TallGuyJohninBKK

As Covid-19 Continues to Spread, So Does Misinformation About It New York Times, Dec. 28, 2022 ... "What began in 2020 as rumors that cast doubt on the existence or seriousness of Covid quickly evolved into often outlandish claims about dangerous technology lurking in masks and the supposed miracle cures from unproven drugs, like ivermectin. Last year’s vaccine rollout fueled another wave of unfounded alarm. Now, in addition to all the claims still being bandied about, there are conspiracy theories about the long-term effects of the treatments, researchers say. The ideas still thrive on social media platforms, and the constant barrage, now a yearslong accumulation, has made it increasingly difficult for accurate advice to break through, misinformation researchers say. That leaves people already suffering from pandemic fatigue to become further inured to Covid’s continuing dangers and susceptible to other harmful medical content. “It’s easy to forget that health misinformation, including about Covid, can still contribute to people not getting vaccinated or creating stigmas,” said Megan Marrelli, the editorial director of Meedan, a nonprofit focused on digital literacy and information access. “We know for a fact that health misinformation contributes to the spread of real-world disease.” https://archive.ph/y9PdE Lie of the Year: Coronavirus downplay and denial December 16, 2020 "A Florida taxi driver and his wife had seen enough conspiracy theories online to believe the virus was overblown, maybe even a hoax. So no masks for them. Then they got sick. She died. A college lecturer had trouble refilling her lupus drug after the president promoted it as a treatment for the new disease. A hospital nurse broke down when an ICU patient insisted his illness was nothing worse than the flu, oblivious to the silence in beds next door. Lies infected America in 2020. The very worst were not just damaging, but deadly. ... PolitiFact’s 2020 Lie of the Year: claims that deny, downplay or disinform about COVID-19. https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/dec/16/lie-year-coronavirus-downplay-and-denial/

And in a related ruling: Supreme Court rejects challenge to Connecticut law that eliminated religious vaccination exemption WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to a 2021 Connecticut law that eliminated the state’s longstanding religious exemption from childhood immunization requirements for schools, colleges and day care facilities. The justices did not comment in leaving in place a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the contentious law. A lower court judge had earlier dismissed the lawsuit challenging the law, which drew protests at the state Capitol. Connecticut law requires students to receive certain immunizations before enrolling in school, allowing some medical exemptions. Prior to 2021, students also could seek religious exemptions. Lawmakers ended the religious exemption over concerns that an uptick in exemption requests was coupled with a decline in vaccination rates in some schools. (more) https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-vaccine-exemptions-connecticut-29927533dfb5bc82ee47668c630bc875

re the U.S. government's assessment, as noted above: "A U.S. intelligence analysis says there is insufficient evidence to prove either theory." https://apnews.com/article/china-covid-virus-origins-pandemic-lab-leak-bed5ab50dca8e318ab00f60b5911da0c "Four agencies still believe the virus was transferred from animals to humans, and two agencies — the Energy Department and the FBI — believe the virus leaked from a lab. The CIA and another agency have not made an assessment. https://apnews.com/article/covid19-united-states-intelligence-china-23dcbde0be5638556739b564ece97027 Regarding some of the mentioned politicians here, some of them believe all kinds of things, variously as yet unproven or disproven... But that doesn't stop them from continuing to spout their spiel.

The justices declined to hear cases brought by Children's Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group founded by independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday turned away two Covid-related appeals brought by Children's Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group founded by independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ... One case challenged the Food and Drug Administration's emergency authorization of Covid-19 vaccines in December 2020, while the other was brought against Rutgers University in New Jersey over its Covid-19 vaccine mandate. In the FDA case, the group claimed in court papers that Covid vaccines were "ineffective and lacked proper vetting." The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Kennedy's group did not have legal standing to sue. In the Rutgers dispute, the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the plaintiffs "have not stated any plausible claim for relief." (more) https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-rejects-appeals-brought-rfk-jr-founded-anti-vaccine-grou-rcna157775

