TallGuyJohninBKK

The Thai Red Cross vaccination clinic in BKK -- formally known as the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute -- does indeed offer the updated XBB COVID vaccines for a fee, along with several other clinics or hospitals around BKK, at last check: Contact and other details below:

You've got a lot you're trying to forget. And in my opinion, the millions who lost their lives because of COVID deserve to be remembered, not forgotten, and lessons learned. Per the New York Times in March: The Fourth Anniversary of the Covid Pandemic "The worst pandemic in a century had begun. ... The true toll Covid’s confirmed death toll — more than seven million people worldwide — is horrific on its own, and the true toll is much worse. The Economist magazine keeps a running estimate of excess deaths, defined as the number of deaths above what was expected from pre-Covid trends. The global total is approaching 30 million. This number includes both confirmed Covid deaths and undiagnosed ones, which have been common in poorer countries. It includes deaths caused by pandemic disruptions, such as missed doctor appointments that might have prevented other diseases. The isolation of the pandemic also caused a surge of social ills in the U.S., including increases in deaths from alcohol, drugs, vehicle crashes and murders." (more) https://archive.ph/niVyc

The journal BMJ Public Health, which originally published the disputed study cited in this thread, now has publicly posted its formal "Expression of concern" regarding the study, and announced it is formally investigating "the quality and messaging" of the study, as follows: Correction | Published: 14 June 2024 Expression of concern: Excess mortality across countries in the western world since the COVID-19 pandemic: ‘Our World in Data’ estimates of January 2020 to December 2022 "The integrity team and editors are investigating issues raised regarding the quality and messaging of this work. The Princess Máxima Centre, which is listed as the affiliation of three of the four authors, is also investigating the scientific quality of this study.1 The integrity team has contacted the institution regarding their investigation. Readers should also be alerted to misreporting and misunderstanding of the work. It has been claimed that the work implies a direct causal link between COVID-19 vaccination and mortality. This study does not establish any such link. The researchers looked only at trends in excess mortality over time, not its causes. The research does not support the claim that vaccines are a major contributory factor to excess deaths since the start of the pandemic. Vaccines have, in fact, been instrumental in reducing the severe illness and death associated with COVID-19 infection." https://bmjpublichealth.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000282eoc

Thailand has had weekly new COVID hospitalizations increase five-fold over the past three months to 2,881 last week, and serious condition hospitalizations for COVID right now are at their highest level in a year... and yet, Thailand's official weekly COVID deaths reported have mostly remained in the single digits for most of that time. And the MoPH has in the past indicated it was going to take a narrow approach to what it would consider official COVID deaths. Meanwhile, the UK, with roughly the same size population in Thailand, is regularly reporting 100+ COVID deaths per week where COVID is listed as a cause on the death certificates... Interesting distinction between COVID deaths in those two countries and how they're reported. UKHSA data dashboard https://ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk/

Except for.... Comorbidities, multimorbidity and COVID-19 "Modeling studies have estimated that 1.7 billion people globally (22% of the population) have at least one comorbidity that is associated with an increased risk of developing severe COVID-19." https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02156-9 AND "A study carried out on 5700 COVID-19 patients from 12 hospitals in the USA found diabetes to be the third most common comorbidity (~34% of patients), compared to hypertension (56%) and obesity (42%)." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10456773/ The above citations indicate pretty substantial shares of the population at large having some level of COVID comorbidity risk.

Per the US CDC: "Total COVID-19 deaths, accounting for underreporting, are likely to be higher than, but of the same order of magnitude as, total influenza deaths. Supporting this idea, the cumulative rate of COVID-19-associated hospitalizations during October 1, 2023–February 3, 2024, was 97 per 100,000 population, compared with 52 per 100,000 influenza-associated hospitalizations and 44 per 100,000 RSV hospitalizations. In-hospital death was about 1.8 times higher for COVID-19-associated hospitalizations (4.6%) vs. those for influenza (2.6%). https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/background/index.html

That number/share is just the number of UK HCWs who chose to get (or not get) a COVID vaccine in the UK government's semi-annual (twice a year) COVID vaccination campaign last fall. It doesn't tell how many of those folks got vaccinated months before in the spring, or how many will get vaccinated in this current spring's UK COVID vaccination campaign. It also doesn't tell WHY those who didn't get vaccinated chose not to... Perhaps because a lot of staff HCWs tend to be among younger age groups, and the UK government increasingly has only been targeting the elderly for government provided COVID vaccines. One thing I do know -- prior news reporting has indicated that somewhere around 90% of the UK's government health care workers have been COVID vaccinated with either their first and/or second vaccine doses. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-56291564

