TallGuyJohninBKK

From the OP report: "In May this year, the [European] Commission quietly announced a substantial renegotiation of the offending deal. It was reducing — by an unspecified amount — the number of doses outstanding, while the deliveries would also be more spread out, into 2026. Poland, however, refused to sign up to the revised deal."

But then again, none of this should be particularly surprising given that Doshi is something of the BMJ's resident anti-vaxer, with a long history of what real researchers in the field of vaccines and medical experts (which he is not, having his PhD in anthropology and history) say have been misleading and inaccurate anti-vax reports. Such as: Peer review fail: Vaccine publishes antivax propaganda disguised as “reanalyses” of Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial data In order portray COVID-19 vaccines as dangerous, Peter Doshi has now managed to get poorly designed and performed “reanalyses” of the clinical trial data used by the FDA to grant emergency use approval of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines published in two reputable journals, The BMJ and Vaccine? What happened? September 5, 2022 ... "I also listed a number of other examples of The BMJ‘s failures with respect to reports and studies on vaccines, a pattern that, unfortunately, did predate the pandemic and has been traceable to one of its editors, Peter Doshi, who has a long history of antivaccine-adjacent and outright antivaccine stylings going back at least to the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. Indeed, one of his “reanalyses” resulted in what I like to call the “slasher lie” about the Pfizer vaccine that it is only 12-19% effective against COVID-19." https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/peer-review-fail-vaccine-publishes-antivax-propaganda/ AND "Shocking" Report On Flu Vaccine Is Neither Shocking Nor Correct Nov 3, 2014 ... So I was surprised to stumble upon an article titled “Johns Hopkins Scientist Reveals Shocking Report on Flu Vaccines,” which popped up on an anti-vaccine website two weeks ago.... I soon discovered that this article contained only a tiny seed of truth, surrounded by a mountain of anti-vaccine misinformation. Most of it focused on a report published in early 2013 by Peter Doshi, a former postdoctoral fellow at Hopkins. ... But Doshi’s motivation, as evidenced by the relentlessly negative slant of his entire article, seems to be to convince people that the flu vaccine is bad. Not surprisingly, the anti-vaccine movement has embraced Doshi (for example, here and here). And unfortunately, he seems to have accepted their acclaim: in 2009, he spoke at an anti-vaccine conference hosted by NVIC, a notorious (and misleadingly named) anti-vaccination group." https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2014/11/03/shocking-report-on-flu-vaccine-is-neither-shocking-nor-correct/?sh=7131873778a7 "Doshi earned an A.B. in anthropology from Brown University, an A.M. in East Asian Studies from Harvard University and Ph.D. in history, anthropology, and science, technology and society from MIT." https://faculty.rx.umaryland.edu/pdoshi/

Also, the headline of the OP article is predictably off-target, since "revolving door" typically is meant to refer to people/employees/execs who leave Sector A, go to Sector B, and then come back to Sector A. That's what makes it a "revolving door," because they come back to where they started after leaving. In the case at hand, apparently, the two FDA former employees left government service and took private sector jobs -- something that happens all the time and every day across the federal government. But, contrary to the notion of "revolving door," they have NOT then gone back into government service. And, as the OP article notes, even their private sector role once they left the FDA severely restricts any ability for them in the future to do much for their private employer directly involving the FDA, as would be reasonable and expected from an ethics perspective. From the OP report: "[FDA] Employees are required to adhere to post-government employment guidance: restrictions include a permanent ban on “switching sides,” defined as “a lifetime ban on communicating to or appearing before the government on behalf of their new employer or anyone else regarding specific party matters in which they participated personally and substantially during their entire government service.” So much for Peter Doshi's revolving door....

