TallGuyJohninBKK

More than 13 billion COVID vaccine doses have been administered worldwide since the end of 2020.... The U.S. CDC has recorded something like 9 confirmed COVID-vaccine related fatalities. The UK has recorded 50+, mainly because of the AZ vaccines that have largely been halted in favor of mRNA....and were never used in the U.S. Serious health outcomes confirmed to be related to COVID vaccinations are exceedingly rare, and vastly outnumbered by the risk of COVID illness related complications. That's the collective judgment of the WHO, CDC and pretty much every other major public health organization. 13 January 2023 "...research about England by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) published in February 2022 says: “Estimates suggest that 127,500 deaths and 24,144,000 infections have been prevented as a result of the Covid-19 vaccination programme, up to 24 September.”" "The British Heart Foundation said last month that the evidence shows “the benefits of receiving the Covid-19 vaccine greatly outweigh the risk of extremely rare side effects for the vast majority of people”. https://fullfact.org/health/bbc-malhotra-vaccines-excess-deaths/

WHO data appears to show about 91 officially reported COVID deaths for youngsters below 5 years of age since the start of 2023 -- a number about 4 times the comparable number for the age group 5-9. https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiYWRiZWVkNWUtNmM0Ni00MDAwLTljYWMtN2EwNTM3YjQzYmRmIiwidCI6ImY2MTBjMGI3LWJkMjQtNGIzOS04MTBiLTNkYzI4MGFmYjU5MCIsImMiOjh9 Of course, deaths aren't the only COVID outcome to be concerned about. Hospitalizations and potential ongoing health complications also belong on the list. https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiYWRiZWVkNWUtNmM0Ni00MDAwLTljYWMtN2EwNTM3YjQzYmRmIiwidCI6ImY2MTBjMGI3LWJkMjQtNGIzOS04MTBiLTNkYzI4MGFmYjU5MCIsImMiOjh9 The same graphic above also shows officially reported COVID infections in the age group under 5 outnumbering infections in the age 5-9 age group.

AFAIK, at least presently, a person (Thai or farang) can transfer quite large sums of baht via ATM transactions....

It's a North Korean public health official.... not Kim. "The North Korean Ministry of Public Health's Dr. Jong Min Pak has been seated on the WHO's executive board with a term set to last until 2026." https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-congratulates-kim-jong-un-north-korean-election-who-executive-board

Dunno about "majority," but in-house bank theft and fraud against customers is certainly a big business among certain bank staff here.

Or what about ATM transactions. The machines have security cameras, but not facial recognition capability AFAIK.

On a recent trip back to the U.S., I was somewhat shocked when I arrived at the CBP (Customs and Border Protection) checkpoint at my arriving airport, and the officer there didn't even ask for or want to examine my U.S. passport. Rather, he pointed a handheld camera/scanner at my face, and then a couple seconds later simply said.... "Thanks Mr. Tallguy. Welcome back to the U.S." That was a new one for me... Likewise, when at the airport in the U.S. preparing to board the flight back to BKK, the final entry gate before boarding the plane was controlled by facial scanning instead of presenting or scanning my printed boarding pass. The times are a changin'...

American Academy of Pediatrics Applauds CDC Approval of Safe, Effective COVID-19 Vaccines for Children Ages 6 Months and Older 6/18/2022 "Speaking at the ACIP meeting, pediatrician Yvonne “Bonnie” Maldonado, MD, FAAP, chair of the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases, emphasized the importance of these vaccines for the youngest members of our community, who have waited the longest for this protection. “Pediatricians know the power of vaccines to protect infants, children, adolescents and entire communities against deadly and debilitating infectious diseases,” Dr. Maldonado said. “We’ve successfully immunized millions of children and adolescents to protect them from COVID-19. Families with infants and toddlers need and deserve the same chance to protect their children against this virus.” https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/news-releases/aap/2022/american-academy-of-pediatrics-applauds-cdc-approval-of-safe-effective-covid-19-vaccines-for-children-ages-6-months-and-older/

