GroveHillWanderer

No correlates of protection have been established for antibodies. In other words, just because the level of antibodies has dropped, it doesn't necessarily mean you're not protected. For long-term protection against disease, the cellular response is probably more important. Antibody levels will always start to decline eventually, after the initial increase due to a vaccine (or exposure to a pathogen). If they didn't, your blood would eventually turn into sludge because of an accumulation of the antibodies generated by the repeated exposure to pathogens that humans experience on an ongoing basis. While it hasn't been proven yet, it is thought that viral vector vaccines are better at stimulating a cellular response, whereas mRNA vaccines produce a better humoral (antibody) response. This is discussed in the article below, which states (in part): Does AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine give longer-lasting protection than mRNA shots?

As per the National Police Office, re-enactments should not be done routinely, in the way they seem to be. Crime re-enactments: a violation of suspects' rights?

Thanks to all who responded. I did the visa info transfer at Hua Hin Immigration this morning. It all went off incredibly smoothly and easily - although to be fair I've never had anything but entirely pleasant experiences there. The whole process took no more than twenty minutes from start to finish. Interestingly enough, given the experience of the one person who posted about how this went in Chiang Mai recently, they only needed copies of the relevant pages from my old passport, not all of them, so only about five pages in all. One of the good things about Hua Hin Immigration is that there's a "copy lady" downstairs who knows exactly what copies and supporting documents are required for any given process so once she's checked everything, put the package together and sends you on your way, you never get sent back for not having the correct papers.

Thanks for the info.

Thanks for the info.

I think you'll find that what you're referring to here is the 'nocebo effect,' which is where unpleasant side effects occur. The placebo effect is the opposite, where beneficial effects occur. Both occur through the power of auto-suggestion but one has positive effects and one has negative effects.

It depends entirely on what you use PayPal for. I've only ever used it to pay for things online (which was its original purpose as far as I'm aware) and after taking all of about 60 seconds to register as requested, I can apparently continue to use it just as I did before. So for me at least, it's not a pared down account, it's an account that works exactly the same as it always did. And no "backflips" were required.

Not sure what your point is. The cars were abandoned because the rideshare company they belonged to went bankrupt. It has nothing to do with the reliability of electronic vehicles. See quote below from an article on this. This Chinese EV tech startup left thousands of its electric cars to rot after filing for bankruptcy

On the Visa transfer letter for Immigration to transfer your visa info into a renewed passport there are two blanks for the date on which you entered Thailand and another where it says, "he/she was issued with ........... visa". What information is required for these two fields? Is it the date of your original entry to Thailand or the date of your most recent entry? For the second blank, what visa information do they require? Is it the type of visa (e.g. O, O-A etc) or visa number or what? Any guidance would be gratefully received. (Mods: I wasn't sure where best to post this so I posted it both here and in the Consular Q&A section. Please feel free to delete it from the inappropriate location).

The article is pretty clear (as far as I can tell) that the point is for people to be able to make a choice in order to minimize the systemic side effects (sore arm, headache, fever etc) if they want. As for the manufacturer's advice, that was based on the situation in, and data from, the US where virtually everyone had two mRNA vaccines as their first two doses. The situation in Thailand is different in that many (if not most) people had combinations of SinoVac, SinoPharm and/or AstraZeneca. The data for these vaccines indicates that they seem to engender lower levels of antibodies than the mRNA vaccines, so a full dose of Moderna as a booster shot could actually make sense. Moderna tested both full and half doses as a booster and released data showing that a full dose led to an 83-fold increase in antibodies while a half dose boosted antibody levels by 37 times. The only issue with the full dose was that it led to a slightly higher level of systemic side effects. But if people had lower levels of antibodies to start with, before their booster (which is probable if they'd had either of the Sino vaccines, or even AZ) then it might be worth the risk of a slightly worse sore arm etc, to get the higher antibody boost.

