TallGuyJohninBKK

The Lancet article linked in the OP makes it clear the guy involved was getting the actual vaccinations (of whatever number) deliberately and for "private reasons." Indeed, seems to have been somewhat proud of himself. "Here, we report on a 62-year-old male hypervaccinated individual from Magdeburg, Germany (HIM), who deliberately and for private reasons received 217 vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2 within a period of 29 months." "To investigate the immunological consequences of hypervaccination in this unique situation, we submitted an analysis proposal to HIM via the public prosecutor. HIM then actively and voluntarily consented to provide medical information and donate blood and saliva." "Throughout the entire hypervaccination schedule HIM did not report any vaccination-related side effects." https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(24)00134-8/fulltext# Source: (graphic on page 13 of the linked PDF file)

I'm guessing the origin of the graphic posted above lies elsewhere, because the cited source website doesn't show or produce side by side graphics exactly like the one posted above.... And whoever went in and chose the two time periods and then added their own text labeling to the created graphic obviously was spelling challenged, as highlighted below.

As Eisfeld noted above, your cherry picked "before and later" comparison is pretty meaningless, and says nothing about the effectiveness of COVID vaccines... Meaningless also because the end date comparison point you (or some anti-vax site) cherry picked not coincidentally was the 2nd highest deaths period of the pandemic driven by the arrival of the immune evasive Omicron variant. When there's a huge spike in COVID cases and death as occurred during the Omicron wave... raw numbers are going to spiral the case and death rates per capita... because more people are being infected and dying... Hardly any surprise about that. Source link:

What I take of it is, that there's a very loud and persistent anti-vaxer community that has grown somewhat during the pandemic... And that the majority of sensible people long ago got sick and tired of listening to and responding to their nonsense. And, that how many smiley icons posts on AseanNow do or don't receive has nothing to do with the veracity of the information being presented.

Ohh... but it's not just one absurd example. It's hundreds, probably thousands of false, debunked claims that folks in the COVID deniers / anti-vax / vaccine skeptic camp continue to espouse. 02/07/2024 NewsGuard Reports More Than 300 Vaccine-Related False Narratives Now Spreading Online Nearly four years since the outbreak of COVID-19—and amidst a constant stream of false claims about vaccine efficacy—NewsGuard reports that there are now more than 300 vaccine-related false narratives infecting social media and online search results "These are among the now more than 300 vaccine-related false narratives that NewsGuard’s healthcare information team has identified circulating on the internet, shared by 4,387 websites and other news sources and social media accounts—and counting. Two thirds of all the news and information websites that NewsGuard has rated as untrustworthy since 2018 publish healthcare misinformation." ... “Research continues to show that vaccine disinformation and misinformation have a significant death toll,” said Steven Brill, co-CEO of NewsGuard. “For example, a May 2022 analysis by researchers at Brown, Harvard, Microsoft, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, reported that if the COVID vaccine take-up rate in the United States had been 90 percent of eligible adults after the vaccines became available instead of the actual rate of 70 percent of adults being fully vaccinated, 225,427 fewer people would have died between January 2021 and April 2022.” https://www.newsguardtech.com/press/newsguard-reports-more-than-300-vaccine-related-false-narratives-now-spreading-online/

The OP report says the Thai ladyboys were throwing bottles... But I always understood that throwing high heel shoes was more of their style.

That account above from Thai PBS is not exactly what the other news reports say occurred, as the modest police presence there ("over 10" officers) seems to have been pretty much overwhelmed by the angry Thai ladyboys. From the OP Thaiger report: "At around 3:30am, police officers, numbering just over ten, arrived to establish a perimeter around the hotel and escort the first two Filipino individuals out amidst the uproar. Despite pleas from the police, communicated over loudspeakers, to avoid violence, the situation quickly descended into mayhem as the Thai group began hurling bottles at the emerging Filipino individuals. Several members of the Thai group broke through the police line and physically attacked the Filipino individuals, who were dressed in white hoodies and dark glasses. The police struggled to contain the violence, which culminated in the Thai group dragging the Filipino individuals out in front of the hotel to continue the assault." But ya, sure, the RTP had everything perfectly well under control!