I guess it will be left to history to judge if the U.S. FDA did the right thing... Thus far, the results say YES! COVID vaccines saved 20M lives in 1st year, scientists say June 24, 2022 Nearly 20 million lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccines during their first year, but even more deaths could have been prevented if international targets for the shots had been reached, researchers reported Thursday. ... “Catastrophic would be the first word that comes to mind,” Watson said of the outcome if vaccines hadn’t been available to fight the coronavirus. The findings “quantify just how much worse the pandemic could have been if we did not have these vaccines.” The researchers used data from 185 countries to estimate that vaccines prevented 4.2 million COVID-19 deaths in India, 1.9 million in the United States, 1 million in Brazil, 631,000 in France and 507,000 in the United Kingdom. (more) https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-health-england-54d29ae3af5c700f15d704c14ee224b5 AND Report: COVID-19 vaccines saved US $1.15 trillion, 3 million lives December 14, 2022 "A Commonwealth Fund study estimates that, through November 2022, COVID-19 vaccines prevented more than 18.5 million US hospitalizations and 3.2 million deaths and saved the country $1.15 trillion. ... Approved COVID-19 vaccines have been available in the United States since December of 2020. Since Dec 12, 2020, 82 million infections, 4.8 million hospitalizations, and 798,000 deaths have been reported in the United States. "Without vaccination the U.S. would have experienced 1.5 times more infections, 3.8 times more hospitalizations, and 4.1 times more deaths," the authors wrote. "These losses would have been accompanied by more than $1 trillion in additional medical costs that were averted because of fewer infections, hospitalizations, and deaths." (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/report-covid-19-vaccines-saved-us-115-trillion-3-million-lives

Did someone say DUOPOLY?? "November 11, 2023 BANGKOK -- Thailand's telecommunications regulator decided on Friday to allow the sale of Triple T Broadband, or 3BB, to Advanced Info Service (AIS), turning the country's broadband market into a virtual duopoly. The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) cleared the way for AIS to purchase 100% of 3BB, as well as a 19% stake in Jasmine Broadband Internet Infrastructure Fund (JASIF), the owner of 3BB's fiber optic assets. The deal, valued at 32.4 billion baht ($899 million), would give AIS access to 3BB's upcountry broadband markets, where the former has limited coverage." https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Telecommunication/Thai-telecoms-regulator-clears-AIS-acquisition-of-broadband-rival Funny how the local Thai news reports don't actually clearly say what the deal really is -- which is AIS fully buying out competitor 3BB, so as a result, they're no longer in competition with each other in the fiber internet field -- which rarely is a good thing for consumers in the marketplace. AIS, previously part of Thaksin's communications empire, still is owned by one of Thailand's richest men today -- according to the above report -- Gulf Energy CEO Sarath Ratanavadi. So presumably, the rich here will keep getting richer. Just as True, also owned by another of Thailand's richest families (the Charoen Pokphand Group under the Chearavanont family) recently merged/took over DTAC in the mobile communications business. So 3BB and DTAC are effectively gone from a corporate ownership perspective, and AIS and True are left standing and in control.

It certainly seems as though there's nothing new or alarming here... despite concerted efforts to mislead to the contrary: From the above OP report: DNA in Vaccines Is Not Inherently Dangerous "Research into residual DNA in vaccines dates back decades. Anti-vaccine fear-mongering about residual DNA or other substances in vaccines is also not a new phenomenon. Many currently available vaccines are made using cells. Some vaccines, such as the one against chickenpox, rely on weakened virus that is grown in cells. For other vaccines, such as for hepatitis A, viruses are grown in cell culture and then inactivated.... In all of these cases, the active ingredients for the vaccines are purified, but the vaccines can still contain small amounts of residual DNA from the cells used to make them. The FDA and other regulatory agencies have offered guidance on limiting the quantity and size of residual DNA left over from cells used to make vaccines."

A bit delayed for last week's MoPH COVID report because of the forum being down: Thailand MoPH Weekly COVID report for Nov. 12 - 18: --390 new COVID hospitalizations, up 103 from the prior week --1 new COVID death, unchanged from the prior week --83 COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition, up 16 from the prior week --40 COVID patients hospitalized requiring intubation to breathe, up 10 from the prior week https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

No to the first question... Just an ordinary, not privileged, traveler. As for the second one, my comment on the absence of the passport scanning machines was based on arriving to the Tom Bradley terminal in Los Angeles.