A new poll from researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the de Beaumont Foundation shows that, despite news coverage that painted Americans as deeply divided on COVID-19 mitigation strategies, including mask wearing, there was significant common ground on these strategies in hindsight. During the pandemic, "The media made it seem there were huge swaths of population that were unreachable,” said Gillian SteelFisher, PhD, an author of the report and director of global polling in the Harvard Opinion Research Program and principal research scientist at Harvard Chan School in an interview. Masking in businesses gets 70% support SteelFisher said the polling results actually show a much more nuanced and cohesive understanding of public health efforts. Of note, most Americans said four main pandemic strategies were "generally a good idea," including mask requirements in stores and businesses (70%), healthcare worker vaccination requirements (65%), indoor dining closures (63%), and K-12 public school closures (56%). Only 20% of those polled said all four main strategies were "generally a bad idea," while 42% said all four were a good idea and 37% said only some were a good idea. (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/us-poll-shows-fair-amount-common-ground-preventive-covid-19-steps Poll: Majority of Americans say key COVID-19 policies were a good idea—but views of individual policies vary Those with negative feelings express concerns about policies staying in place for too long, economic impacts, political influence, and lack of personal choice June 17, 2024 ... Views on these pandemic policies vary by subgroup characteristics, including political party affiliation, race, ethnicity, and metropolitan status. The percentage who say all four policies were generally a good idea: Democrats (71%); Independents (44%); Republicans (18%) Black adults (62%); Hispanic/Latino adults (55%); white adults (32%) People living in urban areas (55%); suburban areas (39%); rural areas (29%) Additional findings from the poll show that Americans have differing beliefs about how severe the threat of COVID-19 was early on in the pandemic. There are very few total COVID-deniers, with only 3% saying COVID-19 was not a health threat to anyone early in the pandemic. But many say COVID-19 was not a serious health threat to everyone early on. This includes 14% who say it was a serious health threat only to people who are very old or frail and 45% who say COVID-19 was a serious health threat to more people, including people who are very old or frail as well as those with underlying medical conditions. About one third (37%) say it was a serious health threat to everyone early on. (more) https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/poll-majority-of-americans-say-key-covid-19-policies-were-a-good-idea-but-views-of-individual-policies-vary/ U.S. VIEWS ON PANDEMIC POLICIES: LESSONS FOR EMERGING OUTBREAKS (full polling report) https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/horp/wp-content/uploads/sites/94/2024/06/HSPH-dBF-ViewsonPandemicPolicies-Poll-June2024.pdf

Having symptoms after getting a COVID vaccine may indicate robust immune response June 11, 2024 "Headache, fatigue, malaise, and chills after COVID-19 vaccination are signs the immune system is marshalling a strong response against future infection, suggests a study posted today in the Annals of Internal Medicine. University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) investigators analyzed serum neutralizing antibody (nAB) levels against the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 strain and daily symptom surveys in 363 unvaccinated, never-infected adults given two doses of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in 2021. ... Higher antibody levels after second dose One and 6 months after receipt of the second vaccine dose, fatigue, malaise, chills, and headache were each tied to 1.4- to 1.6-fold higher nAB concentrations. nAB levels in participants who experienced at least seven symptoms were nearly double the levels of those who reported no symptoms. (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/having-symptoms-after-getting-covid-vaccine-may-indicate-robust-immune-response

From the above cited document that's addressing about 4 million total COVID vaccine doses given in that jurisdiction during 2021:: Page 3: "Adverse events following immunisation are defined as unwanted or unexpected events following the administration of a vaccine, which could be mild, such as a sore arm, or serious, such as anaphylaxis. AEFI also include conditions that may occur following the incorrect handling or administration of a vaccine. The fact that an adverse event occurred following immunisation is not conclusive evidence that the event was caused by a vaccine. [emphasis added] Factors such as medical history, diagnostic testing, and other medication given near the time of vaccination must be examined to help determine the likely cause of an adverse event." AND Page 10: "The reporting of adverse events following COVID-19 vaccines differed from adverse events following routine vaccines in that the majority (58%) were reported by the vaccinee or a family member, whereas the majority (79%) of routine vaccine AEFI were reported by a healthcare provider (Table 1)." AND Page 19: https://www.health.wa.gov.au/~/media/Corp/Documents/Health-for/Immunisation/Western-Australia-Vaccine-Safety-Surveillance-Annual-Report-2021.pdf

"Scientists who specialize in tracing outbreaks have published analyses of early cases and viral genomes that they say point to the pandemic’s starting at an illegal wild-animal market in Wuhan. The presence of the coronavirus in samples from the market containing genetic material linked to raccoon dogs, they have said, is consistent with that scenario." New York Times May1, 2024 https://archive.ph/Ho5gO#selection-7195.0-7199.51

Toxic: How the search for the origins of COVID-19 turned politically poisonous April 23, 2024 ... "At the heart of the question is whether the virus jumped from an animal or came from a laboratory accident. A U.S. intelligence analysis says there is insufficient evidence to prove either theory." https://apnews.com/article/china-covid-virus-origins-pandemic-lab-leak-bed5ab50dca8e318ab00f60b5911da0c US intelligence report on COVID-19 origins rejects some points raised by lab leak theory proponents June 24, 2023 ... But Friday’s report said the intelligence community has not gone further. Four agencies still believe the virus was transferred from animals to humans, and two agencies — the Energy Department and the FBI — believe the virus leaked from a lab. The CIA and another agency have not made an assessment. https://apnews.com/article/covid19-united-states-intelligence-china-23dcbde0be5638556739b564ece97027

