rayw

Total stupidity.  Every doctor in the world strongly advises wearing a good high factor sunscreen when sun bathing especially so in tropical areas where the UV radiation is much stronger.  Not wearing sunscreen is by far the biggest cause of skin cancer and that is a hard FACT that we should all be aware of!!!  What are they thinking here, i find this incredibly crass???  Not only that but they simply state national parks, well once again that seems very odd and ill thought out as many such parks are nowhere near the ocean as many have pointed out.  So all in all a pointless, crazy and dangerous prohibition. 

Sorry but I cannt agree with this and I am sure very few folk can.  I am keen on conservation and many years ago I was a PADI open water leisure diver and learned all about not touching coral when diving and how to protect the fragile and important corals.  Probably the biggest killer of coral is the huge industrial toxins that get dumped into the oceans from our rivers and other outlets where industiral complexes so often pay little attention to ensuring they do not pollute the enmvironment as their only concern is greedy OTT profits.  A big problem with current deeply flawed uncontrolled Capitalism !!   

I must add that I have no selfish hidden agendas here as I personally never sunbathe myself these days and have not done so for over 20 years.  Gettign a sun tan does not interest me one little bit, but that does not mean I think everybody else should follow my example at all as many folk enjoy sunbathing and getting a suntan. Tolerance and a live and let live approach to life is a good general attitude we should all try to adopt in this world and such a pity so many governments do not follow such sound principles whilst concentrating on controlling big greedy corporate Capitalism far more to protect our World and its people. 

I am 75 and have three of the listed underlying medical conditions. However I have no medical certificate to hand for either my diabetes or CKD and will need to trail out with difficulty to the hospital to see a doctor and get a certificate and thus also esposing myself unnecessarily to possible infection.  Surely I should just be able to give my local state hospital where I am registered and the info should be available on the data base easily ?????

So now I have to wait to register until I next have to go to the hiospital and be able to get a relevant medical certificate. This fortunately is soon now being later this week but others most vunerable with these relevant conditions will also be having similar problems dangerously delaying them longer from an urgently needed vaccine now with this Delta variant going rampant here.

Finally I VERY MUCH DO NOT WANT ANY mRNA vaccine so I hope I can preferably get traditionally produced deactivated actual virus cell based Sinovac or Sinopharm vaccine for a natural produced immunity, or at a push I would accept the viral vector based AZ or better still if available Sputnik V.  Either way I hope they properly aspirate when they inject else if it accidentally gets into a vein or blood vessel and is directly entering into the bloodstream any of these vaccines can and are known to then cause blot clots, so always ask and ensure they aspirate when youget your vaccine jab.  Fortunately usually Thai medical staff are well trained here so I am sure they will know this easy to do procedure as it is an important fact about aspirating being highly recommended when injecting any such vaccines.  

52 minutes ago, placeholder said:

The problem is simple. The solution is difficult given the scarcity of most vaccines. And no, supplies of Sputnik aren't plentiful.

Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine is falling short of its delivery commitments

https://fortune.com/2021/06/30/russias-sputnik-v-vaccine-delivery-production-guatemala-philippines-mexico-argentina-putin/

But there are plentiful suppl;ies of SInovac andSinopharm so why are these not more fullyavailable as I am fidning it still next to impossible to get one of those vaccines and yet I am over 75, and with diabetes 2 and CKD, in the most vulnerable groups.  Trouble is I understand that Sputnik V is not even authorised here yet and we are not even on the pending delivery list of any outstanding orders of Sputnik V and that is IMHO unforgivable. If we had ordered sufficient vaccines from overseas montghs ago then the shortage of supplies would have been the problem not the fault of the Thai Government in placing insufficient orders.  Certainly I believe that no orders have been placed for the well recognised and highly rated Sputnik V.  Why ????

4 hours ago, Henryford said:

Yes 55,000 cases a day last weekend.

Read what the chart says it refers to Deaths from Covid in the UK. The vaccines mean that Covid cases become generally no worse than a common cold or mild flu as teh considerable data clearly indicates and thus no need for lockdown to protect against that of course.  It is primarily the unvaccinated who are getting serious Covid 19 illness and death now and in the UK that is now rapidly becoming only those who ill advisedly choose not to accept the free vaccines (wish that could be the case here in Thailand too !!).  If people choose not to be vaccinated it si on their shoulders and we should not have any lockdowns to protect the sensible from the misguided fools.

