Covid19 - Why is vaccination imperative if it does not prevent infection?

 

As I see it, taking the vaccine is now a national imperative. Once the nation is well-vaccinated, we can get on the road to restoring what the pandemic has taken away from us.

Helping others will always involve personal risks and detriments. But we need to unite our efforts to save our country, our economy, and our future from the destructive effects of the pandemic.

To those who have volunteered to be vaccinated, I say thank you for your sacrifice and the risk you took, for sake of others and for loved ones.

In this pandemic which affects us all, there is a big picture to consider. In the big picture, so long as the nation is insufficiently vaccinated, our borders will never be fully opened, our economy will be hampered, and people’s lives and livelihoods will remain in limbo.

To those eligible for vaccination but are hesitant to take the vaccine, do consider joining the vaccination drive. In my humble opinion, time is not on our side. 

Jeannette Chong Aruldoss

The above is the concluding paragraph of an appeal by Jeannette Chong in a post in TRE.  Does anyone know what she is talking about? What is the real problem? I know, lawyers are very good in words, in arguments, but in science, technology and numbers?

The issue in her argument is that our lives are affected because the economy is affected and we need to get our lives back by reopening the economy. And why is vaccination imperative? It is to open the economy.

Then what does vaccination do? For one, vaccination does not stop one from getting infected. Two, vaccination does not prevent the spread of the virus. The best vaccination does is to lower the risk of the infection getting too serious or leading to death. What do these mean? Getting vaccination is a personal affair, about protecting oneself from being more sick or dying. Getting vaccinated or not does not increase or decrease the spread of  Covid19. 

The spread of the disease can be moderated by isolation, social distancing, wearing masks and not socialising when one is infected. It has little to do with vaccination!

So what is this hype about calling for compulsory vaccination or imperative vaccination if it is not going to have any direct effect on the spread of the disease or opening of the economy?

Go ahead and open the door, open the economy for all you want.  The people that did not get vaccinated would only be responsible to themselves and their actions would not lead to infecting others if they wear masks, maintain social distancing and isolate themselves when infected. Vaccination is only to protect themselves and lower the risk of hospitalisation and death if it did reach that stage. There is no need to cry and panic whether they are vaccinated or not.

In fact getting vaccination is taking a risk, a sacrifice, to allow the opening of the economy.  Can you believe this? Why would anyone want to take a risk for the sake of opening the economy? Is this too much to ask for? Asking people to take risk, make it compulsory some more, so that the economy can be open? OK, the compulsory call was not by Jeannette.  But I must give her credit for admitting that getting vaccinated is taking a risk. 

If getting vaccinated would prevent one from being infected, thus lowering the risk of spreading the disease, it would be more meaningful to make it compulsory, imperative. But it is not. It is now proven beyond any doubt that vaccination does not prevent one from being infected. This is unlike other vaccinations that we have known, eg, measles, polio, etc etc.

PS. From a commenter called Oxygen in TRE.

'The vaccines now in use seems ineffective of their claimed efficacy protection. Just look at the Jurong Port/KTV clusters where 3/4 of the infected are fully vaccinated, right?

This cluster proportion is higher than the population-wide averages (which include children) reveals the futility of vaccination outcome sought.

SO IT IS UNDERSTANDABLE THAT SOME DON’T WANT TO TAKE RISKS of the unknown when the known outcome is so dismally defeating of outcome.'

People's Association Caught Sleeping Again and Again?

 The People's Association must be a very exciting organisation to work in. It seems like there are new discoveries every year by the Auditor General's Office (AGO). Last year, there were several serious discrepancies discovered. This year, the AGO has again discovered several lapses and possible irregularities related to the People's Association's management.

The PA had engaged contractors to carry out minor building works at OTH and a managing agent to manage the facilities and supervise the contractors.

The AGO checked only a sample of payments totalling $1.27 million made between April 2018 and March 2020 and found possible irregularities in the supporting documents for 34 of the 36 payments. What if the AGO had checked ALL the thousands of payments? I think someone will faint on the spot.

The irregularities included possible falsification of quotations, alteration of hard-copy payment supporting documents and the creation and backdating of documents to give the false impression that proper processes had been followed.

"As the lapses relate to serious allegations involving falsification of documents, including in relation to claims by external parties, PA has lodged a police report and investigations are ongoing," the PA said, adding that it had suspended the staff involved pending the outcome of the investigation.

The PA also said it would set up a task force led by senior officers to strengthen processes in procurement, contract and facility management, raise staff capabilities, and improve oversight of contractors and managing agents.

It will also appoint an external consultant to conduct a thorough review of its governance system and oversight functions related to contract management of all development projects, the PA added.

The external consultant will be given a "broad mandate" to review such matters and provide recommendations to strengthen PA's oversight of contract management.

