TheDalaiLamasBifocals comments

Everyone knows there is a virus in the air. Elected governments have no duty but to reinforce health systems and back the hell off. The rest is my choice and yours. Fools.

(Scouse accent) Calm down. Calm down.

South Africa isn't 40% vaccinated, it's just under 24%.

People who point out other people's appearance based on their own values are really lame.

Err isn't lame a discriminatory word against disabled people?

Shikansen trains already react automatically to earthquakes.

Again, the shot doesn’t prevent the spread nor people from getting sick

Why again? You were wrong the first time.

You guys whining about international players aren't rugby fans are you?

To play for the international teams you have to he born there, have a grandparent from there or have lived in the country for 60 consecutive months before playing or have 10 years cumulative living there to play.

You can't just 'import' players. Most of them have been playing locally for years.

It's a great system.

It said they are here with The Japan Foundation. I first came to Japan with that organisation. They were control freaks back then without the pandemic. It was a 10pm curfew at their centre without a special pass.

80 million fully vaxxed...the rest waiting and a tiny squealing coward minority who are scared of a little jab in the arm.

No, just a new excuse for conspiracy nuts to get paranoid and go postal.

It is easy to say it is a non-story after it is over.

It is the same as saying that COVID was nothing after wave is over because actions were taken to reduce the impact - a very blinkered view.

The Tokyo Olympics is being praised in security circles as a success. One reason is that they didn't wait for attacks to occur before acting. They took preemptive measures to identify threats. There was also a lot of data sharing between different agencies and countries that assisted with this.

Far from being a non-story, it is very much a success story.

So is he saying that the cold virus can make you immune to the coronavirus?

No. You are trying to infer that.

The common cold covers several different virus types. The majority are rhinoviruses. Some are coronaviruses. It's not a great leap of imagination to think that he is using a virus with similar properties to create the vaccine.

Covid 19 is not the common cold.

Nobody notices statues until they are taken down.

If you get worked up about alcohol being stopped at 8pm, you may need to see a specialist about that.

Tokyo Medical and Dental University announced they had found a new strain of the virus with both Alpha and Delta mutations.

They also said it was highly likely the variant developed in Japan and was not brought from abroad.

RIP Mr. Watts.

How the hell did Keith Richards survive him?

How come neighboring Syria, where less than 1% of the population is fully vaccinated because of sanctions, is not experiencing the same record outbreak as highly vaccinated Israel?

It is.

 Please do your own research and educate yourselves. 

Any time you see this phrase skip the wall of text.

I just messaged a nurse friend who works in the same hospital.

I put your question to her, and she replied that the ICU capacity was increased and is several beds more than a normal winter flu season would be. She also said that ICU beds are not just about oxygen. Any patients with breathing problems are usually in medically induced comas and breathing via a ventilator because they can't breathe on their own.

In addition ICU staff have special training on top of their normal skills. She said that normally you can't just produce doctors and nurses in a short time, and the most important factor for ICU staff is experience.

It's not just a case of jamming someone onto an oxygen tank.

My friend's hospital's ICU is currently running at 90% capacity because they had to take patients from non-covid hospitals.

I meant from hospitals with covid facilities.

With less than 0.1% of the beds occupied, it is indeed utter nonsense to be talking about a strain on the health system.

Tell that to my doctor friend. His hospital is a large city establishment and doesn't have COVID facilities, but they have to take the overspill of other hospitals that do. Most hospitals, not just in Japan, operate at close to max capacity with a fine balancing act to keep the healthcare running. Even non-covid hospitals have more work with all patients requiring tests before being admitted and implementing other measures to stop clusters breaking out.

Then there are ICU beds that require more staff to operate.

My friend's hospital's ICU is currently running at 90% capacity because they had to take patients from non-covid hospitals. If this keeps on increasing, they will have to turn away patients from the ICU.

We need to deal with Covid in a rational manner as we do anything that comes up in life, being over emotional is counter productive.

It is rational for everyone to follow health guidelines such as masks and social distancing, and to have a vaccine shot - not just the sick and elderly.

There is no rationality in the pro-diseaser camp - they are the only ones protesting on streets.

@FIZZBIT

Pulliing the friendly anti-vaxxer stance. Sneaky sneaky.

Geert Vanden Bossche is another darling of the antivax brigade.

His statements have already been torn to shreds by many other scientists, but it's nice clinging to antivax straws whenever you can.

I don't know what it is like in other places outside of Tokyo, but where I live the vaccinations are picking once it is out of the hands of central government. I already had my two shots as has most of my wife's family. The city posted a plan to vaccinate all those who can be or want to be by late September. They have kept to the plan so far. They predict 85% vaccinated by that date.

The city next to me, albeit with a smaller population, has already started vaccinations for under 30s and junior high kids.

Good luck to those in Tokyo.

Nice to see Monday's number not blow out as badly as it could have. Watch numbers start to fall over the next week as the vaccination program continues to protect more and more people.

If you keep saying every day it will be true eventually, but you have been proved wrong so far.

False.

Not False.

They people you mention regularly push false information as true.

There is no pro-vax movement like the anti-vaxxers.

However, there is an anti-misinformation movement.

They probably censor the Sputnik comments because it is another pointless spam post technique from anti-vaxxers.

Trying to push a vaccine that they know won't be available here and bad-mouthing the ones that are.

My cousin played for England and a Premier league team.

The amount of abuse they get for the stands is unreal.

I know people say they are well paid, but they are well paid because the sport makes money.

They don't get extra money for putting up with abuse from dickhead fans.

And on top of that players from minorities get racial abuse? Feck off.

If you are against players kneeling before a match for a few seconds to protest racism, then maybe you should re-examine your own views.

Nobody is forcing you to get a shot.

If you don't want to, you don't have to.

But constantly spreading misinformation to get other people not have a vaccine is a real scummy move.

Real low and scummy.

Get down off that cross dear, somebody needs the wood.

How would you define effective?

The vaccines are effective against the delta variant. They are designed to reduce serious disease and hospitalization, which is going to be even more important with delta variant's ability to spread.