Heck even the bloody experimental and iMHO dangertous mRNA vaccines actually do show they work for now at protecting against the serious effects of Covid 19 but what the long term effects of this vaccine will have with its DNA interfering technology is unknown and without the fat cat big pharma profit motives and corrupt lobbyng it would surely not have been authorised and distributed yet except for controlled clinical human trials. 

I actually truly hope this mRNA technology will, after several years of carefully analysing its possible long term effects, prove to be a miraacle technology for the real benefit of the human race and not a quite possible ticking time bomb. Of course then it must be forced to be issued everywhere as a generic safe wonder drug available and affordable for all.  But for now I certainly do not want to risk being a human guinea pig thanks and would not accept an mRNA vaccine if they paid me a lot of money.  I will sensibly stick to viral vector vaccines (AZ, Sputnik V) or preferably traditional much much safer tried and tested deactivated virus cell type vaccines like Sinovac and Sinopharm.

The solution is simple really it is to get the bloody vaccines rolled out quickly and effectively.  This is a problem that can and shouild have beenavoided IMHO as we should have imported available inexp[ensive vaccines way back in February and March so the problem falls squarely at teh feet of the government for failing in this important task.  Surely if it is lack of money then why not raise a Covod tax form those who are rivh enought to afford it and there are many of those in Thailand, some of whom have IMHO immorally made lots of money out of this pandemic, or they couild hjave diverted funds from other less importnat and less urgent projects

I still do not see Sputnik V vaccine even authorised here yet ????  I believe there is plentiful supply of this excellent viral vector vaccine from Russia.  Indeed Sputnik V came out near the top in peer review testing many months ago and is not what is a bloody dangerous experimental mRNA type vaccine.  Surely this cannot be political to appease the anti Russian criminal mafia gang in Washington else they would not have brought in the Chineses good safe deactivated virus cell vaccines, which are by the way highly effective against hospitalisations and death.  Certainly there is no time for childish political games anywhere in the world right now whilst this pandemic is still taking a hold over ourlives with its Delta variant now rife and spreading in Thailand and many other corners of the World.  And they wonder why so few of us trust politicians today !!

1 hour ago, edwinchester said:

Thailand appears to be paying more for Sinovac that the cost of the mRNA vaccines leaked in Europe.

Sounds unlikely as China do not sell the Sinovac at a profit but I understand just at cost of production plus distribution.  Moderna and Pzizer I believe are some 3 or 4 times more expensive.  I must say even If they offered me money to have an mRNA vaccine I would still refuse it as I have learned enough not to be a guinea pig for such an unnecessary experimental potentially long term dangerous DNA interfering vaccine distributed for big pharma profits which they surely put well before before people care.   

Even if I had to pay over the odds for my Sinovac or Sinopharm vaccine, (though I do resent any requirement to bolster the bank accounts of the fat cat CEOs and shareholders of the private hospital and clinics), I would gladly prefer and accept either of those and in fact I am now keen to have such a vaccine ASAP.  However last week they refused me at Ban Chang state Hospital in Rayong as I was a farang, although I produced my Thai driving licence and my passport with a fully legal family visa valid until next year, all because I did not have a pink Thai ID card which most retired expats legally living here in Thailand do not have and come on now they should not need, unless someone can explain logically why it should be needed !!!  

Bloody ridiculous considering I tick four boxes as to Covid vulnererability status i.e. over 70, have Diabetes II, CKD and am overweight too.  I really do not want to selfishly jump any valid vaccine queue but in my circumstances I would feel somewhat safer if I was vaccinated right now, what with the current worrying spread of the Delta variant here in Thailand, and despite that I feel it is not too much of a problem in Rayong province as yet. I certainly do not want my enjoyable life foreshortened by Covid 19 when it should not be a problem with safe vaccines which are and hsould be earily available here, so is that unreasonable ??

I went to Ban Chang Rayong (not far from Pattaya) local state hospital yesterday to get, or at least register for, a CV19 vaccine first jab.  I was told in no uncertain terms that it was only for Thais or for falangs with a pink ID card (is that a work permit?) !!!!  Surely my passport with a full up to date legal family or retirement visa and or a Thai driving license should obviously be sufficient to validate the fact that my home is here in Thailand and nowhere else.  Surely a falang who is working here is most likely to be under 60 and unlikely to be a vulnerable person so surely not such an urgent requirement for a CV19 vaccination!!!  So as I understand it an under 50 fit Thai person with clearly little Covid vulnerability can jump ahead of genuinely vulnerable falangs like myself and many other similar expat retirees here who do not have pink ID cards or work permits yet have lived here legally for many years (18 years in my case).   I retired here in 2003 with no other home in the UK or anywhere else other than here in Thailand which is my home with my Thai wife and family. I have these days a Thai Family (spouse) visa extended each year in accordance with fully met legal non immigrant visa requirements.