I saw a bit of that on the way out of LAX last time...but not in the threatening way you describe above... After completing airline counter check-in but before getting to the TSA passenger and luggage screening area, they were indeed having all passengers walk thru an inbetween area where... Yes.... everyone was asked to walk in twos just once down a rectangular room area and there were a couple of handlers with dogs walking back and forth... but not coming especially close to the passengers with the dogs, and neither the handlers nor the dogs were acting in any way threatening or menacing.... Whenever I see those German shepherds or similar on patrol at the airports, I'm always inclined to want to stop and pet them... But, given their duty and role, I always manage to resist that urge.... Though to be fair, I am a dog person...

On my trip back to LAX in May, there were no passport scanning machines of any kind in the international arrivals hall there, AFAICT and I did ask... But when I finally got up to the Customs and Border Patrol desks, the officers there were holding little tethered cameras and taking everyone's photo once you walked up. Then on the way back, at the boarding gate for my return flight, the boarding gates had incorporated automatic face scanners... So instead of handing your boarding pass to an airline agent to scan and check, the machine just scanned my face as I walked up, and then somehow beeped me thru.

Two separate appointments for different services for the same person via the Immigration online system for the same day? My comment on that above was not based on my personal experience with their system, but rather, what I'm pretty sure has been reported here in the past....

One limitation of the appointments system at BKK CW as best as I understand it is the following -- which bears on people who commonly are applying for BOTH the new extension AND the new reentry permit on the same day. As best as I understand it, their online appointments system will only allow a person to book ONE appointment for a given day... So AFAIK, if you choose to book a retirement extension appointment for tomorrow, you can NOT book a separate reentry permit appointment for the same day... So, unless I'm missing something, that kinda means you have to choose which of the two services is likely to be the most in need of having a pre-booked appointment.... And lately, I'd say that definitely and to much surprise would be the re-entry permit process.

Indeed!

Thanks for your very detailed report and a good / accurate listing of the copies / documents that BKK CW typically requires. On the subject of your reentry permit processing (describing many people waiting and frustrated, but you getting thru quickly, perhaps because of age): When I was last there back in August and went to apply for my reentry permit as a guy in his 60s, I ended up having to wait FIVE hours from the 10 a.m. time I started the process (after getting my retirement extension earlier) until about 3 p.m. in the afternoon, including their one hour closure for lunch break. IMHO, there's a good reason the people waiting in the reentry permit section likely were "quite frustrated." It never used to be like that in prior years at BKK CW regarding the reentry permits section, not at least in my memory. Something has changed, dunno if they reduced staff or got a new boss who implemented new procedures or what.... But in the past, it used to be just the opposite.... There sometimes would be long waits in the Retirement extension section, both to first be seen and then thereafter to finally get your stamped passport back. And the re-entry permit process, especially during the pandemic years, was really quick to the point that they even dropped their queue tickets system there for a while, and you could just walk up and hand in your paperwork on the fly.

I flew back to LAX earlier this year for the first time in several years.... The last time I was there back in 2019, they had just installed a bunch of automated passport reading terminals for processing arriving international passengers, and I found those worked OK... Flash forward to my trip earlier this year... Arrived LAX and looking around, all the machines are GONE, and the passenger queue waiting to be checked at the Border Patrol counters, even for U.S. citizens, is a mile long.... Asked one of the staff nearby what happened to the former machines, and was told they were removed due to being deemed COVID risks!!! Really.....no joke.

I like the "deposit 20K in the slot" option better! Or, the IOs are all on lunch break or napping at the time, and the baddie just hops over the gate.... Thai style!

One thing I haven't seen explained here is what happens with the new automated exit control machines if they actually identify a "baddie" trying to leave the country??? Presumably the gate won't open to let the person proceed... But then what: --the floor below opens to a downward chute that deposits the person into the airport's Immigration lower level detention facilities.... --Or, a nearby team of Thai SWAT officers armed with sniper rifles rush into action to subdue the "baddie". --Or, the machine has a money slot to insert 20 1,000 baht bills, in which case, the "baddie" is allowed to go on their way!!!

