TallGuyJohninBKK

That's where the premise of the OP article is wrong, or at least overstated to a significant extent. I live in that area and have for years. The BMA and the national government, well before COVID came along, had been on a campaign to "clean up" the various major street sidewalks, and limiting and pushing the vendors that once used them off into other places. No doubt, the loss of tourists due to COVID has worsened the economic plight of many street vendors and small business people. But when it comes to the sidewalks in BKK, the governments came well in advance of the pandemic.

Wow! That was great reading... Kinda like, a UK version of the "Greatest Hits of COVID Misinformation," one by one debunked by the physician author. Many of our most favorite COVID misinformation bits are in there.... Somehow, though, I think he failed the cover the one about COVID vaccines, microchips and world domination.... Maybe he ran out of space to include that one, certainly a favorite among the "do your own research" crowd. ????

Sure about that?

"You say either and I say either, You say neither and I say neither Either, either neither, neither Let's call the whole thing off. You like potato and I like potahto You like tomato and I like tomahto Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto. Let's call the whole thing off."

So, in the interest of international amity (or is that emnity?), let's see if I've got this right? Thailand has its zebra crossings as shown in the OP: The UK has its zebra crossings: And the U.S. has its pedestrian crossings! ???? ????

Well, this thread certainly has been an education for me, as an American... Lately, been catching up watching the full British TV series "Endeavour," the prequel to the "Inspector Morse" series. And, there's a funny segment in one of the episodes that has a frumpy police commander having to do TV public service announcements showing how to use "Pelican Crossings" to help protect school children back in the UK in the 1960s.... And I was sitting there saying to myself, "Why the heck are they calling those things Pelican crossings"? ???? https://endeavourfiles.tumblr.com/post/664155324021932032/if-the-pelican-can-so-can-you And the answer is... But, shouldn't it be "PelicOn"??? ???? Meanwhile, on that point: "A pelican crossing, or archaically pelicon crossing (PEdestrian LIght CONtrolled), is a type of pedestrian crossing with traffic signals for both pedestrians and vehicular traffic, activated by call buttons for pedestrians. It is found in the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, the island of Ireland, Indonesia and Australia.[1]: rule 196 [2][3][4]Previously, it had been permitted in Great Britain, however new pelican crossings are not permitted for new installation anymore. Puffin or pedex crossings must be used instead.[5]: 142  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelican_crossing Puffin or pedex???? Oh Lord!!! ????

So are you volunteering to personally lead the replenishing and renewal?

Meanwhile, Moderna has launched their clinical trial for their Omicron flavored booster vaccine: "Moderna said it expects to enroll about 600 people in the study, which will take place at up to 24 sites in the US. Some participants will have already received two doses of Moderna's vaccine, and some will have received a booster shot." https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/26/health/moderna-omicron-antibodies-booster/index.html "Moderna said it would study its Omicron-specific booster in adults aged 18 years and older." https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/moderna-starts-trial-testing-omicron-specific-booster-shot-2022-01-26/ I looked at Moderna's corporate announcement, and it also appears to say only adults age 18 and above, but no specifics beyond that. https://investors.modernatx.com/news/news-details/2022/Moderna-Announces-First-Participant-Dosed-in-Phase-2-Study-of-Omicron-Specific-Booster-Candidate-and-Publication-of-Data-on-Booster-Durability-Against-Omicron-Variant/default.aspx

In reading thru the various citations above, it was a bit hard to find a clear explanation of why... though reasons were kind of hinted at at various points: --not wanting "comorbitities" in older people to bias the outcomes --not enough older people in the interest pools for trials participation --concern by older people about vaccine reactions, or the vaccine manufacturers concerned that non-vaccine related reactions might harm their results?. But all in all, I had a hard time finding a cogent explanation of WHY. COVID is clearly disproportionately impactful toward the elderly. So why wouldn't you want them as a sizable component of any clinical trials?

