TR EMERITUS

In the old days, a small proportion of the population are scholars . They are people who knows how to reason and use logic. The rest of the population are good in other skills -to be farmers, craftsmen, traders, builders, etc. The ordinary people respect the scholars for their knowledge and ability to reach the right decisions. They do not think that they are smarter than the scholars. By scholars, I now include the experts in the special fields of medicine, law, finance, engineering, etc. Today, we have a system where we educate most people to their level of incompetence. Many people think that they are smart, but in actuality they lack the skill of reasoning and logic. Worse, they do not respect the experts. They think that they are smarter than the experts. I am not saying that the system in the old days is perfect. The scholars and experts can also make mistakes and act corruptly. But the old system where there is respect for scholars and experts is better than today, where everyone thinks that he or she is an expert. To make matters worse, the "smart" people become cynical and irrational and think that they are heroes for advocating their wrong views.   Tan Kin Lian  Read More →

A new study of more than one million Covid-19 vaccine recipients has concluded a rare blood clotting side effect is as likely to occur from a Pfizer jab as the much-maligned AstraZeneca vaccine. In a paper pre-released in The Lancet, researchers from the UK, Spain and the Netherlands said both jabs have a "similar" incident rate of thrombosis. "In this study we have found the safety profiles of ChAdOx1 (AstraZeneca) and BNT162b2 (Pfizer), an mRNA-based vaccine, to be broadly similar," the paper explained. The study of Spanish patients also found blood clots are more common in people who test positive for Covid-19 than those who have received either jab. While the paper is not yet peer reviewed, it is an alarming development that will put into question the narrative around the AstraZeneca vaccine in Australia, where confidence in the jab plummeted earlier in the year following the reporting of fatal cases of blood clotting. Mixed messaging around the vaccine has led to hesitancy at a time when the nation, particularly NSW, needs to reach a high level of vaccination to fend off surging rates of the highly-infectious Delta variant. While Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has repeatedly stressed the benefits of the AstraZeneca jab outweigh the risks, there has been conflicting advice from other health authorities, notably Queensland's Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young. When Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged under 40s to seek advice on the AstraZeneca jab last month, Dr Young said she "genuinely did not understand" why Mr Morrison would make such an announcement. "I do not want under-40s to get AstraZeneca," she stressed, saying there was minimal death in young Australians from Covid. As cases of blood clotting arose earlier in the year, believed to be thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) advised against under 60s receiving the AstraZeneca jab. Such mixed messaging has led to an increase in people eligible for the jab holding out for the scarce Pfizer vaccine, including those who have had one AstraZeneca jab. Weighing up the heightened risk with Delta outbreaks, ATAGI has since changed its advice, telling over 18s they can seek GP advice on the AstraZeneca. Experts fear lasting damage from mixed messaging Professor Greg Dore, an infectious diseases expert at UNSW's Kirby Institute, told the Sydney Morning Herald Australia will "look back on anti-AstraZenecism as one of the greatest public health failings in many years". “Even though we’ve seen many young people coming forward for AstraZeneca, many more older people are still ‘waiting for Pfizer’ due to irreparable damage by some in the medical profession and other commentators," he said. Dame Sarah Gilbert, the vaccinologist who co-developed the AstraZeneca jab, told the publication she feared people are "too worried" after receiving mixed messages. "I think the problem is the messaging around the vaccination, because if you’re telling people at some stage, ‘oh you shouldn’t have this vaccine, it’s probably not the best thing for you’ and then you want to change that message and say ‘oh, no we’ve changed our mind, it is good’, I think that makes it difficult for people who are considering whether to get vaccinated and when to get vaccinated," she said.    Source: Yahoo! News (AU)          Read More →

"While the promise of easier travel for the vaccinated sparked jubilation in Singapore, the question remains if its leaders will actually take what will be a leap of faith for a nation where even one locally-transmitted Covid case makes the front page. To do that, it’s trying to snuff out an outbreak driven by the delta variant and reach a vaccination level -- 80% -- that few countries have achieved, but which the government says will put Singapore in a position where it can live with the virus without carnage. They earlier pledged to begin easing restrictions once half the population was vaccinated; that milestone came and went on July 19. "At this stage, given the multitude of public statements on the vaccination coverage, the government has not really given themselves much room to manoeuvre,” said Nydia Ngiow, Singapore-based senior director at BowerGroupAsia, a strategic policy advisory firm. They need to put their money where their mouth is and make the steps towards an endemic Covid-19 once we hit the 80% threshold, or risk being held accountable.” Singapore’s hesitation in opening up, despite vaccination levels that would be the envy of much of the world, reflects the conundrum its traditionally cautious leaders find themselves in. The rise of the delta variant and evidence that vaccinations may offer less protection against infection by new strains led officials to question the safety of their earlier plans. If Singapore pulls off its pivot, it’ll provide a template for Covid Zero places that include mainland China, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, to rejoin the world. Yet it also risks becoming a cautionary tale. "Will there be deaths? Yes. Is there a threshold that will cause the government to waver? There should be one if the government is sensible,” said Jeremy Lim, associate professor at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore. If new variants of concern emerge, particularly any that are more dangerous than the delta strain, or if hospitalizations and deaths far exceed anticipated numbers, then dialing back the reopening plan "would not only be technically correct, but also morally an imperative,” he said. "No country has demonstrated that it has sufficiently high levels of immunization so that the virus cannot replicate enough to survive in the community in circulation,” said Harvey Fineberg, a former dean of the Harvard School of Public Health and ex-president of the US National Academy of Medicine. "The more transmissible the virus becomes, the harder it is to achieve that level of community protection, because the highly transmissible virus is better able to find someone that it can infect and then infect yet another.” The point of regret and reversal could come faster than expected, as the most recent spate of infections show how gun-shy the Singapore government can be. A series of linked clusters found at a fishery port and karaoke lounges resulted in local cases reaching a record high. The outbreaks were an opportunity for Singapore to move beyond its "Covid Zero” approach. But Singapore blinked. Instead of sticking with its reopening plan, the rising number of cases that had spread into wet markets frequented by locals, particularly the elderly, prompted the government to re-impose restrictions lifted just four days earlier, such as banning dining-in. For now, government leaders say they’re unlikely to stray from the course again after the current clusters come under control. Among average citizens, there’s growing frustration over the slow walk.   Roy Ngerng      Read More →