I absolutely lost my cool and exploded with the poor unfortunate hospital staff (clearly not their own fault as they do not make the rules but who else can I rant at as nobody else more senior and responsible would make themselves available ) as this is unacceptable and tantamount to clear racism which made my blood boil and pressure rise !!!!   I have lived happily in Thailand for a long time with many good excellent Thai friends who are certainly far from racist, so I was shocked and horrified at this intolerable response.  A friend of my wife who is Thai has lived in England for the past 4 years and married to an English friend of mine and she not only has had many weeks ago her CV19 vaccine shots free there but also gets full free UK national health service benefits too.  I actually do not expect to get my vaccine shots free here, although of course I pay tax on everything I buy here, but expect to take my place in the normal common non racist based queue ordered solely by the individual's degree of Covid vulnerability, and then cover the cost of the vaccine shots which should be about 300 to 500 Baht each looking at worldwide good safe vaccine costs from the non big greedy pharma sources like the excellent Sinovac (I would not touch a potentially dangerous experimental mRNA vaccine anyway as even at 75 I still have my full mental faculties and keep informed !!)  

An elderly vulnerable friend up country went to his local state hospital. not pre registered and just with his passport and without waiting more than 30 minutes got his first AZ shot. That is how it should be subject to them having supplies and why when I was told they are now issuing CV19 vaccine jabs here, I went up to the local hospital yesterday with passport and registered hospital card in hand to hopefully get my first shot .  The most vulnerable no matter what race, culture, religion, colour, nationality etc should clearly as in most countries be vaccinated first or of course only after medical front line workers.  I do not want to jump any queue or buy my way to the front of any such healthcare queue (something I find absolutely intolerable and tantamount to the actions of spoiled brats) but I do want to take my rightful place in the vaccination queues.  I am 75, have diabetes, Chronic Kidney Disease CKD (though both under control) and overweight at 110 Kgs (sure somewhat my own fault due to difficult physical mobility), but I drink very little,do not smoke and try to eat good healthy foods most of the time and am otherwise healthy with a good strong heart and circulation.  So doctors tell me I am very high on the vulnerability list for Covid infections as getting infected would be very dodgy for me, though mathematically here in Rayong the chance of catching CV19 has to be pretty low though it is still of course very real and certainly not what some misguided folk call a plandemic !!!!. 

So we must get through to the what seems a very badly organised Thai government here to get this serious problem properly sorted very urgently.  The way to end lockdown ASAP is to get people vaccinated quickly with the most vulnerable first of course to rapidly reduce the risks of overstretched hospitals and deaths.  Once all those most vulnerable are vaccinated then there is as we know little risk of death and hospitalisation for the normal healthy under 60s, though of course they need vaccinating too soon after the most vulnerable.  This is how the vaccines have been rolled out surprisingly efficiently in the UK where despite the new Delta variant affecting quite a few there now, (though almost all those effected are the unvaccinated), the lockdown is expected to completely end later this month there. So surely an intelligent caring Government here would learn from where it has been successfully implemented like the UK and get Thailand back on its feet ASAP and where it should be, happy and successful again.  Does that not make clear common sense ???

Some people must have more money than sense.  I personally would not touch any mRNA vaccine with a barge pole.  They are experimenatal at best and actually are messing about with the body's DNA.  I am not as yet senile and stupid enough to take such a vaccine even if they paid me to be a human guinea pig thanks as I am also not that brave either.  I do not trust much of what is said and claimed by the USA these days and especially from the big corrupt western corporate sector and of course that very much includes big pharma who work exclusively for huge profits not for the care of the people like you and I.  I seriously and very rationally far far more trust Sinovac and indeed China themselves these days just from my open eyes and mind observation of life today and keeping up to date with what is happening in our very sick world.  I know which nation is causing the main problems across the world today for sure and who are acting like childish arrogant criminal thugs, of that I have no doubt as it is so obvious to see by looking west today not east.  