Virologists and epidemiologists back natural origin for COVID-19, survey suggests 6 Feb 2024 No scientific dispute has ever been resolved by an opinion poll, and plenty of famous researchers have been on the wrong side of scientific history. But a group of risk experts has found a new angle on one of the most hotly contested science issues of our time—where the SARS-CoV-2 virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic came from—by conducting what it calls the first systematic survey of scientific opinion on the matter. The report, posted online on Friday, suggests virologists and other scientists with relevant expertise favor the view that the pandemic began when a natural virus jumped from an animal to a human, not because of an accident in a research lab studying or manipulating coronaviruses. The survey, like every other morsel of information around the pandemic’s origin, triggered a fierce debate on social media, where the report was both praised as “an important global survey” and panned as a “fake study.” https://www.science.org/content/article/virologists-and-epidemiologists-back-natural-origin-covid-19-survey-suggests

If you read the thread I posted, you'll see it includes the names and all the pertinent details, as of that writing in March, of FOUR different locations in BKK that were offering the XBB vaccine for a fee. All the details of each of the four, including Praram 9 and Bumrungrad hospitals, are given in the second post in that thread. All the details for the Thai Travel Clinic are listed there as well. The March post had a summary as follows: The four locations thus far confirmed to be offering the Pfizer XBB vaccine are: --Mahidol University’s Thai Travel Clinic, --the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute affiliated with the Thai Red Cross Society, --and at least two private hospitals, Bumrungrad International and Praram 9 Hospital.

Cannabis use is linked to an increased risk of more serious COVID-19 outcomes, including hospitalization and intensive care unit (ICU) admission—similar to risks from tobacco use—according to a study in JAMA Network Open from researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. ... "What we found is that cannabis use is not harmless in the context of COVID-19. People who reported yes to current cannabis use, at any frequency, were more likely to require hospitalization and intensive care than those who did not use cannabis," said senior study author Li-Shiun Chen, MD, MPH, ScD, in a press release from Washington University School of Medicine. ... Cannabis not tied to increased risk of COVID death The authors calculated risks for hospitalization, ICU admission, and all-cause mortality [during the first 2 years of the pandemic]. They found that cannabis use was significantly associated with increased risk of hospitalization (odds ratio [OR] 1.80; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.68 to 1.93) and ICU admission (OR 1.27; 95% CI, 1.14 to 1.41) but not with all-cause mortality (OR 0.97; 95% CI, 0.82-1.14.) (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/cannabis-use-linked-worse-covid-19-outcomes

Thailand MoPH Weekly COVID report for June 16-22, 2024: --1,823 new COVID hospitalizations, averaging 260 per day, down 1,058 / -36.7% from 2,881 the prior week --12 new COVID deaths, up 5 / 71.4% from 7 the prior week --732 current COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition (pneumonia symptoms), down 16 / -2.1% from 748 the prior week (dark purple) --347 current COVID patients hospitalized requiring intubation/ventilation to breathe, up 8 / 2.4% from 339 the prior week (light purple) The latest tally of 12 weekly COVID deaths is tied for the second highest weekly total thus far in 2024, and is exceeded only by the 16 COVID deaths reported for the week ending May 18. The current level of new weekly COVID hospitalizations, even with the week's huge decline, remains almost four times the number (501) at the start of the recent surge in mid-March, though now well below the year-high from two weeks ago of 2,881. The latest weekly tally of 732 serious condition COVID hospitalized patients declined slightly from the prior week's total that had been Thailand's highest since late August 2022. Last week's tally of 347 hospitalized patients requiring ventilation to breathe rose slightly and remained at Thailand's highest level since late December 2022 when the number was 352. Cumulative figures since the start of the year are COVID hospitalizations (27,949) & COVID deaths (156). Of the 12 new official COVID deaths for the past week, the MoPH is reporting that 8 were male and 4 female. By age, 11 were ages 70 and above, and 1 age 10-19. https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main The latest MoPH report on 1,823 new weekly COVID hospitalizations marks the largest one-week decline of 2024, following the prior week's year-high weekly total of 2,881. The new weekly COVID hospitalizations since this year's spring surge began in mid-March have been: March 16 -- 501 March 23 -- 630 March 30 -- 728 April 6 -- 774 April 13 -- 849 April 20 -- 1,004 April 27 -- 1,672 May 4 -- 1,792 May 11 -- 1,880 May 18 - 1,882 May 25 -- 1,801 June 1 -- 1,863 June 8 -- 2,762 June 15 -- 2,881 June 22 -- 1,823 By comparison, Thailand's key weekly COVID indicators to start 2024 were 664 new COVID hospitalizations and 4 COVID deaths for the first week of the year. Last year, Thailand had a similar spring COVID surge that saw new weekly COVID hospitalizations peak at 3,085 in early June before declining into the fall.

