TallGuyJohninBKK

More piling on The Telegraph's study-publisher discredited report: How a blunder by a respected medical journal is fueling an anti-vaccine lie "The paper published by the respected British Medical Journal earlier this month was eye-opening, to say the least. It questioned why excess deaths in Western countries remained unusually elevated during the COVID-19 pandemic even after vaccines were introduced in 2021. The implication seemed clear: Rather than reducing cases and deaths, the COVID vaccines had fueled the tragic tide. That finding was picked up within 48 hours by the Telegraph, a conservative British daily. It leaped across the Atlantic Ocean to the New York Post, a part of the Murdoch media empire, one day later. ... Here's what you need to know: There is no truth to this finding, or to the anti-vaccine camp's interpretation of the BMJ paper." (more) Los Angeles Times https://www.aol.com/news/blunder-respected-medical-journal-fueling-100025654.html

From one of Connda's cited media reports above in the OP: "To be clear: I might well find it plausible that the COVID vaccine mostly only reduces the severity of the illness. Or at least I don’t find such an allegation obviously implausible; again, I’m not a scientist and haven’t reviewed all the data. But Jacobson nowhere says that the government can only require a vaccine when it’s 100% effective (which, even back then, it wasn’t): it only says that it’s constitutional for the government to require injections in order to reduce transmission in the face of a public health epidemic. I haven’t seen anything cited by plaintiffs or the panel that suggests to me that the was either not an epidemic (there was) or that COVID vaccines didn’t reduce, in at least a non-trivial way (and likely in a massive way), the rate of transmission of that deadly virus. If so, Jacobson controls. ... That’s my reaction to today’s opinion. We’ll see in due course whether the Ninth Circuit takes it en banc. (My guess is that it will.) https://www.openlegalblogarchive.org/2024/06/07/health-freedom-defense-fund-v-carvalho-9th-cir-june-7-2024/

Fact check: The mRNA coronavirus vaccine is a vaccine, and it is designed to prevent illness February 22, 2021 Reuters Fact Check https://archive.ph/cY5F9

To be a "vaccine" (in today's era of medicine) does not mean the given vaccine has to be shown to prevent transmission of an illness. The flu vaccine does not, and never has, AFAIK, completely prevented transmission of the flu, though it does, much like the COVID vaccines, reduce the vaccinated person's risk of getting sick typically by in the range of 40-60%, depending on the year. The Trump appointed judges here would seem to have a lot to learn about modern medicine in general and vaccines in particular. And I haven't heard of anyone going to court trying to argue that the flu vaccines really aren't vaccines because they don't prevent transmission of the flu. "While vaccine effectiveness (VE) can vary, recent studies show that flu vaccination reduces the risk of flu illness by between 40% and 60% among the overall population during seasons when most circulating flu viruses are well-matched to those used to make flu vaccines." https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/vaccineeffect.htm

"The school district can appeal the ruling to a larger panel of judges on the 9th Circuit, which covers nine states and has been considered the most liberal of the nation’s appellate circuits. If the new ruling stands, the lawsuit would return to the U.S. District Court for Central Central California in Los Angeles court for further arguments. “We are reviewing the 9th Circuit ruling and assessing the district’s options,” a spokesperson for the district said late Friday." https://calmatters.org/education/2024/06/covid-vaccine-mandate-schools/

The original COVID vaccines were never approved on the basis of their ability to "stop transmission." They were approved on the basis of their ability to prevent/reduce COVID illness and death, which they in fact have consistently done. The original effectiveness in reducing transmission, which did occur more substantially earlier in the pandemic, was an added, somewhat unexpected benefit. Fact Check: Preventing transmission never required for COVID vaccines’ initial approval; Pfizer vax did reduce transmission of early variants February 13, 2024 "To get emergency approval, companies needed to show that the vaccines were safe and prevented vaccinated people from getting ill. They did not have to show that the vaccine would also prevent people from spreading the virus to others. Once the vaccines were on the market, independent researchers in multiple countries studied people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and did show that vaccination reduced transmission of variants circulating at the time." ... At the time governments were negotiating advance purchases of vaccine in 2020, the European Medicines Agency had already laid out requirements for an application for conditional marketing authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine, clinical trials were underway, and tests to show the vaccine prevented onward transmission were not required of any vaccine maker. ... The U.S. Food and Drug Administration laid out similar expectations for vaccine trials in June of 2020, and did not require data regarding the effect on virus transmission. (https://www.fda.gov/media/139638/download, opens new tab)" https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/preventing-transmission-never-required-covid-vaccines-initial-approval-pfizer-2024-02-12/

Also excluding from your acceptables list: Any organization whose name begins with any letter between A and Z. And any person or organization that hasn't been found to have spread COVID misinformation during the pandemic...