Hope to get my free Sinovac vaccine here in Thailand in the nexrt few days and am very grateful to Thailand for providing this freely for us expats living here full time in Thailand.  I would accept at a push AZ which is at least not an mRNA vaccine but a viral vector type and also not produced by corrupt US big corporate pharma. Up to you what vaccine choice you make but I certainly recommend all my firends and folk I care about not to touch any mRNA vaccines and avoid them until we have another 5 or 10 years long term testing by willing properly informed human guinea pigs  I have read enough about mRNA vaccines to personally firmly say avoid them, but I'm no medical expert just fairly well read up on how these vaccines work and how they are produced.  Sinovac gets my tick of approval as it is a deactivated CV19 virus more traditionally produced vacine that is nigh on 100% effective against hospitalisation and death from CV 19 infections, and it seems from some reports going around that it is also as effective against serious illness and death from the new Delta covid variant too but of course I cannot confirm that 100%.  So if you are worried about that do your own research.   

I also have some stock here of Ivermectin to take immediately should I get positive symptoms of CV19 infectgion. So just in case I get unlucky and catch a Covid infection i have a good well professional evidence proven fall back treatment, though the odds i reckon are highly against caching CV19 statistically, expecially here in Rayong province at this time, and with us sensibly following at least the more sensible lockdown guidlines that clearly do work like masks and social distancing for now.  Once we get enough people vaccinated then we should be able to say goodbye to these horrid destructive lockdown measures which are destroying so many peoples lives here.  We must work to get back to normal ASAP and certainly before the end of this year at the very latest. That means a fast efficient safe vaccine rollout and Ivermectin readily available as a fall back until we gain a vaccine created herd immunity here.  

I sincerely hope you all stay safe and well and look forward to getting quickly back to the great place Thailand used to be before 2020. 

12 minutes ago, Golden Triangle said:

Crack on sunshine, you can have mine as well, I won't be needing that pile of poo ????

Thanks mate I need more to do the same to ensure the availabliily to increase my chance of getting Sinovac.  I know many others who also agree with that too so we will indeed need plenty of Sinovac available. 

Well I hope many of you follow the Washington childish, ignorant and stupid anti Chinese rhetoric and refuse Sinovac as that will help ensure there is plenty left for me and others who know this is the only CV19 vaccine available here that is a traditionally produced, not for big pharma profits, deactivated virus cell vaccine.  Quite obviously it will thus produce a fully natural immunity response in the same way as catching and recovering from a full Covid 19 infection but of course without the risk of serious illness and death.  I am no medical expert but this is surely clear rational common sense logic.

I would take AZ at a push if Sinovac was not available but only in absolute necessity if we have a real definite epidemic here, and the figures are clearly far from that as yet, most likely due to effective and prompt lockdown measures and also the incompatible climate for the Covid 19 virus strains to easily propagate.  Anyway, I am happy to take Sinovac straight away as it is imho a no brainer non experimental, safe and more than effective enough vaccine against Covid 19 instigated death and serious illness.  

Anyway glad to here at long last the vaccines are being rolled out, way too late but at least it is now happening. 

All very strange reactions from folk here, because logically Sinovac is the most traditional vaccine produced from inactivated actual virus cells and thus safest of all the vaccines IMHO and from my own limited but pretty deep research.  Surely the most experimental vaccine and the one with the most unknown long term effects are more likely those with the mRNA base produced by big corporate pharma for profit not care.  surely there is rationally far more reason to mistrust those vaccines then any of the others. Personaly I am not willing or brave enough to risk any mRNA vaccine and be a human guinea pig thanks.

So my first choice is Sinovac, which although suposedly has a lower efficacy if the anti Chnese agenda driven figures are to be believed, it still has the same almost 100% efficacy against serious illness and death.  The only other two I have enough trust in is Sputnik V and Astrazenica but would only take those if Sinovac was unavailable but would rather wait for that to become available again to be honest.

SO as we all know and they are thus admitting alcohol kills the Covid 19 virus as it deos most viruses too.  Whereas I am an advocator of the Goverments sensible lockdown measures like wearing masks in public places and social disancing and indeed travel restictions with mandatory quarantine for ANYONE coming into the country (at least until we have had a 70% + vaccine rollout especiallyfor the most vulerable whatever theri nationality), the ban of selling alcohol in restaurants is absolutely pointless and does not help the economy either.  Having a beer or wine with your meal or inparticular a spirit as an after meal drink can only help kill off any viruses you may have unluckily ingested or got caught in your throat.  Also there is no way th evirus is moreinfectious after 9 PM eithr so why the early closures.