Other issues flagged by the AGO include lapses in the computation of adjustments for price fluctuations for the main construction contract at OTH and weaknesses in the management and oversight of contract variations for the main construction contracts for both OTH and HBB.

This means PA could have overpaid its contractors by an estimated $2 million for building materials for OTH, such as concrete and steel reinforcements.

The AGO also checked 465 contract variations amounting to $26.48 million and found lapses in 252 or 54.2 per cent of them. Contract variations are mutually agreed changes to the terms of contracts that are already in effect.

No evidence of approval was found for 109 contract variations, while approvals for 142 of them were obtained only one month to 5½ years after works had commenced or were already completed. There were also other issues such as the use of incorrect rates, resulting in over- and underpayments.

AGO also found wastage of $5.39m of public funds at HPB over excess fitness trackers.

AGO finds heritage items improperly deleted from NHB records, tender bids not evaluated.

But the PA failed to ensure this requirement was made explicit in the tenancy agreement. This resulted in the tenant charging fees that were 23 per cent higher than the cap specified for the first two years of its operation.

With a budget of $1 billion, or slightly less, per year, the money seems to be easy come easy go?

Every year, the AGO is bound to discover several lapses, irregularities, discrepancies or possible frauds in almost all the Ministries, Statutory Boards or other government agencies. This cannot go on and on for years. The government is urged to fix the root causes of such embarrassing and preventable lapses.

SSO

July 25, 2021

Quad - Gang of 4 fictional characters

 The Quad was the antagonistic scheme of the evil Americans to confront and challenge China's rise as the top superpower. The Americans have all the reasons to want to stop China from becoming richer and more powerful than them and to topple the Americans as the number one economy. Instead of facing the Chinese challenge head on by putting all their resources to boost up their economy, the Americans seek the way of the gangsters to want to block China by all kinds of aggression and wars.  This is in the blood of the Americans, wars and killings, to be rich and powerful by going to wars to kill their enemies, to steal their land and their resources and enslave the people. The continent of North America and its natives, South America and the Arab countries in the Middle East are all victims of American aggression.

Very few countries would want to go to war with China except for a few like Japan, India and Australia, that have an axe to grind for one reason or another.  In the military sense, only the Americans could present a real challenge to China. The rest are at best playing the role of jokers, jesters or spoilers.

In the case of Australia, a country with only 22m population, and a little military force that at best be enough to defend a city like Canberra and nothing else, definitely not enough to defend the piece of continent they stole from the aborigines, its role in the Quad is like a court jester. Everyday this jester would be pounding its chest and telling the top dog that it is going to send its soldiers to fight China, to go to war with China. What a joke. If Indonesia decides to take over this little clownish country, it would be over in a week before they could cry to the Americans for help.

India is big in population but otherwise just a spoiler. A poor third world country with pretension of being a super power but not even able to provide a decent life for its people, and a dilapidated armed forces that depend on buying weapons from other countries to give it some image of a modern army, can never be a threat to China. Without a strong military manufacturing base, its war machine could not last a week in a major war with China when it would be crying out loud for supplies of bullets and spare parts.

India would and could win all wars if wars is fought with the mouth and words. When real bullets and fighting soldiers are the key factors, India is best be forgotten. Its role in the Quad is best as a spoiler, a trumpet to make a lot of noises.

Japan has a significant military, the biggest and most powerful in Asia after China. But one for one, it is dwarfed by the might and heft of the PLA. Today Japan is no contest against China.  There would be no Japan to talk about should war breaks out with China. Japan would be history, a barren grave yard for centuries to come. Japan has three arch enemies in China, Russia and the Koreas, all waiting for a chance to turn it into smokes.

Japan knows its precarious situation after being the invader and butcher of China, Russia and the Koreas in WW2. It has a blood debt to pay and can only hope that this day would not come or can be kicked further down the road. Its only hope is for the Americans to be on its back and keep its enemies at bay. It needs the Quad to keep the balance and China in check. Unfortunately the value of Quad and the American protection is weakening with each passing day.

The day of reckoning must come and will come for Japan to face its crimes against China, Russia and the Koreas. This is the pathetic future waiting for Japan. And the Quad is as good as it could be as a fictional gang that would prove useless when that day comes. The Americans would not and would never fight a war with China. In conventional war, the Americans would be blown to pieces by the PLA. The PLA had done it in Korea, and to some extent in Vietnam. A nuclear war has no winners. The Americans are hoping to use the Quad as a straw man to frighten China with a joker, jester and a spoiler in tow. The latter three would be turned into mince meat by China if a war really comes. Straw man can only be straw man and nothing else.

COVID-19 Olympics: Stupidity has No Cure

 

Tokyo reported at least 1,979 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, 22 July 2021, as the Olympic Games are just ONE day out from its official start.

The jump in new cases is the Japanese capital Tokyo's highest increase in new cases since January 15.