Nah, it's just plain denial... COVID denial.... denial of reality. And no credible sources or data to support their "alternate" reality. Just the embracing of conspiracy theories and nonsense, such as below: Where did the microchip vaccine conspiracy theory come from anyway? "In the U.S., polling from March found that 42% of respondents believed at least one COVID-19 conspiracy theory. That survey, commissioned by the nonprofit Surgo Ventures, found that 16% of eligible Americans are a hardened group of COVID-19 skeptics steeped in conspiracy theories, while another 7% are system distrusters." And: "The Surgo survey found that 1 in 14 people believe a tracking chip might be planted with the vaccine. A poll from Axios/Ipsos, also from March, asked 1,000 American adults if the COVID-19 vaccines contained a tracking microchip. More than 1 in 4 said they didn’t know. That’s the equivalent of nearly 69 million people. https://revealnews.org/article/where-did-the-microchip-vaccine-conspiracy-theory-come-from-anyway/

You're surprised COVID deaths went up in the U.S. by January 2022 (compared to April 2020) during the latter period when the Omicron wave hit and cases exploded, leading to the second highest peak of COVID fatalities during the pandemic? "In the battle against COVID-19, Omicron has been a difficult opponent. The variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 first surfaced in the United States toward the end of 2021 and spread like wildfire, spawning new sub-strains—some more transmissible than others." https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/5-things-to-know-omicron And even so, those who chose to get vaccinated were fortunate they did: Impact of U.S. COVID-19 Vaccination Efforts: An Update on Averted Deaths, Hospitalizations, and Health Care Costs Through March 2022 April 8, 2022 "Through March 2022, we estimate that COVID-19 vaccination efforts in the U.S. prevented over 2 million deaths and 17 million hospitalizations (Table 1). There would have been an estimated 66 million additional infections and nearly $900 billion in associated health care costs in the absence of vaccination. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2022/impact-us-covid-19-vaccination-efforts-march-update The Omicron spike in the U.S. from early 2022: Source: Not to mention, a sizable portion of the U.S. population (more than 30% during that period) chose not to get fully vaccinated against COVID, and as the above report from 2022 noted: "Unvaccinated Americans have rates of preventable COVID-19 hospitalization and death that are significantly higher than those for vaccinated Americans." Less than 70% primary vaccination rate in the U.S. as of more than a year later as of May 2023, so lots of COVID unprotected people out there at the time: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations_vacc-people-booster-percent-pop5

Not at risk of any ill effects from COVID? You mean like these? COVID deaths by age group thru Sept. 2023 per US CDC: Source: Being dead would certainly seem to suggest risk. Or these? Young kids also at risk of severe illness Infants and young children under age 4 have the third-highest rate of hospitalizations by age group at 1.6% per 100,000 for the week ending Dec. 2, CDC data shows. Although children are less likely to fall severely ill and die from COVID compared to adults, they can get sick enough to be hospitalized. Schaffner said it's a fallacy for a parent to think their child does not need to get vaccinated because they are relatively healthy because children can fall severely ill. What's more, studies have shown that COVID vaccines do decrease hospitalizations among kids." https://abcnews.go.com/Health/covid-19-hospitalizations-increasing-us-rates-highest-oldest/story?id=105452104 More risk... Or these? COVID hospitalization rates in babies as bad as for seniors amid Omicron wave, study shows "Infants younger than 6 months had the same rate of hospitalization as seniors age 65 to 74 during this summer’s Omicron wave, according to a new report. The findings, published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, show that COVID-19 can still cause severe and fatal outcomes in children too young to be vaccinated. “These findings underscore the continued risk for COVID-19–associated hospitalization among infants [younger than] six months who are ineligible for vaccination,” the report said. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-11-30/covid-hospitalization-in-babies-as-bad-as-seniors-during-omicron-study-shows Even more risk... Though the risk among the elderly is in fact the greatest, all of the above certainly presents a strong case that there in fact risk for younger people, especially for the unvaccinated, as the LA Times report above illustrates. I.e., getting vaccinated for COVID, less risk.