The New Jersey policy included provisions for medical and religious exemptions -- though the granting of such exemptions was discretionary. COVID Vaccine Requirement for NJ Healthcare Workers "Fill out an exemption form if you do not want to get vaccinated. Exemptions may be granted for medical, religious and deeply held personal belief reasons." https://www.hpae.org/2021/08/covid-vaccine-requirement-for-nj-healthcare-workers/

One of the last times this kind of case was before the Supreme Court last year, from the various news reports, the result was a mixed decision -- a ruling striking down a federal vaccine mandate in the private sector, but upholding one for federally funded health facilities. A Look at the Supreme Court Ruling on Vaccination Mandates January 20, 2022 "The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a Biden administration mandate that large businesses require their employees to either be vaccinated or tested once a week for the coronavirus. In a 6-3 order, the justices blocked an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) emergency rule for businesses with more than 100 employees — one that would have impacted more than 80 million workers. The justices did, however, allow a vaccination mandate by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for health-care workers at some 76,000 federally funded facilities to stand. (more) https://law.stanford.edu/2022/01/20/a-look-at-the-supreme-court-ruling-on-vaccination-mandates/ Supreme Court blocks Biden Covid vaccine mandate for businesses, allows health-care worker rule "The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Biden administration from enforcing its sweeping vaccine-or-test requirements for large private companies. But the conservative-majority court allowed a vaccine mandate to stand for medical facilities that take Medicare or Medicaid payments. The OSHA mandate required that workers at businesses with 100 or more employees get vaccinated or submit a negative Covid test weekly to enter the workplace." https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/13/supreme-court-ruling-biden-covid-vaccine-mandates.html From what I'm reading, it seems like there's also a lot of other vaccine mandate cases / challenges still working their way through the various federal district and courts of appeal.

Some added background on the case's history in the lower courts: "U.S. District Court Judge Georgette Castner denied the preliminary injunction request on June 7, 2022, saying the plaintiffs had “failed to demonstrate likelihood of success on the merits and irreparable injury…” The judge said the state had a rational interest in protecting the health and safety of vulnerable patients and maintaining a safe environment for workers and the operation of healthcare services. The plaintiffs later appealed the federal judge’s decision to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled the lawsuit moot because by that time the governor’s vaccine mandate had been rescinded due to the waning of the pandemic and COVID-19 transmission rates." https://njbia.org/us-supreme-court-declines-to-hear-nj-covid-19-vaccine-case/

"The U.S. Supreme Court rejected to hear an appeal relating to COVID-19 vaccine requirements in the workplace, dealing a blow to vaccine skeptics across the nation. On Tuesday morning, the Supreme Court orders list showed that it was denying to hear any further arguments in the case Katie Sczesny, et al. v. Murphy, Gov. of New Jersey, et al. The case focused on four New Jersey nurses who filed a lawsuit against New Jersey's [now already rescinded] COVID-19 vaccine requirements in the workplace, citing religious freedom and health concerns. The Supreme Court did not provide any further explanation for its refusal to hear the case, but the decision allows a ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to stand. The lower court ruled that the vaccine mandate challenged by the nurses did not violate their Constitutional freedoms..." (more) https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/supreme-court-delivers-blow-to-vaccine-skeptics/ar-AA1jUCdl As stated in the above report, because the Supreme Court did not explain why it decided against taking up the case, there's apparently no way of knowing whether their decision was an endorsement of the prior lower court rulings upholding New Jersey's COVID vaccination policy, or perhaps instead a recognition that the issue was by now moot because New Jersey rescinded the challenged policy earlier this year. Governor Murphy Signs Executive Order Lifting COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement for Employees in Health Care Settings 06/12/2023 Order Follows Last Week’s Announcement by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Rescinding the Federal Vaccination Requirement TRENTON – Following recent changes to federal requirements regarding COVID-19 vaccines, Governor Phil Murphy today signed Executive Order (EO) No. 332 to lift the COVID-19 vaccination requirements for health care settings in New Jersey. An executive order signed on April 3, 2023 previously lifted the requirement for employees in health care settings who were not up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations to undergo routine testing, while also lifting both the COVID-19 vaccination and testing requirements for workers in congregate settings. Today’s EO lifts the remaining requirement that health care settings maintain a policy requiring their workers to be up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations. (more) https://www.nj.gov/governor/news/news/562023/20230612a.shtml

