TallGuyJohninBKK

ICMRA statement on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines "Evidence from the more than 13 billions of vaccine doses given worldwide shows that COVID-19 vaccines have a very good safety profile in all age groups. ... As for all medicines, reports of medical events after COVID-19 vaccination (suspected side effects) are collected and continuously evaluated by the authorities. These evaluations show that in most cases the medical events were not caused by the vaccine." "There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines have contributed to excess mortality during the pandemic." https://icmra.info/drupal/strategicinitiatives/vaccines/safety_statement About ICMRA ICMRA brings together 38 medicines regulatory authorities from every region in the world, with the WHO as an observer.

By comparison in the UK, the government reported earlier this year that it had found 52 deaths where COVID vaccination was considered the underlying cause between March 2020 and January 2023... out of more than 150 million COVID vaccine doses administered. And I believe, a fair share of those cased above involved the AZ vaccine used in the UK, which was never used or approved in the U.S. https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/deathscausedbyvaccinesintheukin2023 https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/vaccinations Depending on which data sources are used, the UK in comparison has reported somewhere between 180,000 and 220,000+ deaths involving COVID the disease: "Just under 227,000 people died in the UK with Covid-19 listed as one of the causes on their death certificate." Per the BBC as of July. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51768274 https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/deaths-covid-19 As reported by all credible sources from various places and agencies, deaths found actually related to COVID vaccines are extremely rare out of the numbers of vaccine doses administered.

That's what the poll claims those people BELIEVE.... which is a whole different matter from what's actually true.

It's hard to find that kind of data, but here's one reference I've found for the U.S., per the Associated Press in an April report: "Only nine deaths caused by COVID-19 vaccines have been confirmed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those cases were causally associated with rare blood clots caused by the Johnson & Johnson shot, which has been largely sidelined by officials." "More than 674 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in the U.S. as of Friday." https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-covid-vaccine-600000-americans-978248674052

Very curious how the poll's news release buried that particular response way down in their reported results.... choosing instead to focus on the much smaller anti-vax result...

Now for a dose of reality, vs anti-vaxer wet dreams: No Evidence Excess Deaths Linked to Vaccines, Contrary to Claims Online April 17, 2023 "COVID-19 vaccines substantially reduce the risk of dying from COVID-19, and serious side effects are very rare. ... Finally, there is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines have killed large numbers of people. The Food and Drug Administration and CDC have multiple systems for monitoring vaccine safety, and they have detected very few deaths caused by the vaccines." https://www.factcheck.org/2023/04/scicheck-no-evidence-excess-deaths-linked-to-vaccines-contrary-to-claims-online/

You also have to wonder when the poll puts these two very different questions back to back in a telephone survey, what the potential is for respondents to focus on their answer to the first question, deaths due to COVID, and then think the second question is the same as the first. "1* Do you know someone personally who died from the COVID-19 virus? 2* Do you know someone personally who died from side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine?" Rasmussen, a conservative leaning pollster, has been accused in the past of wording its surveys to help get a result that supports particular conservative views. "Rasmussen has received criticism over the wording in its polls.[101][102] Asking a polling question with different wording can affect the results of the poll;[103] the commentators in question allege that the questions Rasmussen ask in polls are skewed in order to favor a specific response. For instance, when Rasmussen polled whether Republican voters thought Rush Limbaugh was the leader of their party, the specific question they asked was: "Agree or Disagree: 'Rush Limbaugh is the leader of the Republican Party—he says jump and they say how high.'"[102]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasmussen_Reports

Indeed, with probably one third of the US population firmly in the Trump-Republican anti-vax camp, and 1.1 million Americans actually dead from COVID, and NOT vaccines, it's easy for the anti vax folks to project those COVID deaths onto the vaccines, falsely. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home And of course, there's absolutely no credible evidence to support anything like the supposed BELIEFS that the poll is suggesting.

In fact, I'm very curious on such things, which is why I'm widely read on the subject...and pay attention to what credible sources (not anti-mask veterinarians and psychologists) report on the subject: Per Reuters news agency: Fact check: Face masks do not cause “terrible damage” to the brain by depriving it of oxygen "A video being shared online has falsely said face coverings do nothing to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus and will instead deprive the brain of oxygen, causing damage to adults and developmental issues in children. ... Firstly, there is no evidence to suggest face masks cause oxygen deprivation that is “dangerous” to adult brains or that prevent a youthful brain from developing properly. A study from U.S. researchers in July found an average face mask did not limit the flow of oxygen to the lungs – and even in test subjects with severe lung diseases (here). ... Meanwhile, Learnaboutcovid19.org, a global team of public health experts, said wearing a mask is considered safe and effective for most people." https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-oxygen/fact-check-face-masks-do-not-cause-terrible-damage-to-the-brain-by-depriving-it-of-oxygen-idUSKBN2761ZW

Correct, you only pay them once your items are here in Thailand and awaiting delivery to your door. I believe they would tell you, customs fees are built into their overall shipping rates. All I know is, the only prices you pay (regardless of your contents) are the flat rate 300b per kilo sea shipping rate and 800b per kilo air shipping rate, plus the EMS mailing fee at this end. I do know all their packages clear customs here in Bangkok, because they often talk about an overall shipment going into or clearing that process... But I don't know any details of how they're able to handle things in the aforementioned manner.

