Nobel Prize committee members, who wrote above: "The vaccines have saved millions of lives and prevented severe disease in many more, allowing societies to open and return to normal conditions." Multiple studies have estimated that COVID vaccines saved anywhere between 15-20 million lives in the early going of the pandemic. That's certainly Nobel Prize worthy: COVID vaccines saved 20 million lives in first year, study says Nearly 20 million lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccines during their first year, but even more deaths could have been prevented if international targets for the shots had been reached, researchers reported Thursday. ... The researchers used data from 185 countries to estimate that vaccines prevented 4.2 million COVID-19 deaths in India, 1.9 million in the United States, 1 million in Brazil, 631,000 in France and 507,000 in the United Kingdom." https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/covid-vaccines-saved-20-million-lives-in-first-year-study-says

First, because some portion of the population (20-30% depending on the location) has refused to get vaccinated since the beginning because of bogus misinformation like that that's been posted above... Second, because among some who were originally vaccinated several years ago with vaccines aimed at the original COVID strain, they haven't gone on to receive follow-up shots to protect against the newer strains of the COVID vaccine, leaving them vulnerable. With vaccine misinformation again playing a role in that. And then third, just as with the flu vaccine and some others, the COVID vaccine doesn't provide 100% absolute protection, so there end up being a smaller portion of so-called breakthrough illnesses even among vaccinated people. These days, for people who have stayed up to date with their vaccines, the protection against serious COVID illness is pretty strong, less so against mild or asymptomatic infection. But the current vaccines right now do need to have new shots periodically, just like the annual flu shots need to be re-taken. And the rubbish misinformation posted above and elsewhere only discourages people from doing so.

I've seen good comments about that lately, particularly with other members here posting to assure that those re-entry permit desks at the two airports are staffed even in the very early morning or late night hours when flights are sometimes departing... because clearly you don't want to get caught out without a valid reentry permit. As I had posted here previously, when I was out to BKK CW back in August, I didn't have an appointment for the reentry permit section, just a queue ticket obtained that morning. And my wait from start to finish was close to FIVE hours that day (including the lunch break hour), 99% of it spent just sitting and waiting on them.

Thanks for updating the weblink I had provided above... I hadn't realized they'd changed the Immigration appointments website address yet again.... ????

As it turns out, the FactCheck.org report I cited above regarding the article link you posted is in fact a report debunking their article.... And FactCheck.org was hardly the only entity or scientist who thought the article was misinformation rubbish: "When the paper was first published in April, numerous critics condemned it, with some calling for it to be retracted. (That effort was denied. Notably, the paper appeared in the journal after the editor-in-chief put a call out for papers “on potential toxic effects of COVID-19 vaccines.”) https://www.factcheck.org/2022/07/scicheck-covid-19-vaccination-increases-immunity-contrary-to-immune-suppression-claims/ Critics of the article linked above such as: Scientific review articles as antivaccine disinformation ... "it is a prime example of what I now refer to as misinformation (or disinformation) by scientific review article (or, more accurately, a pseudo-review article). It appears to have all the trappings of science, but its speculation goes far beyond what the science will support, all in the service of promoting a certain narrative and providing what seems to be scientific support for a pseudoscientific conspiracy theory." https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/scientific-review-articles-as-antivaccine-disinformation/ By: David Gorski, MD, PhD Surgeon/scientist promoting science-based medicine. Editor, Science-Based Medicine blog.

And trotting out an article written by a bunch of documented COVID and vaccine misinformation peddlers: The authors: Stephanie Seneff,a,∗Greg Nigh,bAnthony M. Kyriakopoulos,c and Peter A. McCulloughd From a 2022 FactCheck.org report on COVID and vaccine misinformation: "Lead author Stephanie Seneff is a computer scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has falsely claimed that vaccines cause autism and has pushed a theory linking the herbicide glyphosate to COVID-19, among other unfounded scientific views. Senior author Dr. Peter McCullough is an internist who has repeatedly spread misinformation about COVID-19 treatments and the vaccines. Another author, Greg Nigh, practices naturopathy, a form of alternative medicine that has often embraced pseudoscientific methods." https://www.factcheck.org/2022/07/scicheck-covid-19-vaccination-increases-immunity-contrary-to-immune-suppression-claims/

Written by an anti-vax organization activist masquerading as a journalist. Who has this and only this article in the Spectator, which sadly seems to have provided no bio info on the author accompanying the article... But that's easily found elsewhere: "She holds a BA Comms (UWA) and volunteers for Jab Injuries Australia." https://substack.com/@rebekahbarnett Sadly, these kinds of gutters of the internet oddballs are pretty much the sources produced by the anti-vax folks here most of the time.