"COVID-19 and influenza are different diseases caused by different viruses." "COVID-19 and seasonal influenza (flu) are both infectious respiratory viral infections. While some of their signs and symptoms are similar there are some important differences between them such as their ability to cause disease in different population groups. COVID-19 and flu are caused by two different kinds of viruses, their signs and symptoms and groups at risk of severe complications are similar but not entirely the same." https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-similarities-and-differences-with-influenza " What's the difference between COVID-19 and the flu? COVID-19 and flu causes COVID-19 and the flu are caused by different viruses. COVID-19 is caused by a coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2, while flu is caused by influenza A and B viruses." COVID-19 and flu spread and severity COVID-19 appears to be contagious for a longer time and to spread more quickly than the flu. With COVID-19, you may be more likely to experience loss of taste or smell. Severe illness is more frequent with COVID-19 than with the flu. Compared with historical flu cases, COVID-19 may cause more hospital stays and death for people age 18 and older, even those who have no other health challenges." https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-vs-flu/art-20490339 All the U.S. CDC did here was to shorten their post infection isolation recommendation for COVID cases, and make that recommendation the same as its existing ones for the flu and RSV virus. Nothing else. From the prior CNN report weblinked above: (CNN) -- People who test positive for Covid-19 no longer need to routinely stay away from others for at least five days, according to new guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued Friday. The change ends a strategy from earlier in the pandemic that experts said has been important to controlling the spread of the infection. The agency says it’s updating its recommendations for Covid-19 to bring them in line with its advice for other kinds of respiratory infections, including influenza and RSV. Offering a single set of unified guidance will make people more likely to follow it, agency experts said in a news briefing Friday."

Shall we instead have a discussion and debate about the actual topic of the thread, as I was trying to do above???

The current CDC announcement has nothing to do with vaccines efficiency... It was solely a statement about revised isolation policy for people recovering from COVID... But obviously, the actual subject of the thread has gotten somewhat lost in people posting unrelated stuff. And all I know is, I didn't start it... I merely answered it. From the OP: ""A case of Covid no longer means isolating for five days, according to the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Friday."

Trump's numerous false COVID statements are every bit as much on-topic here as your and others repeated posts about Biden and Maddow's public comments -- all of which have nothing to do with the CDC's latest announcement about a new COVID isolation policy.

Shudder to think what the alternative would have been -- vastly more dead Americans had they continued to have a vaccine-skeptical president for the duration of the pandemic. Biden never pandered to the anti-vax fringes, unlike Trump: This is how many lives could have been saved with COVID vaccinations in each state May 13, 2022 "One tragic fact about the nearly 1 million people who died of COVID-19 in the U.S. is that a huge share of them didn't have to. In Tennessee, 11,047 of the people who died could have survived if everyone in the state had gotten vaccinated. In Ohio, that number is 15,875. Nationally it's nearly 319,000, according a new estimate. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/05/13/1098071284/this-is-how-many-lives-could-have-been-saved-with-covid-vaccinations-in-each-sta Trump won’t say if COVID vaccines work: ‘Not a great thing to talk about’ as a Republican 06/20/23 "Former President Trump would not say whether he believes the COVID-19 vaccine works, explaining that he does not like to talk about getting the shot approved during his time in the White House because it’s a divisive issue among Republicans. Trump, in an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier conducted Monday and aired Tuesday, referenced a “Democrat friend” who asked why he does not talk more about getting the COVID-19 vaccine approved just months after the pandemic started in the United States. " https://thehill.com/homenews/4059468-trump-wont-say-if-covid-vaccines-work-not-a-great-thing-to-talk-about-as-a-republican/ AND "Former President Donald Trump often seems proud to advertise his administration's record on speedily developing COVID-19 vaccines. On the campaign trail to win another term in the White House, though, he also has knocked the use of those very vaccines. In October, for example, he unleashed a barrage of social media attacks on Ron DeSantis' pandemic record by reposting claims that the Florida governor — who is running against him in the Republican presidential primaries — was too active in vaccinating Sunshine State residents." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/republican-presidential-candidates-trump-desantis-covid-vaccine-skeptics/ Donald Trump and vaccination: The effect of political identity, conspiracist ideation and presidential tweets on vaccine hesitancy May 2020 "Donald Trump is the first U.S. President to be on the record as having anti-vaccination attitudes. Given his enormous reach and influence, it is worthwhile examining the extent to which allegiance to Trump is associated with the public's perceptions of vaccine safety and efficacy." https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022103119302628 etc etc etc.