And what the court ruling actually said, and what it means: Trump-appointed judges revive lawsuit against L.A. schools’ COVID vaccine mandate Even though Los Angeles Unified dropped its COVID vaccine mandate for school staff almost a year ago, a lawsuit accusing the district of violating workers’ rights can still move forward, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday. The 2-1 ruling by a pair of federal judges appointed by former President Donald Trump revives a case that a lower court had dismissed. It also counters recent rulings by courts — including the 9th Circuit — that tossed lawsuits challenging expired COVID-19 rules on the grounds that the policies were no longer in effect. ... They [the judges] also indicated they were open to arguments over the effectiveness of the vaccine, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes as a safe way to build immunity against COVID-19. “At this stage, we must accept Plaintiffs’ allegations that the vaccine does not prevent the spread of COVID-19 as true,” Judge Ryan Nelson wrote. The opinion characterizes that aspect of the ruling as preliminary, and something that would be argued at a lower court. (more) https://calmatters.org/education/2024/06/covid-vaccine-mandate-schools/ As the court ruling notes on page 19 regarding the opinion's ruling on the status of COVID vaccines: "We note the preliminary nature of our holding. We do not prejudge whether, on a more developed factual record, Plaintiffs’ allegations will prove true."

I think I've been pretty consistent and common sense about such things, which isn't hard: 1. We don't eat out nearly as much now as we used to pre-COVID. 2. When we do eat out now, I always keep my N95 mask on at all times, except when actually eating, including while waiting for the food and after eating. 3. When we do eat out now, we typically try to do so at times when customer traffic isn't busy and sit as far away as possible from other seated tables. 4. And I'm up-to-date with the latest XBB-variant COVID vaccine, unlike most people in Thailand. I'm in my 60s, so I'm in the age range where I'd be at increased risk for bad COVID outcomes, were I to come down with an infection. So I behave accordingly, as I always have.

Did it ever occur to folks here that Cambodia, even more than Thailand, might not be looking for, testing for, or wanting to acknowledge whatever COVID activity is occurring in the country, considering its current government and their history on such things? "Cambodia's initial response was slow - during the initial outbreak in China, few international travel restrictions were introduced, Cambodian citizens were not evacuated from Wuhan and Prime Minister Hun Sen downplayed the threat. ... The pandemic has had a severe impact on the economy, notably the tourism[42][43] and garment[20][44] sectors, with projections of a lasting increase in poverty, debt and unemployment." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Cambodia Cambodia has a population of about 17 million, about one-fourth the number of Thailland. Last week, Thailand reported 2,762 new COVID hospitalizations and 5 deaths. I don't know whether Cambodia has simply ceased publicly reporting any COVID data, like many countries have, or whether they're actually claiming they have little-to-no COVID. I would find the latter pretty hard to believe. "NOTE: As of April 13, 2024, the Coronavirus Tracker is no longer being updated due to the unfeasibility of providing statistically valid global totals, as the majority of countries have now stopped reporting." https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/cambodia/

Nope, the flu and flu deaths didn't disappear, except perhaps just for 2020 when COVID disruptions overwhelmed everything. Note the influenza lines and columns below in BLUE for flu, seasonal as always. https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/data-research/dashboard/illness-severity.html https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/past-seasons.html

Except for the hundreds every week who who still die from COVID even now, week after week ongoing: US: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklydeaths_select_00 UK: https://ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk/ Just because most newspapers and other media don't regularly report these deaths any more -- like they used to earlier in the pandemic -- doesn't mean they're not still occurring.

Unproven connection yet... But a concern that the scientists are studying... There is established medical knowledge that other viral infections can and do trigger cancer development... From the above WAPO report as posted here on AN: "Since the 1960s, scientists have identified various infectious agents, such as HPV, Epstein-Barr, and hepatitis B, as contributing to 15 to 20 percent of all cancers worldwide. However, establishing a connection between COVID-19 and cancer will likely take years of research."