Of course, that's not what the posted statements that you're responding to actually said. What they actually said was: "Rare adverse events associated with the COVID vaccine have been severely overplayed and spread like wildfire on social media." AND "False and misleading information about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines on social media often exaggerates the frequency and severity of side effects. Misinformation also wrongly attributes unrelated medical events to the vaccines."

"Botched public health messaging also allowed for [COVID vaccine] misinformation to run rampant. Rare adverse events associated with the COVID vaccine have been severely overplayed and spread like wildfire on social media. "Patients need to know that like any vaccine, vaccine injury does occur, but these vaccines have a better safety profile than almost any others," Al-Aly said. "The rewards of getting the vaccine far outweigh the risks, and patients need to understand that." Medscape May 02, 2024 https://archive.ph/BxlSZ#selection-967.1-967.13 AND "False and misleading information about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines on social media often exaggerates the frequency and severity of side effects. Misinformation also wrongly attributes unrelated medical events to the vaccines. Vaccine misinformation leading individuals to decline vaccination has very likely led to many more deaths than adverse effects of the vaccines. ... There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines have contributed to excess mortality during the pandemic. Excess mortality largely coincides with peaks of SARS-CoV-2 infections, particularly during the first waves when vaccines were not available. In fact, there is strong evidence that COVID-19 vaccines save lives and prevent the serious harm associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. https://icmra.info/drupal/strategicinitiatives/vaccines/safety_statement International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities

Speaking personally, I did my best to avoid hospitals and hospital visits during the COVID pandemic here in Thailand because -- in the absence of something absolutely requiring it -- I didn't want to be around and be exposed to large numbers of other people already sick and contagious with COVID. And I didn't want/need to be adding, unless absolutely necessary, to the tremendous burdens that COVID already placed on overworked doctors and nurses here and elsewhere, many of whom became sick and many globally died in the pandemic. That's not too hard an idea to figure out.

There's no credible information that overall, over the course of the pandemic, that COVID deaths have been over-reported in first world countries. Even in places like the U.S. official COVID deaths even now are still considered to have been undercounted: Covid death toll in US likely 16% higher than official tally, study says Researchers think undercounting goes beyond overloaded health systems to a lack of awareness of Covid and low levels of testing https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/21/us-covid-death-rate-testing-reporting AND Quarter of US COVID-19 deaths could have been prevented by vaccination: analysis 04/22/22 A new analysis finds that approximately 234,000 U.S. deaths from COVID-19 since June 2021 could have been prevented if people had been vaccinated. The analysis from the Peterson Center on Healthcare and the Kaiser Family Foundation underscores the importance of vaccination, and indicates a significant portion of the heavy toll from the virus could have been prevented. The 234,000 preventable deaths translates to about one quarter of the nearly 1 million U.S. deaths from the virus since the pandemic began, and 60 percent of the deaths since June 2021, when vaccines became widely available. https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3459664-quarter-of-us-covid-19-deaths-could-have-been-prevented-by-vaccination-analysis/

And part of the reason people didn't get checked and/or treated for cancer, heart disease and other conditions during the COVID pandemic was because hospitals were being overrun with lots of contagious and sick COVID patients -- many of whom chose not to get vaccinations that would have reduced their chances of COVID illness and kept many of them out of the hospitals.