You want to complain here at length about the minnows, but protest when anyone points out the whoppers.

"The percent of the population reporting receipt of the updated 2023-24 COVID-19 vaccine is 13.1% (95% confidence interval: 12.5-13.7) for children and 22.2% (21.7-22.7) for adults 18+, including 41.5% (40.2-42.9) among adults age 65+." Reported on Friday, March 1st, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/data-research/dashboard/vaccination-trends-adults.html

Meanwhile, here's a couple basic flaws to the CDC's recommendations, as they pertain to the U.S. From the CDC's own announcement: "As part of the guidance, CDC provides active recommendations on core prevention steps and strategies: Staying up to date with vaccination to protect people against serious illness, hospitalization, and death. This includes flu, COVID-19, and RSV if eligible." That's clearly not happening in the U.S. The new monovalent COVID vaccines were rolled out in the U.S. last fall, and now many months later, the vaccination rate for the new vaccines among adults is only about 22%, and moving upward only very slowly....and still under 50% even for senior citizens. AND "Once people resume normal activities, they are encouraged to take additional prevention strategies for the next 5 days to curb disease spread, such as taking more steps for cleaner air, enhancing hygiene practices, wearing a well-fitting mask, keeping a distance from others, and/or getting tested for respiratory viruses." Much of the above recommendations aren't happening for most people in the U.S. either. Mask wearing is the exception rather than the rule, and keeping a distance from others is going to be pretty tough for recently infected people who immediately go back to work under this new policy. And as the various news reports here note, the new isolation policy pretty much disregards the whole concept of testing for COVID, and instead is based on people's perceptions of their symptoms. "The recommendations suggest returning to normal activities when, for at least 24 hours, symptoms are improving overall, and if a fever was present, it has been gone without use of a fever-reducing medication." No mention of COVID testing as a tool or indicator there whatsoever. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/p0301-respiratory-virus.html The CDC's stated rationale for now going to the more relaxed isolation policy includes the notion that the public is going to be doing a bunch of things -- vaccination, masking, social distancing and testing -- that most of them aren't currently doing.

No, COVID is NOT the flu, and the CDC here isn't saying it is... They ARE saying that their new policy for recommended isolation after infection is going to be to have the same isolation guidelines for COVID, the flu and the RSV virus. And for those who need some reminder explanation of how and why COVID and the flu are not the same, using U.S. data as an example: Why Are We Still Flu-ifying COVID? The diseases are nowhere near the same. ... "In 2023, COVID hospitalized more than 900,000 Americans and killed 75,000; the worst flu season of the past decade hospitalized 200,000 fewer people and resulted in 23,000 fewer deaths. A recent CDC survey reported that more than 5 percent of American adults are currently experiencing long COVID, which cannot be fully prevented by vaccination or treatment, and for which there is no cure." https://archive.is/9wY9Z

Current science is saying otherwise: Study shows 43% to 58% lower prevalence of long COVID among vaccinated people February 21, 2024 A new study based on 4,605 participants in the Michigan COVID-19 Recovery Surveillance Study shows that the prevalence of long COVID symptoms at 30 and 90 days post-infection was 43% to 58% lower among adults who were fully vaccinated before infection. ... The prevalence of 30-day long COVID was 43% lower among the vaccinated group (prevalence ratio [PR], 0.57; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.49 to 0.66). The adjusted prevalence of 90-day long COVID was 58% lower among the vaccinated group (PR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.34 to 0.53). In several secondary analyses, the authors looked at prevalence after factoring in Delta-strain infections and comorbidities. In both cases, vaccinated participants were at least 40% less likely to have long COVID. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/study-shows-43-58-lower-prevalence-long-covid-among-vaccinated-people AND Vaccination Dramatically Lowers Long COVID Risk Several new studies reveal that getting multiple COVID vaccine doses provides strong protection against lingering symptoms January 3, 2024 At least 200 million people worldwide have struggled with long COVID: a slew of symptoms that can persist for months or even years after an infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. But research suggests that that number would likely be much higher if not for vaccines. A growing consensus is emerging that receiving multiple doses of the COVID vaccine before an initial infection can dramatically reduce the risk of long-term symptoms. Although the studies disagree on the exact amount of protection, they show a clear trend: the more shots in your arm before your first bout with COVID, the less likely you are to get long COVID. One meta-analysis of 24 studies published in October, for example, found that people who’d had three doses of the COVID vaccine were 68.7 percent less likely to develop long COVID compared with those who were unvaccinated. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vaccination-dramatically-lowers-long-covid-risk/