Just a single N95, as the guy supposedly was wearing, was the best thing to do when close around others and wanting to reduce one's risks. N95 respirator gets top billing in stopping SARS-CoV-2 viral leakage into the air https://aseannow.com/topic/1329236-n95-respirator-gets-top-billing-in-stopping-sars-cov-2-viral-leakage-into-the-air/

yes, but not the kind you think... "Recent studies have unveiled a troubling connection between Covid-19 and cognitive decline, suggesting that even mild infections can lead to a measurable reduction in intelligence [emphasis added]. This revelation, supported by extensive research from institutions around the world, has sparked concern among scientists and the general public alike. These study findings and the implications for individuals and society are worrisome and unsettling. " https://aseannow.com/topic/1328665-covid-19-will-make-you-stupid/ AND Long COVID Brain Fog: What It Is and How to Manage It "Brain fog” is one of the most debilitating problems experienced by people with Long COVID, a condition in which COVID-19-like symptoms continue or develop after the acute infection has passed. People who experience brain fog say they have an inability to think clearly, are forgetful, and can’t focus their attention or find the right words in a conversation. An estimated 7% of adults—or about 17 million people—in the United States reported having Long COVID in March 2024, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Estimates vary as to exactly how many of those people struggle with cognitive function, but in one study of people with Long COVID, close to half reported having poor memory or brain fog." https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/how-to-manage-long-covid-brain-fog

Or just trying to stay out of the hospital... or the morgue. Study says social distancing and COVID vaccines saved 800,000 U.S. lives https://aseannow.com/topic/1329439-study-says-social-distancing-and-covid-vaccines-saved-800000-us-lives/

It's very good that Thailand is still reporting very low COVID death numbers, though also worth mentioning that this latest weekly report included two COVID deaths in the 50-59 age range, and other recent weekly death reports have listed people from even younger age groups. The latest weekly report also listed 663 people hospitalized in serious condition with COVID, and 286 requiring ventilation in order to breathe -- both close to year-high numbers for 2024. In my book, anyone dismissing those kinds of impacts has long missed the boat. No one should want to be hospitalized in serious condition or have to be relying on a ventilator to breathe -- especially when many of those cases could have been avoided/prevented. Also regarding COVID deaths in Thailand, there's been no clear trend over time. The weekly COVID death numbers bounce around a lot. A few weeks ago, the weekly official COVID numbers were 12, 11 and 16... A few weeks before that, they were 3, 4 and 3. https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

The COVID weekly new hospitalization numbers in Thailand have been rising long before the schools recently reopened, and even before Song Kran, dating back to mid-March... See the above detail by week.

A bit more detail on the above OP's reporting: "The Thai Ministry of Public Health on Monday reported a sharp increase in new COVID hospitalizations to 2,762 last week, the highest weekly total in the past year and a tally that has now grown five-fold in the past three months. [emphasis added] ... The weekly COVID new hospitalization totals since the current 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"

The Impact of Vaccines and Behavior on US Cumulative Deaths from COVID-19 Andrew Atkeson, Department of Economics, UCLA Stephen Kissler, Department of Computer Science, University of Colorado Boulder "We estimate that the combination of changes in behavior to slow the spread of COVID-19 and the delivery of vaccines to a substantial majority of the American population by mid-2021 saved close to 800,000 American lives relative to what would have occurred had vaccines not been developed. We argue that the duration and magnitude of this behavioral response – and thus its overall success in delaying infections – came as a surprise, relative to both our historical experience with pandemic influenza and tomodel-based projections based on that experience. Thus, we take from our experience with COVID-19 over the past four years the important public health lesson that behavior change can be a powerful force for slowing the spread of a dangerous infectious respiratory disease for a long time. At the same time, these behavioral changes to slow the spread of COVID-19 came at a tremendous economic, social, and human cost." (more) https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2_Atkeson-Kissler_unembargoed.pdf

