This is going to hurt: COVID scams to beware of

There are a number of "legal" covid scams not listed above

I don't want to be a victim of these scams. How can I confirm if the shot doesn't just contain saline?

The practical solution is not to pay for the vaccine since it is free to get. Paying surely will land you on a scam.

The unpractical way is to waste the vaccine and test it using a saliva PCR test for COVID that targets the spike protein, if the vaccine contains viral RNA it would get a positive.

They forgot the "we're all in this together" scam.

Used by unscrupulous/corrupt politicians who bring in lockdowns and mask mandates while doing the opposite themselves. Supported by lackeys paid by the public purse who suffer little or none while productive people lose their businesses and more thanks to these policies. Not to forget all the people who are suffering mental illness and disrupted education from lockdowns and mask mandates.

Got mine free. Made a reservation, waited about 10 minutes in the local clinic's waiting room, got the jab, and was out within 30 minutes. I'd say Japan is handling this well for those who take the trouble to get inoculated.

How would I test the vial to make sure nobody tainted it with harmful chemicals?

Go to a commercial laboratory of chemical/biological analysis and pay for the full spectrum of tests they have available and wait for a few weeks until they have the results done (of course you will be relatively sure but will not have vaccine to use afterwards).

Or simply make sure you are getting the vaccine from a reputable source and maybe check that not crazy antivaxxer is around to contaminate the vaccines in order to "prove" they are not safe. That would reduce the risk of contamination to the same insignificant levels.

Because as this article attempts to address "From the sophisticated to downright strange, the pandemic has set off a wave of scams around the world from bogus doses and fake vaccine passes to criminal cremations" - and throw in the compromised US health instituations as being just as complicit.

This applies only to people that abandon reason and common sense to deny the huge value vaccines have demonstrated in the fight against the pandemic, when people begin to consider lives saved as just some unimportant side effect of a supposed world wide conspiracy that includes the medical and scientific community in general (and every single institution of the planet) there is little left to reason with.

Fortunately for the rest of the population the science is perfectly clear, vaccines have resulted much better interventions than imagined during the clinical trials.

Critical thinking is a much more favorable attribute.

Certainly is.

Looking at it objectively, the hysterics seem to be coming from the anti-vaxxers.

Alex Berenson and others have a lot to answer for in winding up those of unbalanced temperament.

Alex who? Is he famous? widely reported in the media? Influential? responsible for people worldwide not wanting to be vaccinated?

I don't want to be a victim of these scams. How can I confirm if the shot doesn't just contain saline?

When you get the shot, there is a QR code on your vaccine passport with the lot number and identifier, where it states the ingredients as well. Just scan the code.

Not to forget all the people who are suffering mental illness and disrupted education from lockdowns and mask mandates.

Japan doesn't have mask mandates or lockdowns. not sure what country you are talking about.

Japan has peer pressure.

And if I knew someone who was having mental illness from a mask mandate, I would think there was probably something else going on besides just seeing a sign at conbini asking to please wear a mask.

vendingmachinemusicToday  02:57 pm JST

Not to forget all the people who are suffering mental illness and disrupted education from lockdowns and mask mandates.

Japan doesn't have mask mandates or lockdowns. not sure what country you are talking about. 

Japan has peer pressure. 

And if I knew someone who was having mental illness from a mask mandate, I would think there was probably something else going on besides just seeing a sign at conbini asking to please wear a mask.

You're aware of all those countries that have or had lockdowns and mask mandates, causing businesses to close, workers industries whose jobs can't be done from home to lose jobs and income (a big proportion from lower-income sectors), kids to do schooling from home and be trapped at home during holiday periods, people unable to visit isolated loved ones, right? The inability of deaf people to lipread due to masks, causing high levels of stress. Developmental delays in kids due to disrupted education. There's loads more.

But don't worry. Obama had a good party the other week, I hear. He even reduced the guest list by a couple of hundred people to help reduce the spread of the virus. We're all in it together!

You're aware of all those countries that have or had lockdowns and mask mandates, causing businesses to close, workers industries whose jobs can't be done from home to lose jobs and income (a big proportion from lower-income sectors), kids to do schooling from home and be trapped at home during holiday periods, people unable to visit isolated loved ones, right? The inability of deaf people to lipread due to masks, causing high levels of stress. Developmental delays in kids due to disrupted education. There's loads more.

I am aware of lockdowns, I do not see how mask mandates have anything to do with mental stress. I can see your point on the deaf people having issues with people, but I would not underestimate the power of someone with a handicap, certainly stronger than most.

Also, I was not at Obama's party, nor am I democrat, so you lost me on that one. It was a bad look for sure, but you can have a party if you wish as well.

Also, I was not at Obama's party, nor am I democrat, so you lost me on that one. It was a bad look for sure, but you can have a party if you wish as well.

The party itself didn't bother me, so long as there are no double standards. It seems there are some people who are allowed to do whatever they like, but the rest of us cop it either socially or under the iron fist if we do the same thing. A good example is the Jewish engagement party in Melbourne (AUS) a week or so ago during a lockdown. Seem like the Victorian government is going to come down hard on them.

How can I confirm the accuracy of both the QR code and what is stated?

How do you know that when you have some food, it won't have parasites in it that will infest your brain? It's happened to other people. Don't eat food. Better not risk it.

How do you know when you get water from the tap that the source doesn't have some kind of disease? Or any bottled drink, for that matter? It's happened before. No fluids. Better not risk it.

How do you know your house won't collapse and kill you in the night? Stranger things have happened. Best be homeless. Better not risk it.

How do you know that you won't see or hear something that indelibly scars your psyche? Lots of people have PTSD from things they've seen and heard. Best to pluck out your eyes and burst your eardrums. Better not risk it.

Following your radical (and adolescent) skepticism, to be safe, we need to be blind, deaf, starving, parched, and homeless.

I think people should trust the medical consensus, and not you. Thanks all the same.

Criminal cremation

Clever! How did they get caught?

At least 250 disabled and transgender people were injected at one site and nearly 500 people in total are believed to have been given counterfeit jabs.

Isn't that repetitive?

But sad that people are being given fake jabs.

Just make the punishment fit the crime, tampering with vaccines could result in death, faking a vaccine passport could result in death. Fitting punishment... death penalty? Life in prison?

Just make the punishment fit the crime, tampering with vaccines could result in death, faking a vaccine passport could result in death. Fitting punishment... death penalty? Life in prison?

Canada has decided that large fines are the way to go:

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/two-travellers-from-u-s-fined-20-000-each-for-fake-vaccination-documents-1.5529627

It will probably be hard to collect unless these people willingly pay. But conversely, it will probably keep these people out of Canada, due to not wanting to pay. Which would actually be the preferable solution for the Canadians. These people who tried to cross into Canada with fake documentation are clearly Ugly Americans, whose sense of entitlement tells them they can do whatever they want in a foreign land if/when they don't agree with the rules. And of course, Ugly Americans feel that they should be allowed to do this through the rules of American Exceptionalism.