Thailand MoPH Weekly COVID report for Nov. 5- 11: --287 new COVID hospitalizations, down 17 from the prior week --1 new COVID death, unchanged from the prior week --67 COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition --30 COVID patients hospitalized requiring intubation to breathe. https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

And more from Israel: Bivalent mRNA booster effective, ‘essential’ for older adults April 19, 2023 Key takeaways: Bivalent mRNA booster vaccine efficacy for preventing hospitalization was 72%. Bivalent mRNA booster vaccine efficacy for preventing mortality was 68%. "Bivalent messenger RNA booster vaccinations were effective for preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in older adults, according to data presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases. ... To assess the effectiveness of a bivalent mRNA vaccine booster dose to reduce COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths, Arbel and colleagues conducted a retrospective, population-based, cohort study in Israel between Sept. 27, 2022, and Jan. 25, 2023." (more) https://www.healio.com/news/infectious-disease/20230419/bivalent-mrna-booster-effective-essential-for-older-adults

COVID vaccines repeatedly have been shown to reduce the risks of being infected by COVID and spreading it to others, especially in the months immediately post vaccination. And equally or more importantly, also have been shown to substantially reduce the risks of serious illness, hospitalization and death from COVID among those who have been fully vaccinated (primary series plus a booster). Just because something doesn't provide 100% protection, doesn't erase the value of getting 20, 30, 50, 70 etc percent protection (reduced likelihood) of various bad outcomes. Bottom line overall -- you're somewhat less likely to catch COVID, and a whole lot less likely to get seriously ill or die from it. COVID vaccine-boosted nursing home residents at 23% to 33% lower risk of infection "A study today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report finds that US nursing home residents who weren't up to date on recommended COVID-19 vaccines were at a 30% to 50% higher risk for infection than those who were current—or a 23% to 33% lower risk for vaccinated residents." https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/covid-vaccine-boosted-nursing-home-residents-23-33-lower-risk-infection AND, regarding protection against severe outcomes (hospitalization or death): Effectiveness of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine booster doses against Omicron severe outcomes 07 March 2023 "Among community-dwelling adults aged ≥50 years in Ontario, VE against Omicron-associated severe outcomes increased with booster doses of monovalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, but protection waned over time after each dose. Third doses continued to provide strong protection (85–87%) against severe outcomes among subjects aged 50–69 years even 8 months after vaccination, but lower protection (76–79%) among those aged ≥70 years. Fourth doses restored waning of protection from third doses and continued to provide strong protection (86–89%) 4 months after vaccination for all age groups. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36566-1

And more on this from Canada: Ontario requires masking for long-term care home staff amid rise in COVID-19 outbreaks Nov 10, 2023 "Masking is now required for staff in long term care homes across Ontario amid a recent rise in COVID-19 outbreaks, cases and resident hospitalizations, the provincial government says. A Nov. 2 memo from the Ministry of Long-Term Care to LTC licensees says the requirement is based on advice from Dr. Kieran Moore, chief medical officer of health. Homes were expected to implement the requirement no later than Nov. 7, it says. ... There have been 5,459 COVID-19 cases among long-term care residents, with 181 people hospitalized from Aug. 27, 2023 to Oct. 28, Public Health Ontario says in a Nov. 7 surveillance report. A total of 106 people have died." (more) https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-masking-requirement-staff-long-term-care-homes-1.7026056