OPINION

Obscene rich list

Re: "Thailand's richest 2021 list", (BP, July 9).

I find it obscene that the Bangkok Post has deemed it appropriate to highlight among its headlines the "Thailand richest 2021 list", at a time when millions of Thais are suffering from poverty and in some cases, hunger, because of the pandemic. Do you really think that this is going to comfort people at a time like this? This obsession with wealth is shameful. Who cares who is or is not a billionaire? Is this what defines the greatness of a country? Does it make a difference whether there are 10 or 100 of them? Please, come to your senses.

Re: "Is there a jab cover-up in Thailand?", (BP, July 9).

Prof Thitinan Pongsudhirak's article did a wonderful job of summarising why and how Thailand's vaccination turned into an undeniably Titanic disaster. If I might add to what he said, more details have recently come to light which illustrate just how profoundly poorly the Prayut administration's vaccination strategy has really failed.

Only yesterday, it was published that the Nikkei Asia Covid-19 Recovery Index has now classified Thailand as third from last in the world on Covid-19 management (#118 out of 120 nations surveyed). In fact, that rating places Thailand behind India on Covid-19 management. Yesterday, CNBC also published that six vaccinated countries have high Covid infection rates, and five of them relying on Chinese vaccines have high Covid infection rates. The last, England, relied on AstraZeneca, which is not an mRNA vaccine. Additionally, a number of world data sites identify only 8% of the Thai population as partially vaccinated, or roughly 4.5% fully vaccinated, and of those vaccinations, too few were mRNA vaccines, and many were Sinovac, so even increasing restrictions in Thailand have mainly still resulted in a fast escalation in Covid cases.

In summary, this moment in history is much like watching the Titanic after it flooded too many compartments. An utter disaster is mathematically now all but certain, and it is not likely that any belated, haphazard vaccines (often given with social, not medical priority to special people first) or other efforts can stop the unfolding, probably avoidable spread of this disastrous illness. As other nations reopen, Thailand now faces a historic, across-the-board disaster which will belong to the present administration forever.

Re: "Dems never give up", (PostBag, July 8).

HHB evidently does not know that when president of the US a person is shielded from lawsuits. This was the situation for Donald Trump from 2016 through 2020. So lawsuits that would have been filed during his term were help up, but are being filed now.

Not that lawsuits are unknown to Mr Trump. I saw a figure that he had been involved in 350 as either the plaintiff or the defendant. It has been a way of life for Mr Trump since he and his father were convicted of discrimination against blacks in renting New York premises.

And Mr Trump has just filed a broad class action lawsuit in the last few days!

Re: "CCP's record on economy mixed", (BP, July 7).

Nancy Qian correctly highlights the failures of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as well as its accomplishments. China's achievements in health care and education are impressive and the country's surging economic development in recent years is remarkable.

That said, China's economic accomplishments have largely come in spite of the CCP rather than because of it. The first 55 years of the CCP were economically disastrous for China -- especially the 27 years the country was ruled by Chairman Mao Zedong -- from nationalising property, persecuting intellectuals, instituting the "Great Leap Forward", and unleashing the murderous Cultural Revolution.

It was not until Deng Xiaoping assumed leadership of China did the country begin to make real economic progress and reduce poverty. Deng managed to do this largely by overturning most of the catastrophic policies of Mao Zedong.

China has made great progress in the past four decades, but the country's advances can be attributed to market economy reforms and opening to the rest of the world -- not so much to communism or the Chinese Communist Party.

Re: "Let's debate jabs", (PostBag, July 7).

Eric Bahrt is quick to spring to the defence of the anti-vaxxers. They are certainly in no danger of being censored. In fact, their views are amplified daily in every conceivable forum. Mr Bahrt asserts there is solid evidence that the effectiveness of vaccines is exaggerated and their dangers underreported. Quite the contrary is true. Every vaccine comes with a percentage efficacy rating and health authorities around the world are at pains to identify side effects and weigh them against vaccine protection.

The real "solid evidence" coming out of the US and UK is that serious illness and deaths decrease as vaccination rates rise. It is in the American states with the greatest vaccination hesitancy, largely due to the fear-mongering of anti-vaxxers, that Covid 19 infections are on an upwards trend.

The reality is that Kuhn Eric, beneath a cloak of temperate reasonableness, is an extreme conspiracy theorist. How else would you describe a view of the world in which vaccine production is driven by corporate racketeering, with multiple governments complicit by inference in financing Big Pharma's greed, and all aided and abetted by corrupt medical experts?

Re: "Time to accept we can't beat Covid-19", (Commentary, July 8).

Chartchai Parasuk, a freelance economist wrote, "the lockdown of Wuhan was successful only because the city is relatively small in terms of population and economic importance". Wuhan has a population of more than 11 million, demonstrable proof that economists are numerically challenged.

I do, however, agree with Khun Chartchai that controlling Covid is a fool's errand. The government is proving this daily. All efforts should be focused upon prevention with ivermectin and vitamin D3, treatment with established ivermectin protocols and finally vaccination of only those at high risk.

Re: "Time to accept we can't beat Covid-19", (Commentary, July 8).

Chartchai Parasuk makes excellent points on how to revive the Thai economy. The only drawback of the hibernation theory is its "duration". The longer the hibernation, the worse are the outcomes. It is will be nice to see the same number of restaurants after waking up from the bad Covid dream. But dreams seldom come true. Sadly, it is not going to be the same. Catastrophes always result in loss of life and cripple economies. There is no doubt that a longer duration of this bad dream will destroy facilities, finances, and precious lives. So, taking risks and moving forward may be the only way left.

Alarming though the Covid-19 statistics may be, would it be possible to add a little comparison, a little perspective? It would be very interesting to see, next to the Covid-19 statistics, the daily tally of deaths from heart disease, cancer, diabetes, road accidents and domestic accidents.

The ability of Sinovac to prevent Covid-19 infections is known worldwide to be in the 50% to 60% range with AZ and J&J in the 65% to 75% range. All three, Sinovac, AZ and J&J will reduce the risk of severe Covid-19 infections and deaths after vaccination. So, if the government can get Sinovac quickly it is not such a bad thing.

But if one considers Pfizer and Moderna they prevent infections in the 85% to 95% range. And then consider the cost of Sinovac at 6.1 billion baht for 10.9m doses. That works out to about 660 baht per dose. AZ's cost is about 120 baht per dose, J&J which only requires one dose costs about 300 baht per dose, Pfizer's cost is about 600 baht per dose and Moderna costs about 900 baht per dose.

Sinovac, AZ and J &J are the same type of vaccines and should cost about the same. So why is the cost of these 10.9 million Sinovac doses so high? Pfizer and Moderna cost more because they are a new type of vaccine For the price Thailand is paying for Sinovac they could have had Pfizer a much better vaccine.

I am hoping to visit Europe soon and have been looking into how to get a vaccine passport once I have had my shots. Information is scarce in English and a Google search only found a Bangkok Post report in April that the Department of Disease Control of the Ministry of Health can issue them. Apparently just six officials were authorised to sign them.

A friend travelling to Italy applied at the department and was told it would take a week, but it was not ready after a week. She was told this was because the right person to sign was not available. Two weeks have now passed and still no news.

Surely the Disease Control Department has better things to do during a pandemic than issue certificates. The vaccination records are already on the government's computer records, so why can't they be issued online, or at police stations?

I thought of the Shirley Bassey classic lyrics, "if there's a wrong way to do it... nobody does it like me".