Although many people may not automatically see or hear about them these days, the Thai Ministry of Public Health is continuing to produce and make public weekly reports on the COVID situation in Thailand, showing weekly COVID deaths, new COVID hospitalizations, and numbers of COVID patients currently hospitalized deemed in serious condition and those requiring intubation in order to breath. The latest report for the week Oct. 22 to 28 is shown below: https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main The RED box shows the number of new COVID hospitalizations for the week, the average number per day in parentheses, and total number of new COVID hospitalizations since the start of the calendar year at the bottom of the red section. The DARK GRAY box below likewise shows the number of new COVID deaths for the week, the average per day in parentheses, and the total number of COVID deaths since the start of the calendar year. The DARK PURPLE box to the right shows the current number of COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition with pneumonia type symptoms. The LIGHT PURPLE box beneath it shows the current number of COVID patients hospitalized who are requiring intubation in order to breathe. The comparable weekly reports for all prior weeks in the calendar year are available via the pull down menu in the upper right hand corner of the MOPH website linked above. Typically, they update the data with a new weekly report every Monday (allowing for public holidays and such). So in brief for last week: --206 new COVID hospitalizations --2 new COVID deaths --63 COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition --43 COVID patients hospitalized requiring intubation to breathe.

We Shipping USA does maintain two warehouses / receiving addresses in the U.S. -- one in Oregon that's the destination for air shipment packages, and the other in Virginia for sea shipment packages. The user/sender sends their item(s) to either address based on which service they want to use (air or sea). We Shipping USA does automatically do a kind of consolidation, mostly on the once received in Thailand end. You can send them 1 or 3 or 5 or 10 different packages to one of their locations for any given shipping cycle (the air shipping method has a weekly receipt cutoff of early Monday morning, while the sea shipping deadlines come on various dates about every two months). I don't know how exactly they package my packages for the air or sea shipment headed for Thailand. But once the items arrive here and clear customs, they at their BKK warehouse tend to consolidate a given sender's items all into one box, or if larger, into a large shrink wrapped package with multiple packages inside, and then have those sent / delivered here by EMS. So for each shipment, at least in my experience thus far, everything I send for a given cycle -- whether one item or 10 -- usually arrives to my door in a single EMS shipment. (Though there have been a couple times where maybe I had 10 items, and they ended up finding #10 after sending me the main EMS package, and then end up sending a small add-on package for the one they missed originally.) So, unlike Shipito or Planet Express, with We Shipping USA, there are no add-on package consolidation charges, since they tend to do the consolidating automatically. But also unlike the other two services, with WSUSA, you don't get to custom decide what day you want your things sent. Whatever you have accumulated in their warehouses gets automatically sent on their next scheduled shipping date. Also, for full disclosure, the WSUSA operation is a whole lot less high tech than the other two. There's no website to log into to check on or track your packages in their systems, or do order any activity. With WSUSA, when you send a package to them, they ask/want you to send them a FB Messenger message with the shipment tracking number, which is how they track things in their system. When they're ready to ship the arrived contents to your home here in BKK, they'll then send you via FB Messenger some photos of your individual packages that have arrived, and then a FB Messenger message giving you the total weight, shipment price based on air or sea rate, and the small added EMS mailing fee. You do a transfer to their Thai bank account, and send them a screenshot of the payment confirmation. And they send out the package by EMS the next day.

Thai legal system "justice" 15 years after the fact - a 2008 episode just getting to an appeals court verdict in 2023. Are they paying the attorneys handling the case by a yearly rate? 😞

A study does not show that COVID-19 mask wearing raises risk of stillbirths, other health problems The ‘study’ was an article that reviewed studies. It presented no evidence that masks caused serious health problems. May 1, 2023 "Experts told us the article is flawed. Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said the review article relied partly on studies of animals that are chronically exposed to carbon dioxide. Those studies are not applicable to humans intermittently wearing face masks, he said. Jeremy Howard, a scientist at the University of San Francisco, said the review article overestimates by 60 times the amount of carbon dioxide people breathe when wearing masks." https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2023/a-study-does-not-show-that-covid-19-mask-wearing-raises-risk-of-stillbirths-other-health-problems/ "Quality" science on face mask wear from listed authors who are an "independent researcher," a "non clinical expert veterinarian," and a psychology faculty member... Great!