The exclusion, or underrepresentation, of senior citizens from COVID vaccine trials seems to have been the subject of a lot of discussion and debate in scientific circles. Not to mention also underrepresentation of minority groups. Considering that both are more highly impacted by COVID illness. September 28, 2020 The Exclusion of Older Persons From Vaccine and Treatment Trials for Coronavirus Disease 2019—Missing the Target Older adults are at greatest risk of severe disease and death due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Globally, persons older than 65 years comprise 9% of the population,1 yet account for 30% to 40% of cases and more than 80% of deaths.2 Unfortunately, there is a long history of exclusion of older adults from clinical trials. In response, the National Institutes of Health instituted the Inclusion Across the Lifespan policy, requiring the inclusion of older adults in clinical trials.3 Thus, we reviewed all COVID-19 treatment and vaccine trials on http://www.clinicaltrials.gov to evaluate their risk for exclusion of older adults (≥65 years). ... Our findings indicate that older adults are likely to be excluded from more than 50% of COVID-19 clinical trials and 100% of vaccine trials. Such exclusion will limit the ability to evaluate the efficacy, dosage, and adverse effects of the intended treatments. We acknowledge that some exclusions for severe or uncontrolled comorbidities will be essential to protect the health and safety of older adults." https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2771091 Older Adults, Minorities Underrepresented in COVID-19 Vaccine Trials "Sharon K Inouye, M.D., a geriatrician at Boston's Hebrew Senior Life and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, wants a similar goal set for older adult enrollment. People ages 65-plus account for about 16 percent of the U.S. population, according to the latest census estimates. But given the devastating and disproportionate toll the virus has had on older adults, Inyoue says around 40 percent of clinical trial participants should represent this group. "What are you seeing in the trials today? Nowhere near 40 percent,” Inyoue says. “And so that is extremely worrying to me." "Efforts to increase participation among older adults and minorities in the current vaccine trials are not unique to the coronavirus pandemic. Both populations have long been underrepresented in trials across a range of treatments. And “the entire vaccine community has been grumpy about that for some time,” says William Schaffner, professor of medicine and an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University." https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2020/range-of-subjects-in-vaccine-trials.html South Florida Sun Sentinel | Jan 22, 2021 at 11:04 AM "Until now, research about the vaccine’s effect on older people has been minimal and short term. Of the 21,720 people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine rather than the placebo in its phase 3 trial, 7,971 or 37% were over age 55. Pfizer’s study did not include a breakout for those 65 and older. In the Moderna phase 3 trial, of the 15,181 volunteers given the vaccine rather than the placebo, 3,763 or 25 percent were older than 65." Weblink to source

Regarding COVID and children in the U.S., as reported in December 2021: https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/covid19-and-other-leading-causes-of-death-in-the-us/ "Even among children age 1-14, who are at relatively low risk of severe illness compared to older adults, COVID-19 was in the top 10 leading causes of death from August through October 2021. Among children age 5-14, COVID-19 ranked as the number 6 leading cause of death in August and the number 5 leading cause of death in September. Among children ages 1-4, COVID-19’s rank rose from number 13 to number 7 among leading causes of death in August 2021 and held there in September." OK, so for children age 5-14, COVID was the 5th and 6th leading cause of death in the U.S. last fall. For the population at large, Kaiser reports: "We find that COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in November 2021. We also find that in October, COVID-19 was the number 1 cause of death for people age 45-54 and in the top 7 leading causes of death for other age groups, aside from infants. We also estimate that 163,000 COVID-19 deaths could have been prevented by vaccination since June 2021, when safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines were widely available to all adults in the U.S."

Ya, that video is quite an eye-opener, and would definitely put me off eating any farmed salmon from anywhere, frankly., given the questionable nature of the contaminated, antibiotic dosed pellet food used in fish farms. I looked at the Thammachat Seafood site on FoodPanda this morning, and they had on offer a lot of "fresh" salmon from New Zealand at prices around 2,000b per kilo. But as far as I could tell, it's likely all farm raised.

But it makes them APPEAR to be doing something in response. And as we all know here, mere appearances outrank truth and reality every time.

The wife and I were in HH for the Christmas/New Year's week. There were plenty of pubs/restaurants serving alcohol just fine then, as they had been doing before for some time. I assume, the same as has occurred in Bangkok, this HH order is only being applied to the bar-only places and related girlie places. But the food and alcohol combo places are plodding onward.

In short, the WHO's issue with younger children vaccinations isn't one of safety, but rather, their view that priority should first be given to risk populations in vaccine lacking countries. If they had any serious vaccine safety issue relating to younger children, they would NOT have included the following in their recommendations, but they did: "Children and adolescents 5-17 years of age Children 5 -17 years of age with comorbidities that put them at higher risk of serious COVID-19 disease should be offered vaccination."

As for the vaccine safety issue for ages 5-11, this is what the WHO said in their main report as updated Jan 21, 2022. https://apps.who.int/iris/rest/bitstreams/1406390/retrieve "A Phase 3 trial was completed in children aged 5-11 years and showed similar immunogenicity and reactogenicity as in young adults. Efficacy against symptomatic disease was 90.7% (CI 67.7; 98.3). No cases of myocarditis were reported among 3,082 trial participants aged 5–11 years with ≥7 days of follow-up after receipt of dose 2, although the study was not powered to assess the risk for myocarditis. Early post-introduction safety data from the U.S. show that the risk of myocarditis is lower in this age group compared to adolescents. No post-introduction vaccine effectiveness studies for the age group 5-11 years are currently available." And further: "Children and adolescents 5-17 years of age Children 5 -17 years of age with comorbidities that put them at higher risk of serious COVID-19 disease should be offered vaccination. For healthy children and adolescents, COVID-19 is usually a mild disease. Children can experience significant morbidity such as MIS-C even after mild or asymptomatic infection, but this is rare. In accordance with the WHO Prioritization Roadmap, WHO recommends that countries consider using BNT162b2 in children aged 5- 17 years only when high vaccine coverage (primary series and boosters) has been achieved in the higher priority-use groups. Countries should consider the individual and population benefits of immunising children and adolescents in their specific epidemiological and social context when developing their COVID-19 immunisation policies and programmes (29)."