And that studies repeatedly have shown than being up-to-date on COVID XBB variant vaccinations reduces people's risk of serious COVID illness vs. those who haven't received the latest vaccine. Latest COVID-19 vaccines reduce hospitalization risk by around half "The latest COVID-19 vaccines reduce the risk for hospitalization or visits to an ED or urgent care by around 50%, according to interim data published in MMWR. ... Overall, VE against COVID-19-associated ME or hospitalization was 51% (95% CI = 47%-54%) in the first 7 to 59 days after receiving an updated vaccine dose and 39% (95% CI = 33%-45%) in the 60 to 119 days after an updated vaccine dose. https://www.healio.com/news/infectious-disease/20240301/latest-covid19-vaccines-reduce-hospitalization-risk-by-around-half or the following from the U.S. CDC: "Protective tools, like vaccines and treatments, that decrease risk of COVID-19 disease (particularly severe disease) are now widely available. COVID-19 vaccination reduces the risk of symptomatic disease and hospitalization by about 50% compared to people not up to date on vaccination. Over 95% of adults hospitalized in 2023-2024 due to COVID-19 had no record of receiving the latest vaccine." https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/background/index.html#:~:text=Over 95% of adults hospitalized,of receiving the latest vaccine

I agree. I said several times here that the U.S. went too far and strayed into non-factual claims in several respects. But their comments also were correct about the often substandard quality or outright counterfeit versions of Chinese PPE, and that Sinovac was in fact less effective against COVID than the West's mRNA vaccines.

Curious that the Thai local news media -- thus far at least -- seem to be ignoring this latest COVID update from the Thai Ministry of Public Health -- 2,881 new COVID hospitalizations last week, the highest number in a year. But the MoPH nonetheless went on Facebook earlier today to warn about the risks of COVID in schools and amid rising COVID hospitalizations, in particular the health risks for what they call the "608" group -- meaning those age 60 and above, and those having any of a group of eight chronic health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. that put them at higher risks for bad COVID outcomes. Source link: Per Facebook Translate: "The main strain that is being outbreak is the JN strain. 1 and the species of offspring that has the ability to spread more easily, non-severe symptoms, similar to common flu. I would like to emphasize that schools screen students every morning if they have respiratory symptoms, wear a hygienic mask and inform parents to take them for treatment or if the illness is found in a group, inform the local public health officer immediately. People with risk symptoms such as fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat should be checked early with ATK if infection is found. ย์. It is better to wear anti-infection masks, isolate yourself from others, and consult doctors urgently, especially in the 608 group, because if the infection risk group can have serious symptoms and fatalities."

I'd call your attention to this post from earlier in this thread... The U.S. was wrong in what they did with this disinformation campaign, but undoubtedly still were correct in a lot of what they said (though they went too far/over the top in trying to discredit China's less effective Sinovac COVID vacccine.

Well, we know enough about the symptoms of COVID to know that it has 748 people in Thailand currently hospitalized for COVID in serious condition, per today's update from the Thai MoPH in dark purple color below. Not to mention the 7 new official COVID deaths reported for last week in gray color below. https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

Also in the news today -- not Thaksin this time, but the current one now: Thai PM takes sick leave to recover from COVID-19 infection "Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is taking a sick leave after being diagnosed with COVID-19. Government Spokesman Chai Wacharonke said the prime minister fell ill, has felt tired since last Friday and went to see a doctor, who diagnosed a COVID infection. He was advised him to take a rest for a few days to avoid infecting others. He said he expects the prime minister to be able to return to work as normal on Wednesday." (more) https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thai-pm-takes-sick-leave-to-recover-from-covid-19-infection/ Seems there's still a virus going round and making people sick...

I have a higher COVID vaccine count than Mike above, and have regularly been wearing my N95 face masks when away from home and around others since the COVID pandemic began. Haven't been noticeably sick from anything in the past four years. Knock on wood. I'm going to continue on with what's been working for me as I go further into the 60s age range and hopefully beyond.

The full posts I've done on Thailand's weekly COVID reports always include whatever info is available on officially reported COVID deaths. And there's no clear trend in any direction, with the weekly reported death numbers bouncing up and down randomly. The latest full post, linked below, noted the following: "The latest weekly COVID deaths total has remained in the same typical single-digit range seen most of this year, despite the large increases in hospitalizations. The Thai MoPH in the past has adopted a relatively narrow definition of the types of deaths it will count as official COVID deaths. Of the 7 new official COVID deaths for the past week, the MoPH is reporting that 2 were male and 5 female. By age, 4 were ages 70 and above, 1 age 60-69, and 2 were ages 20-49." https://aseannow.com/topic/1326140-hospitalizations-climb-in-thailands-spring-2024-covid-surge/?do=findComment&comment=18995834 --------------------------------------- It's also worth noting by comparison that the UK, a country with roughly the same population as Thailand but better public health record keeping, has regularly been reporting more than 100 COVID deaths per week lately. Gives pause for wonder about Thailand's reporting... But then again, the UK hasn't seen a five-fold increase in new COVID hospitalizations over the past three months like Thailand has.... In the UK the COVID deaths and hospitalizations numbers pretty much stay in sync... Here, for unknown reasons, the hospitalization numbers spiral dramatically upward, but the death counts don't. Hmmmm. Recent COVID deaths in the UK: https://ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk/topics/covid-19#deaths

That's true to a certain extent. But IMHO, better to keep catching up and do what you can to protect your health vs. failing to do so, and increasing your risks of COVID hospitalization or worse... Especially for those with COVID risk conditions that include older ages, a multitude of chronic health conditions including high blood pressure or being overweight, etc etc. -- that when you add them all together, ends up covering a large portion of the overall population.