Sounds like your typical case of "premature discharge"....

November 1, 2023 "The COVID-19 vaccination campaign in 141 countries averted 2.4 million excess deaths by August 2021 and would have saved another 670,000 more lives had vaccines been distributed equitably, estimates a working paper from University of Southern California (USC) and Brown University researchers. ... By extrapolating the results to the 141 countries, the researchers estimated that 2.36 million lives were saved in the first 8 months of the global COVID-19 vaccination campaign. The averted deaths were economically valued at $6.5 trillion, roughly equivalent to 9% of the combined gross domestic product (GDP) of the 141 countries. In terms of absolute numbers, India and United States benefitted the most from the campaign, with 451,778 and 429,486 lives saved, respectively." (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/global-covid-vaccination-saved-24-million-lives-first-8-months-study-estimates "The benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines are far-reaching by multiple measures, said co-author Christopher M. Whaley, an associate professor of health services, policy and practice at Brown. "Our study shows the enormous health impacts of COVID-19 vaccines, which in turn have huge economic benefits,” Whaley said. "In terms of lives saved and economic value, the COVID-19 vaccination campaign is likely the most impactful public health response in recent memory." The findings suggest that vaccination and therapeutics are much better at preventing death than other policies aimed at slowing the spread of the virus, the authors said." https://www.brown.edu/news/2023-10-30/vaccine-impact

When my adult Thai wife went back to school to get her MBA at a private university in Bangkok, the students in her group seemed to handle textbooks in a couple of ways that didn't involve carrying them around. 1. The teachers would often photocopy sections of books from foreign textbooks, and then distribute the photocopies to the students, so they didn't have to buy the textbooks, which would have been pretty pricey. and 2. They could buy some other textbooks, but often instead would simply use a couple of copies kept in the school's library, and go and read and study from those there... But that was for their graduate program... Not sure if the same would have applied for their undergraduate classes.

Worth noting that one of the same UK colleges involved in the OP study did separate research earlier this year that found COVID survivors with Long COVID symptoms also experienced memory and cognitive impairment up to two years post-infection. ‘Brain fog’ of long Covid comparable to ageing 10 years, study finds Symptoms of infection can last two years, but researchers find no lasting cognitive impairment after individuals fully recover Fri 21 Jul 2023 "The so-called “brain fog” symptom associated with long Covid is comparable to ageing 10 years, researchers have suggested. In a study by King’s College London, researchers investigated the impact of Covid-19 on memory and found cognitive impairment highest in individuals who had tested positive and had more than three months of symptoms. ... “The fact remains that two years on from their first infection, some people don’t feel fully recovered and their lives continue to be impacted by the long-term effects of the coronavirus,” said Claire Steves, a professor of ageing and health at King’s College." (more) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/21/long-covid-brain-fog-ageing-10-years-study

And further for older people who have been infected with COVID: Possible 69% higher risk of Alzheimer's for older COVID survivors September 14, 2022 "Older COVID-19 survivors may be at a 69% higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease within 1 year of infection, according to a retrospective study of 6 million Americans 65 years and older published yesterday in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. The study, led by Case Western Reserve University researchers, involved analysis of the medical records of 6,245,282 adults aged 65 years and older who had medical visits but no previous diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease from February 2020 to May 2021. ... The team said it's not clear whether COVID-19 triggers or accelerates development of Alzheimer's disease, noting that SARS-CoV-2 has been associated with inflammation and central nervous system disorders." (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/possible-69-higher-risk-alzheimers-older-covid-survivors

Studies have shown that COVID infection and disease itself contributes to brain problems: COVID-19 can cause brain shrinkage, memory loss - study March 8, 2022 March 8 (Reuters) - COVID-19 can cause the brain to shrink, reduce grey matter in the regions that control emotion and memory, and damage areas that control the sense of smell, an Oxford University study has found. The scientists said that the effects were even seen in people who had not been hospitalised with COVID, and whether the impact could be partially reversed or if they would persist in the long term needed further investigation. ... Even in mild cases, participants in the research showed "a worsening of executive function" responsible for focus and organising, and on an average brain sizes shrank between 0.2% and 2%." (more) https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/covid-19-can-cause-brain-shrinkage-memory-loss-study-2022-03-08/

Fortunately, both of the more recent primary COVID variants are descendants of the XBB family variant that was/is the basis for the newest monovalent vaccines, so there's expected to be continuing protection. "Both are descendants of the XBB variant. The updated Covid vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, which became available last month, target a different XBB descendant, called XBB.1.5. But disease experts say the new shots should offer cross-protection against the currently dominant strains. Dr. Scott Roberts, an infectious disease specialist at Yale Medicine, said that although the vaccine is not a "perfect match" for HV.1, "it’s still a good match because it’s still within the same family of variant." https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/new-covid-variant-dominant-slow-vaccine-uptake-rcna122361 "Experts say that the updated COVID-19 vaccine is expected to help provide protection from this variant. The updated vaccine is based on the XBB.1.5, and HV.1 is a “grandchild” of the XBB.15 variant. So the available vaccines may protect against the serious disease caused by HV.1." https://www.wionews.com/world/hv1-what-to-know-about-new-covid-variant-651789