Before the first COVID-19 vaccine became available, Americans radically changed their behavior to avoid getting the virus by social distancing and wearing masks. New research from CU Boulder says that change, along with vaccines, saved more than 800,000 lives. The cost — and the payoff — of social distancing Social distancing allowed 68 percent of Americans to get vaccinated before they contracted the virus, which meant they had much better survival rates than people who contracted the virus before getting vaccinated. Without the behavioral changes, the paper’s authors estimate there would have been 60,000 more deaths each day during the peak of the pandemic. Before the pandemic and in its early stages, epidemiologists and other health officials didn’t anticipate that Americans could sustain behavioral changes for as long as they did. They also didn’t know the impact those changes would have both on the number of lives saved and the economic and social costs of social distancing. (more) https://www.cpr.org/2024/05/15/cu-boulder-study-says-social-distancing-and-covid-vaccines-saved-nearly-a-million-lives/ https://www.colorado.edu/today/2024/05/09/social-distancing-plus-vaccines-prevented-800000-covid-deaths-great-cost

Science & Tech Spotlight: Social Distancing During Pandemics U.S. GAO-20-545SP Published: May 13, 2020 "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. ... These studies showed that sneezing and coughing can propel droplets more than 2 meters, with sneezing possibly propelling them further, and breathing less than 1 meter (fig. 2)." https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-20-545sp Even early on in the pandemic, the science and past research were providing some answers about what kind of protections were needed to protect people and limit the transmission of the COVID virus. And the guidance the CDC adopted for social distancing, the CDC's 6 foot standard, was within the parameters laid out by that past research.

And another one...similar to the junk above. I'm now clearly sensing a BAD "junk science" pattern here, with the latest example being the OP study's cited "research letter" below -- not a peer reviewed study -- posted by a trio of Danish researchers that also seems to have been discredited. 15. Schmeling M, Manniche V, Hansen PR. Batch-dependent safety of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. Eur J Clin Invest (2023) 53:e13998. doi: 10.1111/eci.13998 ----------------------------------- Findings above reviewed by the prestigious Paul-Ehrlich-Institut in Germany, which is the German government's vaccine safety monitor Statement from the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut: No batch-specific increases of reports of suspected vaccine side effects after COVID-19 vaccinations with Comirnaty As of 18 August 2023 "The Paul-Ehrlich-Institut cannot confirm any batch-specific increases of reports of suspected vaccine side effects after COVID-19 vaccinations with the mRNA vaccine Comirnaty (BioNTech/Pfizer) [emphasis added] based on the analysis of the data from the prospective observational study with the SafeVac 2.0 app. A disproportionate increase of the number of adverse events reported in relation to certain Comirnaty batches used in Germany, as stated by the authors of a published research letter with data from Denmark (Schmeling et al. [1]), is not discernible in the evaluation of the SafeVac 2.0 data for the entirety of app-reported adverse events nor specifically for serious adverse events. ... United Kingdom In June 2022, the United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) published its evaluation of its spontaneous reporting scheme (Yellow Card) and the resulting response to the question of a link between suspected adverse event reports and certain batches of COVID-19 vaccine as part of a Freedom of Information Act request. These evaluations did not reveal any safety concerns related to individual batches. [emphasis added] ... Notes to the publication by Schmeling et al. [1] There are methodological deficiencies that severely limit the significance of the results in the published evaluation by Schmeling et al. [1]. [emphasis added] https://www.pei.de/EN/newsroom/positions/covid-19-vaccines/statement-covid-19-vaccines-no-batch-specific-increases-suspected-side-effects.html ---------------------------------- And regarding one of the other co-authors of the OP cited Schmeling research letter -- Vibeke Manniche -- and again dismissing their general findings: Analysis of adverse event variation between Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine batches doesn’t indicate safety problems "Manniche also previously spread COVID-19 misinformation that was debunked by Danish fact-checking group TjekDet. In March 2020, Manniche called COVID-19 pandemic measures hysterical and falsely claimed that COVID-19 wasn’t actually spreading, writing on several occasions that there was no coronavirus epidemic on the way. In February 2021, she baselessly asserted that the Danish population had already achieved herd immunity. Neither Campbell nor Manniche’s claims are sufficiently supported by the published research letter, as we will explain below. https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/analysis-adverse-event-variation-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-batches-doesnt-indicate-safety-problems-contrary-john-campbell/

If the authors of the OP cited study are using these kind of garbage, discredited anti-vax "studies" as the basis for their findings, one has to wonder just how credible their own work and conclusions may be... Must confess -- never before heard of the author of the OP cited study -- Botond Z. Igyártó.