Some here seemingly would have everyone ignore facts and reality like the following: "The latest MoPH report on new weekly COVID hospitalizations shows them continuing a long upward climb since mid-March. The weekly tallies during that recent period 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" https://aseannow.com/topic/1326140-hospitalizations-climb-in-thailands-spring-2024-covid-surge/?do=findComment&comment=18995834 https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

Look at the size of the orange columns for COVID deaths. Then look at the size of the blue columns for flu deaths. Not even close. Also:

Yes in terms of continual mutations. Nope in terms of comparable impact: https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/data-research/dashboard/illness-severity.html

Re your question above, the last time I checked, the latest currently available XBB variant COVID vaccine is available at several locations around Bangkok on a pay for service basis, unlike the past COVID vaccine campaigns run by the government where all the COVID vaccines were free to the public. Here's a link on where the current COVID vaccines should still be available here:

Thailand hasn't had a national COVID vaccinations campaign for the general public since 2022... So that means, the vast majority of people in the country with few exceptions are not up-to-date on COVID vaccinations and have not received the latest currently available vaccine version aimed at the more recent XBB variant. In the west at least in places like the U.S. and UK, there will be new versions of the COVID vaccines released later this fall aimed at protecting against the latest KP.2 / JN.1 variants... But Thailand thus far has shown no signs of any plans to make those vaccines widely available to the public. PS - It's not like COVID vaccinations offer some kind of magical permanent protection. The COVID virus keeps changing/mutating, and the vaccine versions typically protect well for about 6 months before the protection wanes substantially... We're likely heading toward a similar situation as with the flu vaccines, where a new version is produced and given annually to reflect the latest strains of that virus, and to top-up the provided protection.

And subsequently corrected his earlier misstatements in later congressional testimony, which clearly showed that there was in fact science behind the social distancing policy adopted in the U.S., as the 2020 US GAO report I cited above clearly shows. But for some reason, you choose to quote his original mistaken comments, and ignore the subsequent clarifications and corrections he made, which were widely reported in the news as well.

Ahh, the good old Rupert Murdoch NY Post... Fauci was wrong when he originally made that off-handed comment above, and he later clarified his remarks in subsequent testimony before a House subcommittee, which I'm suspecting you knew.... In his clarification, Fauci noted that he wasn't involved in the drafting of the U.S. social distancing policy, which in fact came from the CDC. And when he said not backed by scientific data, he meant and clarified, there had not been randomized clinical trials done. "Fauci sought to clarify on Monday that the 6-foot guidance came from the CDC and was based on droplet research, telling lawmakers: "It had little to do with me since I didn't make the recommendation and my saying 'there was no science behind it' meant there was no clinical trial behind that." Though asked if social distancing requirements and other public health measures to reduce transmission saves lives, Fauci said "definitely." https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/republicans-poised-grill-anthony-fauci-covid-19-response/story?id=110677611 And of course, there had been much research done on social distancing policies for viruses long before COVID came along, as this 2020 report by the U.S. GAO recounts: "A CDC guideline based on historical studies of selected infections says that the area of highest risk is within 3 feet of an infected person. Some studies suggest a buffer of 6 feet may further reduce risk. Other studies examining droplet dispersion in sneezing and coughing found they can go more than 6 feet. Also, viral material may persist in the air within a room for up to 3 hours." https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-20-545sp

When new weekly COVID hospitalizations have gone from 501 in mid-March to 2,881 as of last week, and are at their highest level in the past year, I'd certainly say something substantial is going on. Lots of people ending up hospitalized with COVID, and almost 750 of them as of today's update listed in "serious" condition. Meanwhile, I guess we'll just have to wonder whether and how the two COVID deaths reported for last week in the 20-49 age range were or weren't within your definition of "at risk."

Since you asked... the latest weekly COVID update is out today from the Thai MoPH: https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main The Thai Ministry of Public Health on Monday reported another week of worsening COVID conditions in the country, as weekly new COVID hospitalizations rose again to 2,881, the highest level of the past year, and new deaths and COVID cases currently hospitalized in serious condition both increased as well. The new COVID status report for last week June 9-15 shows new COVID hospitalizations rising 4.3% from 2,762 two weeks ago to an average of 412 per day. The weekly counts of new COVID hospitalizations now have risen week-over-week for 13 of the past 14 weeks since mid-March, when the tally stood at 501. Also in the latest report, COVID deaths rose from 5 to 7 over the past two weeks. The count of COVID patients currently hospitalized in serious condition rose 12.8% from 663 two weeks ago to 748 last week, and hit its highest level since late August 2022 when that count was 763. (more) https://aseannow.com/topic/1326140-hospitalizations-climb-in-thailands-spring-2024-covid-surge/?do=findComment&comment=18995834 Cumulative COVID hospitalizations in Thailand thus far this year -- 26,126 Cumulative COVID deaths in Thailand thus far this year -- 144 Of the 7 newly reported COVID deaths for last week, two were in the age 20-49 range, per the Thai MoPH.