The number of Covid-19 cases in Japan linked to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games has risen to 91, according to Tokyo 2020 organizers Thursday.

Nine of the 91 cases reported were residents of the Olympic Village, five of whom are athletes and four are "Games-related personnel."

The capital is currently under a coronavirus state of emergency — set to expire on August 22 — while the Tokyo 2020 Games are set to officially begin on Friday.

It is a clear sign of being stupid and stubborn to go ahead with the Olympics, when the COVID-19 Pandemic is still rampaging across the Whole World.

If one is stupid and stubborn at the same time, one is an IDIOT! When one is an idiot, then his stupidity has no cure.

It looks like the present set of Japanese leaders has stupidity that cannot be cured.

SSO

July 23, 2021

Reality vs Stats (CECA) As experienced by a real citizen

 

Dear Minister Tan See Leng,

This is an open letter as a handful of citizens may be interested in the matter of "employment disconnect" as seen from the eyes of a real citizen.

From your ministerial statement made on 6th July 2021, you declared:

"Today we still have about 22,000 PME jobs that are not filled. Companies are desperate to fill these jobs, and would love to take in Singaporeans if they could, because they would be more productive. So why are these jobs not filled till now?"
and

"The citizen unemployment rate over the past decade has been consistently low at around 3%".

Minister sir, then it is time for all of us to celebrate and smell the roses.......... if the above statements are true. That SG is actually experiencing full employment status as defined by textbook economists.

However, if the Minister would take the effort to leave his Ivory tower and spend some money to support our Grab and private hirer drivers and chat with them about why they are driving instead of being driven, then the Minister would tear up his stacks of data and bin them.

You will find your trip well spent and highly educational. Most of us speak good English. Able to talk about social, political, and diversified matters that come with our world-class education system. If you close your eyes, you could have sworn that you are actually speaking with a PMET. Imagine that. Like the CECA Indians, we the PMET drivers are everywhere!

The next question as a competent Minister of Manpower would ask " why are you driving risking your life for 8 to 12 hours a day without rest when there are 22,000 PMET jobs sitting in my office?"

Why indeed. As a humble PMET driver, I can only postulate that it is because there is
a Blockage that is stopping these jobs from being filled by SG. This also applies to the thousands of delivery drivers, food Pandas, security officers, supervisors and those who simply give up and slip through the cracks and out of the system. Your 3% unemployment rate would look rather untenable if you factor in the thousands that are not working in the appropriate jobs as commensurate with their experiences and educational level. A term that MOM should start adopting in your statistics - Underemployment.

By now, your senses must be chiming with a small alarm bell that not all is rosy at the grassroots level. Either the vacancies data you are provided with are false, thus permitting the hordes of PRs and new citizens continued and unrestricted entry into SG or a blockage that is undermining our ability to access these 22,000 PMET jobs. Or both.

I, like many others, have applied repeatedly for jobs that are in line with our expertise and experiences. Yet, over the 8 years of applications, I received less than 10 calls and 2 interviews. I assure you that I am not alone in this matter. I assure you that it has nothing to do with lack of skills upgrading too. This is some diversionary tactic to detract us from the grim fact that our jobs are simply taken over regardless of skills, salaries, and experiences. For many of us, this exercise is actually skills "downgrading".

As a responsible Minister, I urge you to be more proactive in this matter by:
1. Check and confirm that there are actually 22,000 PMET jobs available. Not just a number that has not been refreshed and gathering dust.

2. Deploy some manpower and speak with Real people on the ground driving, delivering, guarding, cleaning, and other jobs.......why they are doing what they are doing. Is
this to keep fit, hobby, list of things to do before dying or lack of proper jobs?

3. Include in your database, the status of "Underemployed" citizens for this group is not insignificant. This will provide a more realistic reflection on our state of employment.

4. Set up a "Sting" operation to flush out why these vacancies are blocked or even "gamed" and still not filled despite your so-called best efforts.

How?

Use actual CVs of unemployed PMETs to test the usual routes to potential employers and monitor what happens with the applications. Keep in close communication with the applicants.

If nothing happens after 1 month (no calls at all), then pay a friendly visit to the employer and enquire about the status of these unfilled jobs without giving their HR knowledge that the MOM has been monitoring the application.

I am sure that along with the thousands of unemployed PMETs, we will be very interested in learning why these jobs remain unfilled and what gems the MOM may uncover on the proviso that you are willing to reveal them.

We, the people of our beloved red dot, are mostly not smelling roses but the pong of Titan Arum aka "smelliest flower in the world". I urge you along with our esteemed Ministers to cast off your suits and really start looking with fresh eyes instead of burying yourselves in statistics for you are losing touch with your own people - I mean Singaporeans who have served the Army, reservists and wives and mothers that borne them.

Your humble GRAB driver,
Philip Wen

July 25, 2021