There are already firm sensibly lockdown laws about social distancing so that should be well enforced and thus limited the number of customers allowed in a restaurant/bar at any one time.  That surely ensures that serving alhohol or opening after 9 PM is not a problem as to spreading the pandemic.  Sure I support the argument that its maybe better to playsafe and have too much than too little lockdown but somethings are plan counter productive and in fact sadly alienate some folk to the idea of having any lockdown measures !! 

Why does this not seem to make sense to the authorities implemening these lockdown laws ?? Does it make sense to you guys ?? if not why not ??

Well I hope they keep some Sinovac back for me as it is about the only one I fully trust, though I will accept Sputniuk V.  I wont touch any of the experimental mRNA vaccines epeccially when produced by big corrupt western pharma for big profits rather than for real people care.  So to put it bluntly they can stick Pfizer and Moderna and J&J too where the sun don't shine and I will resort to the professionally acclaimed  Ivermectin as an immediate treatment should I be unlucky enough to get CV19 infected or even for now use it as a safe phrophylactic until I can get a proper safe traditionally made vaccine like Sinovac that I can trust. 

As many are crazily refusing Sinovac then for me that is good as hopefully some will be left for me and for others who rationally feel the same way.  I  am very grateful for the vaccines being offereed free to non Thais who live here permanently either as official residence or on long stay visas like retirement and family visas and feel it is the correct and sensible thing to do.  Many like myself have lived here for many years on annual long stay visa extensions.  For me I have now happily lived here  for nearly 20 years with my only home here in Thailand with my wife.

Note that I am no medical expert but do some sensible rational research on which to base my decisions, so the above is simply what I am personally doing to protect myself against Covid 19.  So I am not suggesting you do the same without carrying out your own reseach and preferably speaking with a good well informed doctor too.

As I am 75, a registered Diabetic 2 sufferer (although well under control by diet and minimum meds), have Chronic Kidney Disease CKD (carefully managed but basically kidneys getting old and worn out) and I am these days obesse at 110 Kg with a high BMI (a lot due to difficulty in exercising with a crumbling spine), I hope I am reasonably high up on the vulnerable list but will wait my turn equally in line with Thai folk.  I do not believe in buying my way to the front of the queue which I find selfish and immoral and my self respect would preclude me from doing so unless I had abolutely no other choice in the end. Even then I would not be stupid enough to be ripped off by some of the obscene ridicuously high Covid vaccine fees at private hospitals that are being anticipated and banded around.  

Anyway despite my age and medical conditions I am enjoying life and very happy here so it is very good to hear the vaccines are at last being fully rolled out, albeit I feel way too late.  So I hope you all stay safe and well and hopefully once we get a good vaccine roll out here I think the lockdowns will end soon and become a thing of the past so we can then promptly return back to the happy normal lives that we had before.  So come on guys less of the moaning here and lets be more positive instead of this crazy eternal negativity. 

1 hour ago, SomchaiCNX said:

What is so difficult to understand about it for some of you?

If you are in the Thai health security system you are getting your vaccins. If you are not contributing to the system why would you get your vaccines for free from that same system if you are not Thai?

 

Can I play golf for free when I'm not a member or do not pay green fees?

Agree with this.  But we should as expats living here full time, or as migrant workers, be on the same list as everyone else here based on urgency of need ie in order of vulnerability. When our rightful time comes in the queue we shoudl be offered the vaccine (and ideally a choice of a few) but with the proviso we must pay the true at cost based price for it.  Nothing wrong with that and no need to be ripped off by the private hospitals, or what I find obscene and wrongful to be able to buy your way to the front of the queue when there is not enough vaccines to go around anyway. 

So what is wrong with that fair and balanced idea hmm?? 

1 hour ago, WaveHunter said:

Maybe what you wish for exists in some make believe place but join us all here in the real world.  I would be delighted to pay 2,000 baht for a vaccine today if it were available to me.

 

If a private hospital charges you 2,000 baht for a vaccine that could save your life, what is the big deal anyway?  Many expats spend that much for a meal at a fancy restaurant without batting an eyelash, where the markup on actual cost for that meal is often astronomical.

 

In my own business I've always had clients who nitpicked on my pricing, arguing that I was overcharging them based on material costs, but NOT taking into account my fixed costs of running a business and the huge investment I had in equipment to produce the goods, and in maintaining inventories of supplies necessary for production, etc... 

 

What you think a product or service costs a provider to make available to you is often far more than you realize.  So, for you to claim that hospitals are ripping you off at 2,000 baht is probably not accurate at all.

 

The real world might be a harsh place at times, but it is what it is.