The point is to keep healthy babies healthy, and not have them become ill with COVID... But, of course, you know that. "Vaccine safety Over 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses (either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines) have been administered to children aged 6 months to 5 years in the United States of America (US) since June 2022 (reference 7). Post-marketing surveillance in this population indicates that the most commonly reported adverse events are local and systemic reactions. There have been no new or unexpected concerns." source link:

All of this, meanwhile, is an interesting diversion from the fact that the latest MoPH weekly update showed Thailand's new weekly COVID hospitalizations and COVID deaths at new year-high levels for 2023. It's almost like MoPH doesn't really want to talk about or focus on those facts, and Thai PBS certainly didn't report them.

Part of the WHO's guidance to countries in dealing with their COVID vaccinations policy is that each country should be responsive to the particular local conditions / circumstances in their locale. It appears that's exactly what the Thai MoPH is doing here, as explained in the OP article: "Dr, Tares Krassanairawiwong, director-general of the Disease Control Department, said that, from January 1st to May 20th, the COVID-19 infection rate among under children less than a year old was 1,581 for every 100,000 of the population, followed by 647 for 100,000 of the population among people aged over 70." MoPH seems to be saying infants thus far in 2023 in Thailand have the highest per capita COVID infection rate of any age group, hence the vaccinations recommendation.

AFAIK, the UK is continuing to make COVID vaccines available to children who are deemed in high-risk groups for other reasons: COVID-19 vaccination of children aged 6 months to 4 years: JCVI advice, 9 December 2022 (updated 26 April 2023) Updated 3 May 2023 "Regarding children aged 6 months to 4 years, JCVI advises that: children aged 6 months to 4 years in a clinical risk group (as defined in the Green Book) should be offered two 3-microgram doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty®) with an interval of at least 8 weeks between the first and second doses ... JCVI does not currently advise COVID-19 vaccination of children aged 6 months to 4 years who are not in a clinical risk group" https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccination-of-children-aged-6-months-to-4-years-jcvi-advice-9-december-2022/covid-19-vaccination-of-children-aged-6-months-to-4-years-jcvi-advice-9-december-2022

The public health recommendation in Thailand is to get BOTH, even together at the same time.

The Pfizer vaccine started out at 95% efficacy against symptomatic COVID infection in the main clinical trial against the original version of the COVID virus.... It was the virus and ensuing variants that changed after that. Pfizer and BioNTech Conclude Phase 3 Study of COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate, Meeting All Primary Efficacy Endpoints Wednesday, November 18, 2020 "Primary efficacy analysis demonstrates BNT162b2 to be 95% effective against COVID-19 beginning 28 days after the first dose;... Efficacy was consistent across age, gender, race and ethnicity demographics; observed efficacy in adults over 65 years of age was over 94%." https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-conclude-phase-3-study-covid-19-vaccine

So, if the Thai MoPH can report this kind of COVID infection rate data above for different age groups for 2023 thus far, does that suggest they in fact are continuing to internally / privately track the country's numbers of COVID infections / positive tests -- even though they've ceased publicly reporting that data???

U.S. FDA authorizes Pfizer bivalent COVID booster for kids 6 months through age 4 March 16, 2023 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced yesterday that it authorized the emergency use of Pfizer-BioNTech's bivalent (two-strain) booster in children ages 6 months through 4 years who have had their primary Pfizer vaccine series, which is three doses. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/fda-authorizes-pfizer-bivalent-covid-booster-kids-6-months-through-age-4

U.S. CDC policy: "CDC recommends COVID-19 vaccines for everyone ages 6 months and older, and boosters for everyone 5 years and older, if eligible." https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/planning/children/equity.html And from the WHO: "A WHO advisory group released new guidance that suggests countries prioritize continued COVID-19 vaccinations for those most at risk, such as older people and those with underlying health conditions. The group said countries should consider prioritizing vaccines against more threatening diseases for healthy young people, but it did not recommend against COVID-19 shots, which it said are safe and effective." https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-who-guidance-2023-covid-vaccines-children-teens-418558787448