It's reflective of the WHO's ongoing view as expressed on page 57 of the document you cited: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-vaccines-SAGE-recommendation-BNT162b2-GRADE-ETR-annexes "As a matter of global equity, as long as many parts of the world are facing extreme vaccine shortage, WHO recommends that countries that have achieved high vaccine coverage in the high-risk populations consider global sharing of BNT162b2 vaccine before proceeding to vaccination of children and adolescents who are at low risk for severe disease." Others take a different view on that. But the same document also says of the Pfizer vaccinations for ages 5-11, on page 53: "BNT162b2 was well tolerated in children aged 5 to 11 years and showed a similar pattern to that seen in those aged 16 to 25 years. Pain at the injection site, fatigue, headaches, chills, joint pain and muscle pain were the most predominant effects, as well as fever. Injection-site pain was the most common local reaction, occurring in 71 to 74% of BNT162b2 recipients. Severe injection-site pain after the first or second dose was reported in 0.6% of BNT162b2 recipients and in no placebo recipients. One serious adverse event in a BNT162b2 recipient participant occurred and it was considered to be unrelated to the vaccine. No deaths or adverse events leading to withdrawal were reported. Post-introduction data, after administration of 8.7 million doses to children ages 5–11-years suggest that the vaccine was well tolerated. As of 18 December 2021, 12 cases of myocarditis were observed with a male dominance, mostly after the second dose. Reporting rates for males ages 5– 11-years were substantially lower than for males ages 12–15 and 16– 17-years."

From Johns Hopkins latest COVID update for Jan. 25: "VACCINE FOR UNDER-5 CHILDREN Many in the US continue to eagerly wait for the authorization of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for children under age 5." "More than 250 physicians recently sent a letter to the FDA concerning the issue and suggesting 2 options to expedite the process, such as joint decision making for parents and physicians to immunize children with off-label use of the Pfizer-BioNTech 10 μg dose vaccine formulation or removing the age de-escalation barrier to vaccine approval. "The letter also urges the FDA to review and authorize the Moderna vaccine for children aged 6 months to 5 years as soon as data become available showing the vaccine is safe and effective, arguing the Moderna vaccine offers better protection against the Omicron variant and severe disease than other vaccines." https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/resources/COVID-19/COVID-19-SituationReports.html

COVID INFECTIONS "Rates of COVID-19 cases were lowest among fully vaccinated persons with a booster dose, compared with fully vaccinated persons without a booster dose, and much lower than rates among unvaccinated persons during ... December 2021 (148.6 [fully vaccinated with booster], 254.8 [fully vaccinated], and 725.6 [unvaccinated] per 100,000 population, respectively." COVID DEATHS "During October–November, age-standardized IRRs for deaths among unvaccinated persons were 53.2 compared with those in fully vaccinated persons with a booster dose and 12.7 compared with persons without a booster dose; "Because of reporting lags, the influence of the Omicron variant on COVID-19–associated deaths by vaccination status in December could not be evaluated."

The Pfizer CEO said just the other day he hoped they'll be able to develop a newer COVID vaccine that will be durable for a year, including better protecting against Omicron. So essentially, comparable to the annual flu vaccines. But obviously we're not there yet. Separately, Pfizer today announced the start of clinical trials on their new vaccine version specifically tailored to protect against Omicron. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220124005896/en/ Pfizer and BioNTech Initiate Study to Evaluate Omicron-Based COVID-19 Vaccine in Adults 18 to 55 Years of Age First participants enrolled in clinical trial received Omicron-based vaccine candidate as a two-dose primary series and as a booster dose

Excellent post above. Everything you've recounted matches with everything I've read in medical and science circles on that subject. Extremely rare in connection with vaccinations, usually short-term symptoms and usually resolves without long-term effects, and far far less of a risk than the risks of catching COVID and the ensuing health risks that can entail.

Have a look at this documentary. The first part goes off a diversion to pangasius farming in Vietnam. But then it returned to Norwegian farmed salmon at about the 18 minute mark. Calling farmed salmon the most polluted food in the world. And within the report, there's a French scientist who measured industrial/chemical pollution found in various food products and is showing those levels on the screen cap image chart shown below, with the farmed salmon levels in the far right column (23:20 point in the video).

I've pretty much given up on eating it here over the years for several reasons. 1. The difficulty of telling what's really decent vs what's not. 2. The inability to fully trust the product labeling and food handling practices here, especially for something as sensitive as fresh seafood. 3. And if I did find something that was legitimately good, it probably would be priced here beyond what I'd reasonably be willing to pay.

This U.S. PBS segment on wild vs farmed salmon, despite its series title "Serving Up Science", doesn't strike me as a shining example of science based reporting. But it does seem to support -- in general (see the screenshot below) -- the coloration issue mentioned above about farmed vs wild, though the host notes that can vary by salmon species. The odd part is, in viewing the whole piece, while they talk about the issue of industrial contamination in seawater fish, there's zero mention in the whole piece about the whole antibiotics, chemicals, artificial coloring issues related to farmed salmon.

Another one of those? Like the TV actress before... What a scam / sham / etc...