Biden and Maddow at least had the generally correct ideas about COVID at that time -- that getting vaccinated was going to reduce transmission and infection during that period of the pandemic, as numerous studies showed (including ones cited above), even though they overstated the extent. Unlike some other public figures of the time, who were FAR FAR more wrong in their public pronouncements: 'It's going to disappear': A timeline of Trump's claims that Covid-19 will vanish October 31, 2020 In his first speech after his hospitalization for Covid-19, President Donald Trump stood on a White House balcony on October 10 and made a grand declaration about the coronavirus: “It’s going to disappear. It is disappearing.” His words might have sounded more dramatic had he not been saying the same thing for eight months. Trump has stuck to the refrain no matter what has been happening with the pandemic. Since February, the President has declared at least 38 times that Covid-19 is either going to disappear or is currently disappearing. His proclamations have been wildly inaccurate. https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2020/10/politics/covid-disappearing-trump-comment-tracker/ Now four years and 1 million plus Americans later dead from COVID, I'd say, he was pretty much more wrong on COVID than almost anyone else by far.

How quickly some folks forget, or try to forget: Thailand’s hospitals under pressure as Covid crisis deepens Doctors forced to treat patients in car parks while others turned away as no beds available Mon 26 Jul 2021 20.00 EDT Thailand’s worsening Covid outbreak is placing intense pressure on hospitals, forcing doctors to treat patients in parking lots and turn away people who are severely ill. ... A third wave began in April, when infections began to spread in Bangkok nightlife venues, including clubs popular among wealthy businessmen. Since then, cases have spread across prisons, factories, construction sites and densely populated areas of the capital. In about four months, the country’s total fatalities have grown from fewer than 100 to 4,146. Some have died in their homes because no hospital beds were available, according to medical volunteers. Others have died on the streets of Bangkok, including one person whose body was left on the pavement for hours last week, provoking public outrage. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/27/thailands-hospitals-under-pressure-as-covid-crisis-deepens

How many news videos did you see back in 2021 during the peaks showing what was going on inside Thailand hospital emergency rooms? Or even interviews with hospital staff talking about what they were facing day-in and day-out? Pretty much none...

Up to several hundred COVID deaths per day at its peak in Thailand. Hospitals and ERs overwhelmed, and at times closed to new admissions because of that. Temporary morgues set up to handle the masses of dead bodies. Because the government at that time did its best to limit the flow of the most damaging info to the public, in all likelihood, here, it was worse than we were being told. How much worse would you have wanted it to be? The graph below indicates that Thailand's COVID deaths tally peaked at more than 200 people PER DAY... They were having to set up temporary morgues because they couldn't handle all the bodies back in 2021. Source link:

The graph below indicates that Thailand's COVID deaths tally peaked at more than 200 people PER DAY... They were having to set up temporary morgues because they couldn't handle all the bodies back in 2021. Source link: As cases surge, Thai hospital uses containers to store bodies July 31, 2021 BANGKOK, July 31 (Reuters) - A Thai hospital morgue overwhelmed by COVID-19 deaths has begun storing bodies in refrigerated containers, resorting to a measure it last took in a devastating 2004 tsunami, as the country grapples with its biggest coronavirus outbreak. ... "What makes us feel extremely sad is that we were not able to help people who died because of lacking access to medical treatment," he added. Hospitals in Bangkok and the surrounding provinces are running out of capacity due to the surge in infections. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/cases-surge-thai-hospital-uses-containers-store-bodies-2021-07-31/