Here's a more complete look at just what is being reported in the lastest MoPH COVID update -- year-high new COVID hospitalizations and deaths for 2023:

A Thai PBS report today adds the following details: Regarding the new deaths: "97% of whom were over 60 or had underlying diseases." "It was also discovered that 45.6% of those who perished had not received a vaccine booster shot for over three months or had not received two vaccine shots." https://www.thaipbsworld.com/children-under-12-months-old-should-be-vaccinated-against-covid-19/ https://aseannow.com/topic/1296927-children-under-12-months-old-should-be-vaccinated-against-covid-19/

Latest MoPH update for last week:

Latest MoPH update for last week:

Thailand's recent COVID resurgence continued to worsen last week, with new weekly COVID hospitalizations and new COVID deaths for the week rising to set new highs for the year, despite some good news of declines in the numbers of serious condition hospitalizations and intubations. The Thai Ministry of Health on Monday reported 3,085 new COVID hospitalizations for the week of May 28 to June 3, up 3.9% from the 2,970 reported the week before. New COVID deaths for the latest week hit 68, up 62% from the 42 reported the week before, and slightly higher than the 64 reported two weeks ago. The latest weekly new hospitalization and new deaths figures are the highest thus far in 2023. For last week, new COVID hospitalizations were averaging 440 per day, while COVID deaths were averaging nine per day. With Monday's update, new weekly COVID hospitalizations in Thailand have now increased for nine of the past 10 weeks since the country's seasonal COVID surge began at the beginning of April in the lead-up to the country's annual Song Kran holidays and its spike in domestic and international travel. The latest new hospitalizations tally is 18 times higher than the 167 reported at the beginning of April. The latest new deaths tally is nearly 23 times the 3 weekly deaths reported at the beginning of April. There were several glimmers of good news in the latest data, meanwhile. The latest 3.9% weekly increase in new COVID hospitalizations represents a smaller increase than the nearly 13% increase of two weeks ago, perhaps suggesting a slowing upward trend if that pattern holds in the coming weeks. Also, the tally of COVID hospitalized patients listed in serious condition declined 9.2% from 425 two weeks ago, which was a year-high, to 386 last week. Though the latest number is still nearly 13 times higher than the 30 serious COVID hospitalizations reported at the beginning of April. Likewise, the tally of COVID hospitalized patients requiring intubation in order to breath fell by 4% from 253 two weeks ago, also a year-high, to 243 last week. Though the latest number also is nearly 12 times higher than the 21 COVID intubations reported at the beginning of April. Monday's update represented the first time in 2023 that new weekly COVID hospitalizations in Thailand surpassed the 3,000 threshold. The Thai government last fall stopped officially counting and reporting regular COVID infections and positive tests, and since then has only counted COVID hospitalizations as the country's tally of COVID "cases." According to the latest MoPH update, cumulative COVID hospitalizations in 2023 have now totaled 21,124, while total COVID deaths for the year have now reached 494. As has been their practice of late, the Thai MoPH in their posted update provided no demographic details -- ages, vaccination status, nationalities, etc. -- about the latest COVID hospitalizations and deaths. https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/

I wouldn't buy that, nor would I eat it!

Ha!! I used to LOVE eating the former Urban Pizza New York style pizzas that were an offshoot of Pizza Company. They had a pepperoni, sausage and jalapenos version that was really tasty, and what I didn't finish the first night, I'd end up having for breakfast or snacks in ensuing days.... Surprisingly good for a local Thai operation. And then, poof!, they were gone. https://www.facebook.com/Urbanpizzathailand/

I'd wager virtually no one alive who eats food in Thailand is suffering from a lack/shortage of salt in their food. In the vast majority of cases, it's just the opposite.... Same with sugar... Hence the huge numbers of Thais with high blood pressure and/or diabetes.