From COVID to cancer: High hopes for Nobel mRNA vaccines ... What else can mRNA do? Scientists have worked on developing mRNA jabs for illnesses like seasonal flu, rabies and Zika, as well as those that have remained vaccine-resistant until now, including malaria and AIDS. Researchers have also started testing personalized treatments on cancer patients, using samples of the proteins in their tumors to create specialized mRNA. This then triggers the immune system to target specific cancer cells. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-10-covid-cancer-high-nobel-mrna.html

I'm not a scientist, but I can read enough to know that the mRNA platform is currently being looked as a potential vehicle for all kinds of other vaccines and treatments for other conditions... far beyond just a vaccine for COVID... I see Moderna has a webpage where they list all the other different vaccines and treatments based on mRNA technology that they are working on in various stages of development: "Our mRNA pipeline shows the progress we’re making on clinical programs currently in development to create mRNA medicines for a wide range of diseases and conditions." https://www.modernatx.com/research/product-pipeline

Re getting re-entry permits at BKK CW, you can make an online appointment in advance OR just show up and get a queue ticket for the day.... Although... when I was last there a month or so back, there was an hours long wait at the reentry permit section for those without appointments. It was VERY busy. Here's the link for making an online appointment, and you want to click the first selection for "Government Complex Chaeng Wattana Rd." https://www.immigration.go.th/?page_id=20131 Generally, for paperwork, they want the fully completed one-page, double-sided paper TM8 reentry permit application form with your color photo pasted in the designated space on the reverse side.... And the following photocopies in portrait, B&W format, each page hand-signed by the applicant in ink underneath the image part of the photocopy: --face page of your passport --most recent visa or extension stamp page from your passport --most recent entry to Thailand stamp from your passport (they used to also want a copy of your TM6 airport departure card slip, but no longer do, AFAIK). You have your choice of a single-entry permit for the 1,000 baht fee, or the multiple entry permit for (I believe) the 3,800 baht fee -- both of which are valid until used or until the end of your currently permitted period of stay. I don't know what their policy is regarding reentry permits for children. PS - You also need to make sure you have sufficient remaining validity on your passport, when you apply, to cover the entire period covered by the reentry permit.

"Suchanun was arrested on July 30 on suspicion of involvement in online gambling but then bailed." And now the OP report talks about her just recently having returned from a trip abroad to Singapore... Just wondering, did she get the court's permission to leave the country while she was out on bail for criminal charges? "A source said that apart from Pakpoom, she dated the son of an ice-factory owner, and a police officer with the initial “B” in his name." And, could the other of her many ex boyfriends/lovers with the initial of "B" possibly have a nickname that expands to "Big"?

Katalin Karikó was born in 1955 in Szolnok, Hungary.... Since 2021, she has been a Professor at Szeged University and an Adjunct Professor at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Drew Weissman was born in 1959 in Lexington, Massachusetts, USA.... He is the Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research and Director of the Penn Institute for RNA Innovations. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2023/press-release/

The Nobel Prize committee seems to think otherwise: From the above announcement: "Vaccines based on mRNA technology are widely credited with saving millions of lives and helping to curb the pandemic’s spread. "

Excerpt of Nobel Prize announcement: "Several other vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, based on different methodologies, were also rapidly introduced, and together, more than 13 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been given globally. The vaccines have saved millions of lives and prevented severe disease in many more, allowing societies to open and return to normal conditions. Through their fundamental discoveries of the importance of base modifications in mRNA, this year’s Nobel laureates critically contributed to this transformative development during one of the biggest health crises of our time." (more) https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2023/press-release/  

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman have been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries leading to mRNA vaccines, such as those that protect against Covid-19. October 2, 2023 The Nobel Committee has awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their pioneering work in the development of mRNA vaccine technology, which made possible a timely vaccine response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Vaccines based on mRNA technology are widely credited with saving millions of lives and helping to curb the pandemic’s spread. ... In 2005, Karikó and Weissman from the University of Pennsylvania discovered a way to slightly tweak the nucleotide sequence of the mRNA molecules so that they bypassed cellular immune surveillance to produce a protective immune response. (more) https://www.quantamagazine.org/covid-19-mrna-vaccines-win-nobel-prize-for-medicine-2023-20231002/ https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/quanta-magazine/

Based on the OP post in this thread and a lot of similar follow-ups (some already removed), I'd say a lot of the following: and and

I noticed that as well... including them offering briefly via their standard Tops Online platform some various Kirkland (Costco U.S.) products that previously had only been offered via Tops Club.

False information on COVID-19 vaccine safety "False information about COVID-19 vaccines can result in deaths or severe disease if people avoid getting the vaccines they need. False information about COVID-19, both unintended (misinformation) and deliberate (disinformation), spreads on social media, so it is important to get information from trusted sources (healthcare professionals, scientific sources and national medicines regulators)." --International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA) https://icmra.info/drupal/strategicinitiatives/vaccines/safety_statement

COVID-19 vaccines saved an estimated 20 million lives in 1 year June 24, 2022 "COVID vaccines reduced the potential global death toll during the pandemic by almost two-thirds in their first year, saving an estimated 19.8 million lives, according to a mathematical modeling study yesterday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. An additional 600,000 lives could have been spared if a World Health Organization (WHO) goal of vaccinating 40% of the population of every country by the end of 2021 had been met, the authors of the study say. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19-vaccines-saved-estimated-20-million-lives-1-year https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(22)00320-6/fulltext