Or perhaps that Thailand, like many non-first world countries, doesn't do a very complete job of tracking, identifying and reporting the actual causes of death every time someone dies here... Instead, it's just off to the temple to be cremated PDQ. From Our World in Data on COVID deaths: "The reported number of deaths might not count all deaths that occurred. This is the case for two reasons: First, not all countries have the infrastructure and capacity to register and report all deaths. In richer countries with high-quality mortality reporting systems, nearly 100% of deaths are registered. But in many low- and middle-income countries, undercounting of mortality is a serious issue. The UN estimates that, in “normal” times, only two-thirds of countries register at least 90% of all deaths that occur, and some countries register less than 50% — or even under 10% — of deaths. During the pandemic the actual coverage might be even lower.11 https://ourworldindata.org/excess-mortality-covid#excess-mortality-during-covid-19-background

There's been some talk and industry posts lately on a supposed COVID vaccine that's being developed/tested here in Thailand (with involvement of Mahidol University) that the Thai GPO might produce at some point.... But the one they've been testing apparently was one aimed at older variants, not the currently circulating ones. So no clear idea what if anything will come from all that. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.abo2847 An inactivated NDV-HXP-S COVID-19 vaccine elicits a higher proportion of neutralizing antibodies in humans than mRNA vaccination 15 Feb 2023 Together, these data highlight the promise of NDV-HXP-S, which has moved into a Phase III trial in Thailand. --------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- Last time I checked, there still hadn't been any peer-reviewed journal article published reporting the final results of the above referenced Phase III trial on that vaccine candidate. The Bangkok Post reported in Sept 2023 that the abovementioned vaccine could be ready for use as a booster "early next year" -- meaning early 2024. But since then......

Yep, let's let the facts come out, as the Reuters report did earlier in this thread. Kobach's lawsuit, and the prior Texas one the Kansas lawsuit is modeled after, complain about COVID vaccines and about supposedly undisclosed myocarditis and miscarriage issues. And yet as the Reuters report on the Kansas lawsuit notes: "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June 2021 added a warning about myocarditis and pericarditis to the vaccine's label. The side effects are rare and most often occur in adolescent boys and young men. AND "A 2023 review of 21 studies by the U.S. National Institutes of Health concluded that COVID vaccines were not linked to miscarriage." https://www.reuters.com/legal/kansas-accuses-pfizer-misleading-public-about-covid-vaccine-lawsuit-2024-06-17/ Or the following from back in fall 2021 when COVID vaccines were first recommended for pregnant women in the U.S.: "Clinical trials and medical studies have indicated that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe for pregnant people." ... Update, Aug. 16: Citing more accumulated safety data, including an analysis of outcomes of pregnant people enrolled in v-safe, another vaccine surveillance system, the CDC recommended on Aug. 11 that pregnant people be vaccinated. The new CDC study, not yet peer-reviewed or published, found no increased risk of miscarriage with vaccination. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine had already strongly recommended vaccination for all pregnant people on July 30, given evidence “demonstrating the safe use of the COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy from tens of thousands of reporting individuals over the last several months, as well as the current low vaccination rates and concerning increase in cases.” https://www.factcheck.org/2021/06/scicheck-evidence-points-to-safety-of-covid-19-vaccines-for-pregnant-people/

One might legitimately wonder why given that Thailand and the UK both have roughly the same size populations, that the UK reported 139 COVID deaths caused primarily or at least partially by COVID for the most recent week, and Thailand only reported 7 -- and that official week-to-week COVID death figures here haven't increased at all even while weekly COVID hospitalizations here have increased five-fold. Perhaps the doctors in Thailand have found some magical treatment that keeps patients hospitalized for COVID and/or listed in serious condition with COVID -- numbers that have increased dramatically here in recent months -- from dying that isn't known or available to doctors in the UK? Or, could it possibly be instead that the Thai MoPH decided much earlier in the pandemic that they were only going to count COVID deaths as those that occurred due to respiratory complications, and apparently ignore everything else when it came to COVID death reporting? And perhaps that the Thai government in general isn't anxious to give potential tourists the idea that people are still getting sick and dying from COVID here. "Anutin said the meeting discussed that when patients died while they were on a ventilator and died of lung inflammation caused by Covid-19 virus, they could be classified as Covid-19 deaths." https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40013255 In reality, over the life of the pandemic, COVID is a disease that triggers all kinds of different systemic health issues in people, various of which also can and have proved to be fatal.

People can still source and buy legitimate N95 masks these days, though it's probably earlier to source them from suppliers in places like the U.S. than in Thailand, where Chinese fakes are rampant. One good thing about the decline of COVID deaths and hospitalizations globally in recent months, and the lifting last year of the COVID emergency declarations, is that N95 supplies are more readily available than they were earlier during the peaks of the pandemic.

And yet about 300 people per week are still dying from COVID in the U.S., where they actually do a diligent job of assessing and reporting causes of death. Yes, that number is much down from what it has been in the past. But 300 per week is not insignificant. And add onto that another more than 100 every week in the UK: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklydeaths_select_00 https://ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk/ The global COVID death toll even now continues to slowly creep higher week after week, no matter how many posters here try to deny or deflect from it.