I have no problem with profits in a competitive zero monopoly zero cartel market place, but I totally draw the line at profiteering with peoples' healthcare and childrens education. Both of those services should be a public service and human right run by the people for the people, and paid for out of a fair and honest taxation system based on division of wealth.  That is in a society that actually cares about the well being of all its citizens.

Yes I am, sometimes I think sadly, living in the real currently very sick and dystopain world but that does not mean that we should just accept that when it is clearly so very wrong, and adopt an awful  "I'm alright Jack" selfish stance.  I am not a lover of the extreme uncontrolled Capitalism as it is today either but I am a democratric Socialist who believes well controlled and managed Socialism and Capitalism should work together as they do in sucessful socially sound nations like Denmark and yes Russsia too today.

Personally I may be called a cheap Charley in some folk's eyes, but I consider I am more being a sensible Sydney.  So NO I wont pay ridiculous totally unrealistic prices for any meals but I am perfectly happy to pay a reasonable cost to make the restaurant owner and his staff properly and fairly rewarded for their good efforts and services. Tips given too but only good service.

This is immoral and unacceptable IMHO.  I am perfectly happy to pay the normal cost of a vaccine (preferably for me Sinovac) but I find it deplorable the rip off chargees being talked about with private hospitals who as usual care about profits not the care and well being of you and I.

So I ask the Thai authorities to think agan on this issue and be morally racially impartially sound too and thus put all expat falangs living here in Thailand and other immigrant workers on the vaccination queue list solely according to their urgency of need based on their individual vulnerabilities.  Sure make a cost based charge to non Thais for the vaccines, which with Sinovac should be i deduce no more than say 500 to 1000 Baht tops and that would cover the small cost of applying the injection too of course. Private hospitals charging 2000 Baht + per jab is imho deplorable and unacceptably immoral making profits out of this terrible pandemic and lowering us expats here in Thailand to the <deleted> health service levels as seen in the USA !11 .

Don"t get me wrong I love it here in Thailand where I chose to retire and am quite happy to pay the cost of my nedical needs and indeed sensibly have a good insurance policy to pay for that, but not to line the pocket of the immoral rich fat cat private health CEOs thank you very much !1  Maybe we should have a reciprocal health service agereement here with our home countries in particualr the UK which has just about still a NHS though sadly falling into disarray thanks to wicked unwanted privatisation.  For example I know a few friends with Thai wives.husbands living in the UK who get free healthcare the same as a Brit and I fully support that as being right, but likewise I feel we farangs living here should be afforded the same health benefits as Thais here too.

Well much as I am very very grateful for Thailand extending the free vaccine program to include expats living here I must say that I am sensibe enough not to accept any mRNA experimantal vaccines produced by western big pharma as an obscene primary motive of sheer greed.  I really primarily want the traditionally produced from dead actual virus cells vaccine (You know like how the good old tried and tested vaccines of old against polio, yellow fever and smallpox etc were produced). That means I really want as my number one most sensible choice the Sinovac vaccine which is nigh on 100% effective I understand against severe illness and death resulting from Covid 19 infections.  I am not daft enough to be so stupidly swayed by US and UK led ignorant anti Chinese and anti Russian propaganda and rhetoric.

I do not believe in money ever buying ones way to the front of queues especially for any healthcare service, which should always and only be managed in order of real urgency of need.  However, I will not be willing to have the Pfizer, Moderna or any other experimental mRNA produced vaccine because I have read way too much real information about them and how and why they are produced and work.  I do believe though that people must have a free choice as to which, if any, vaccine they are willing to accept. However, if free I also must reasonably accept that beggars cannot be choosers.  So when, and only when, my rightful and fair turn in the queue comes around I am willing to pay a non rip off realisstic true cost of a few hundred Baht for one of the vaccines of my choice, which will primarly be Sinovac or the non mRNA Sputnik V, which is also produced by an honest peoples health service as a duty of care not for corrupt immoral levels of greedy profits exploiting peoples unfortunate illnesses, like is truy the case with big western corporate pharma.

But which vaccine you each choose is of course up to you, but please for your own sake make sure that you are fully informed and aware of the real truthful facts, not the propaganda, about the vaccines that are available to you before you decide on which one you are willing to have. I am no medical expert, so you should each check the facts carefully for yourself.  I just pass on what I think is vital information and rational reasoning to genuinely try to help inform others to find the useful information that I have carefully searched out.  However, always be aware there is a lot of agenda driven nonsense out there too I feel. particualrly sadly fro mteh USA.   I do quite like the Dr. John Campbell regular information videos on YT as they are both knowledgeable, sensible and objective, and delivered calmly and articulately, so please do yourself a favour and look him up on a Google search. 