I do a lot of package forwarding, mostly small size/weight stuff for personal use... Originally, years ago, I used Shipito.. Then in more recent years, used Planet Express for several years.... But ceased using them about a year ago when I had a run of packages where more than half sent by their Planet Mail method over a period of months went entirely missing. These days I've been using a Thai company that you can find on Facebook called We Shipping USA. They offer very inexpensive two-month ocean shipping delivery for 300b per kilo, or about two-week air delivery for 800b per kilo.. all inclusive, no extra customs or duty charges ever, regardless of content. Once in Thailand, they send those items to your home via very cheap EMS mail delivery for a small added fee. The only method of payment they accept is transfer to their Thai bank account. And the method of interacting with them is via FB Messenger. They've worked quite well for me over a period of months, and I haven't had a single package sent thru them go missing or get damaged, etc. And it's also nice about not having to worry about unexpected Thai Customs duties anymore, or have to worry about keeping the value of my shipped items under $50 USD in order to qualify for the official "small package" exclusion on Thai Customs duty assessments that would otherwise apply when reshipping thru vendors such as Shipito or Planet Express. https://www.facebook.com/WeShippingUSA/

And despite the claims of some here, even children are not immune from the risks of COVID illness, even now with the current variants, in part because children tend to have among the lowest vaccination rates by age group for COVID. As Covid-19 hospitalizations climb, rates among seniors and children raise concern September 22, 2023 "Seniors have the highest rates of Covid hospitalizations by far, but hospitalizations among children — especially among those younger than 5 — are rising fast. ... Nearly 1,200 children were admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 during the week ending September 9, marking a five-fold increase over the past three months. Hospitalizations among adults increased about three-fold in that same time period. ... Children accounted for 6% of all Covid-19 hospital admissions during the week ending September 9, federal data shows." https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/22/health/covid-hospitalizations-seniors-kids-vaccines/index.html

The point of the above comments is NOT to claim that COVID vaccines never have side effects... They do have side effects, although by all authoritative accounts those are very rare among the some 13 billion doses administered worldwide thus far... The point, as health authorities have maintained throughout, is that the far more than rare risks of COVID are much greater than the very rare risks of vaccine side effects, as illustrated below regarding the U.S. even now in 2023: "health officials say about 18,000 [COVID] hospitalization and 1,200 deaths are still being reported each week." https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/vaccine-data-shows-rates-for-latest-covid-19-booster-is-abysmal-only-7-percent-of-u-s-adults-with-shot https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home And when the U.S. CDC stopped publicly reporting the data this spring with the end in the U.S. of the declared COVID emergency, the unvaccinated were still having COVID deaths at a rate three to four times higher than both boosted and primary vax only populations. And that dynamic didn't just apply to elderly people, but also to younger people (ages 30-49) as well: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/united-states-rates-of-covid-19-deaths-by-vaccination-status And those comparisons are just tracking COVID deaths by vax status, without even adding the burdens of COVID hospitalizations, serious illness, Long COVID, etc etc. Which is why public health authorities continue to recommend people stay up-to-date on COVID vaccines.

A legitimate piece of research -- which I've seen cited by anti-vaxers before -- that probably has limited relevance to the subject at hand here, which is COVID vaccines. 1. the study looks at approvals of novel (new type) drugs approved by the US FDA between 2001 and 2010, which is a full decade before COVID and the COVID vaccines came along. 2. Show me where the study and its listed drugs makes mention of any kind of vaccine product... because I find no mention of vaccines whatsoever involving the study's listed postmarket safety events. 3. The study itself notes that most of the clinical trials for the drugs referenced in the study involved "fewer than 1,000 patients," -- whereas the Pfizer COVID vaccine clinical trial involved more than 40,000 people, and the Moderna trial about 30,000. https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-conclude-phase-3-study-covid-19-vaccine https://www.evaluate.com/vantage/articles/news/snippets/its-official-covid-19-vaccine-trials-rank-among-largest It’s official: Covid-19 vaccine trials rank among the largest "A look at some of the largest clinical trials undertaken with experimental agents in recent years puts these endeavours into context: of phase III trials registered in clinicaltrials.gov, Covid-19 vaccine studies count for five of the 10 most expansive, in terms of enrolment. Vaccines dominate the top 10, largely because these projects require vast pivotal programmes to identify low-frequency safety issues that might occur in broader swathes of the population."