On the Visa transfer letter for Immigration to transfer your visa info into a renewed passport there are two blanks for the date on which you entered Thailand and another where it says, "he/she was issued with ........... visa". What information is required for these two fields? Is it the date of your original entry to Thailand or the date of your most recent entry? For the second blank, what visa information do they require? Is it the type of visa (e.g. O, O-A etc) or visa number or what? Any guidance would be gratefully received.

There have been a few reports, involving an extremely small number of people who have had shingles flare-ups after receiving Covid vaccines but according to the Medical News Today article below, no definitive causal link has been established. As is well-known, shingles flare-ups can occur at any time and for all kinds of different reasons. Stress plays a part and of course, as the article also points out: In addition to that: What to know about shingles and the COVID-19 vaccine

See article below from the Seattle Times. It points out that while some people have had 5th shots, they have only been able to do so by lying about their previous vaccinations and could theoretically be sued by vaccine providers for lying - although as it also says that would be unlikely. Some people are getting fourth, fifth COVID vaccine shots

There is no recommendation (that I'm aware of) from any reputable or authoritative medical organisation that a fifth shot is currently required - or will be in future. What makes you think you should have a fifth injection?

He didn't actually "walk out" with it. He put it into a shipment of personal effects that he was sending home, according to what he told the BBC in an interview in 2019. The Blue Diamond Affair

In the same NDTV article that states this, it also says: So if it doesn't infect humans - and it currently doesn't, then how can they state anything (with certainty) about its transmission or mortality rates in humans? The short answer is, they can't. Those characteristics of a virus are not things that can be established from laboratory data.

I literally just posted a link to an article about the announcement from the Thai FDA saying that the interval has been reduced to 5 months, two posts above yours. https://aseannow.com/topic/1247900-what-is-the-latest-approved-periods-between-second-shot-and-booster/?do=findComment&comment=17144510

Looking at that video, it's not so clear exactly what has happened here. It certainly wasn't tailgating - the truck in front had been stopped for at least ten seconds before being hit from behind. But it didn't look like there was a red light either (and the article doesn't say there was) - other cars were continuing to drive through the intersection right up to and even after the collision occurred. Yes, I know some cars always go through the light on red but this was way, way beyond the normal time for that to happen. From the video is almost seems as if the truck in front has stopped for no apparent reason. There's still no good explanation I can think of why the other truck doesn't seem to see the one in front, though - he doesn't even start to brake, just plows straight into the back of him.

Actually, it doesn't matter where your wife's Blue Book is for. For the Section38 app what you need is the Blue Book (or possibly Chanote) for the address where you are currently living. Of course if you don't have access to it/them, then you probably won't be able to use the app.

If what you're wanting to achieve is getting your permanent residence location updated, you can do it yourself using the Section38 app available on Android and Apple devices. It's actually an online TM30 rather than TM28 but it does the job. You can do it as the "possessor" of the property (which is what I did) and it updates the Immigration database with your new address. You need to enter info for your passport, TM6 and the Residence ID for your address which (I believe) is available from the Blue Book, Yellow Book - or Chanote, possibly. There was an earlier thread about this:

He is not becoming a monk. As already reported several times on this thread, his ordination has been blocked.

Outdated news. As already alluded to by others, his ordination was blocked by the religious authorities. Frock blocked - hit and run cop rejected by monkhood

I think you're a little confused. This story isn't about 9 cases of the Omicron variant, it's about how, by using whole genome analysis, they have been able to detect 9 cases of a new sub-variant of Omicron called BA.2. As stated in the ThailandTV article below, "From Jan 11 to 17, Omicron was found in [...] 80% of local cases" https://thailandtv.news/thailand-declares-omicron-only-by-months-end-emphasis-on-necessity-of-third-dose-while-a-third-of-cambodians-have-received-it/ So there are literally thousands of Omicron cases every single day, in Thailand.

Not sure what you mean. I'm pointing out the illogicality of banning hands-free phone use.

But if you're going to enforce that, then logically you should also make it illegal to talk to a passenger while driving. If the phone is completely hands-free there's no difference between talking on the phone or talking to a passenger.