I  do sincerely hope that you all keep well and safe particularly whilst we are still waiting for our Covid 19 vaccines

On 3/29/2021 at 8:09 AM, d2b2 said:

J&J now approved in Thailand, but when will hospitals and clinics be able to order and receive them? 

Without any currently placed orders Thailand will be quite long in the que for obtaining the doses.

It is beginning to appear like Thailand put all their eggs in the wrong basket.

Really ????  No way !!!   I for one put the Sinovac vaccine right at the top of my list of choices and will personally not touch any of the big western pharma vaccines which I do not trust being mainly all experimental and produced with the target of big profits.  I trust the Sinovac vaccine becuase it is NOT produced for profit but as a duty of care by a good Chinese people's public health service (you know what is so deplorably missing in the USA despite 80% of the folk there wanting such a publicly run free at source health service !!).  It is also importantly traditionally produced using dead virus cells long time tried and tested technology, just like tradional known safe and effective vaccines of old for the terrible diseases like polio and smallpox.  Sure anyone with any modicum of common sense would rather choose such a safe non experimental vaccine like Sinovac (or even the non big corporate pharma Astrazenica or Sputnik V offerings) which is known to be just about 100% effective against death or serious illness from CV19, so good enough for me and should be for most folk. 

Actually for the future safety of mankind I do hope the mRNA technology does prove to be safe and effective in the long term (lets see effects of it over say 5 or 10 years) but I for one have no intention of being a human guinea pig and rather leave that to brave volunteers, nor importantly do I want to swell the greedy pockets of the big corporate western

pharma.  

Anyyway thats my two pennyworth and of course leave it for everyone to have a free choice of whatever vaccine they prefer and trust or indeed if they really want then to not have a vaccine at all if they so choose. Informed freedom of choice is what is very important.  

Once more I repeat just like the effective way they promptly and effectively invoked proper lockdown here, and as they did in China too, with the borders almost immediately closed, the Thai Government have earned my respect for their handling of the Covid 19 crisis though I still feel they have been too slow in getting these good vaccines rolled out to the most vulnerable people and not enough need help given to those poor Thai people who have lost their livlihoods over the lockdown.  I am not too worried personally with the slow vaccine roll out as clearly COVID 19 here is, thanks to effective control, more like a rare disease than a pandemic and thus I feel pretty safe thankfully living here happily in Thailand

A very sensible change in the law although I always was told right from when I arrived here in 2003 that the motorway and dual carriageway speed limit, unless otherwise marked, was 120 KPH anyway.  I know this is has to be true as once had a speeding fine for being 10 KPH over the limit when clocked at 130 kph by a camera some years ago on a very deserted  motoway. Was it maybe reduced from 120 to 90 by some legislation I must have missed in more recent years ??  Anybody??

Anyway I must make a few caveats about this new welcome speed limit increase.

Firstly a very sensible and needed minimum speed of 100 kph in the outer lane BUT it should be emphassised in all public road safety announcements that the outside lane on motorways is ONLY for overtaking and thus drivers must use the inner lanes if they are clear.

Secondly more policing needed to ensure that drivers without valid driving licenses, and especially those who have never passed a driving test and thus not undertaken any basic raod safety training, are arrested and very heavily fined and even jailed for second offenses. This must be policed well on motorways and could be implemented well by technology with smart valid driving licenses that are needed to automatically activate road toll barriers.  I believe this is one of the primary causes of the intolerable levels of road accidents with their devastating injuries and intolerable and unnecessary deaths.

Thirdly there also should be an overall minimum speed limit of say 60 kph on all uncongested motorways as it is often dawdling (a trait of many incompetent drivers) that causes many accidents.

Just my two satangs worth.

26 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

I agree, but for one simple fact, Thais are just not trained and experienced enough to drive at  higher speeds. It will work for most Farang drivers,  but all it will do here is increase the carnage on the roads.  Its a stupid idea, born of arrogance and a misplaced sense of  'doing the modern thing'.  If anything, they should be reduced limits not increasing them. 

Disagree with your last point as I know many superb Thai drivers and all of them have proper genuine Thai driving licenses and have thus passed their driving test to show at least a minimum level of safe driving competence. 

The crack down on those without valid driving licenses must be heavily implimented and policed ASAP with huge fines for having no license and even imprisonment for driving without ever having even passed a driving test.  Perhaps a valid auto toll device that is only given to all with a valid driving license and a massive offense with a driving ban for illegally using somebody else's such permit, and applied to the permit holder for allowing it to be misused. Whatever slowing down safe motorways is NOT the answer and is simply regressive.  There needs to be public motorway driving training videos aired on TV at peak viewing times and serious policing to catch license offenders is urgently needed to be applied. 

Perhaps you are right in so far as that a clamp down on licenses and training ought to be rapidly introduced first prior to raising the speed limit on safe motorways and major dual carriageways.   

For some reason I cannot post a reply to Moonlovers post soem 7 hours ago so here is my response :- 

Here here, nice to see some solid common sense and intelligence.  Sorry but for some weird reason it would not allow me to click on the Like button for your post ???????

I am also glad that Thailand are handling the Covid 19 pandemic so very well and are not stupidly and ignorantly being anti China either, which is corrupt Washington led regressive insantity that will only idiotically and proverbially shoot themselves in the foot.  For me the Sinovac vaccine is the top of my short best choice list as it is produced traditionally using dead or suppressed virus cell tried and tested and effective technology and thus far safer (i.e. not a rushed out experimental vaccine like the big greedy western pharma mNRA technology).  Even more importantly it is produced as a real duty of care by a well respected Chinese free at sourcce public health care service that puts peoples health and well being before greedy profits.  Maybe the west needs to grow up and learn from the Chinesse rather than moronically criticise them so totally irrationally as they do. 

I am in my mid 70s and a retiree happily living here in Thailand for nearly 18 years now, so patiently waiting my fair turn in the queue to have hopefully the Sinovac vaccine or else one of the only other two I would consider which are the Sputnik V or Astrazenica (Oxford) vaccines. Personally I will not touch Pfizer, Moderna, J&J, or any other vaccine from westen big greedy pharma who produce vaccines primarily for big long term profits not for any genuine care for you and I.  I simply, and I feel very rationally, do not trust them and their motives of greed.  I strongly believe worldwide that all basic essential healthcare and phrama should NEVER be in privately run big corporate hands as it is incompatible with the public interest and well being, and then the world can work closer together to improve public healthcare and the much better unnited and effective Chinese style handling of any future pandemics.  

1 hour ago, kiteman9 said:

          Speed increaces the severity of colisions.The laws of physics apply to everyone, even an excellent driver in a high-performance vehicle. The faster you drive, the greater the risk of an accident and the more severe that accident is likely to be.Speed reduces your field of vision.The faster a vehicle is moving, the more information the brain receives. However, the brain can only process a certain amount of information at any given time, which means that at 120 km/h, it has to eliminate a large amount of peripheral information. The field of vision therefore decreases as speed increases.Someone who is driving very fast may not see the little girl who is about to cross the street to retrieve her ball, nor the car that suddenly enters the intersection.The greater the speed, the longer the braking distance.The stopping distance more than doubles between 30 and 50 km/h, and nearly triples between 50 and 100 km/h.Speed increases the time required to carry out emergency maneuvers.The faster you are moving, the harder it becomes to avoid obstacles. Driving more slowly makes it easier to avoid a cyclist who suddenly turns onto the road, for example. When driving faster, the possibility of avoiding the cyclist is reduced.Speed increases the risk of spinning out of control. Driving fast increases the risk of losing control of your vehicle, especially in a curve. The risk of skidding is greater at high speeds.In an accident, a vehicle stops abruptly and passengers who are not buckled in are thrust violently towards a point of impact (steering wheel, windshield, dashboard or another passenger). Even for those passengers who are buckled in, the speed at which the vehicle was traveling has a direct impact on the severity of the collision.

    Like the words sung in one of Canned Heat songs. Speed Kills

We are talking here aboutmax speed limits on motoways and major dual carriageways without cyclists, pedestrians and hard intersections.  The speed limit of 120 Kph IMHO is on the slow side for such big safe roads and I have to say they are excellently built and designed here in Thailand and I wil even say better than most western countries including the USA and UK.  The severity of accidents indeed goes up with higher speeds but IMHO when driving faster a driver will (or bloody well should be) concentrating much harder and be more quick to respond to any incidents ahead of him thus less incidents and accidents then happen. That is why German Auobahns with no speed limits are proven to reduce and avoid mass pile ups caused by streams of closely packed vehicles all doing a maximum speed limit of say 100 Kph.