cormanr7

3 hours ago, Oxx said:

I'm now on the actual day of my appointment at Pyathai 2 and still no email confirmation or cancellation.

From what I could make out, the e-mail from OIC DDC to Phyathai 2 (or wherever) -which is cc-ed to you-  is the actual confirmation. You could try to contact the OIC directly ([email protected]) or phone Phyathai 2 but I guess time is short for this. Still worth a try.

1 hour ago, cclub75 said:

Disbelief ?

 

Well, those are the official data from the UK gvt...

 

PHE report June 18th 2021:

This is an impressive report, but doubt that more than 5 persons on this forum have actually read this since the popular subjects mainly seem to resolve around alcohol and bar girls.

Anyway, I think one should not just pick one table from the article but look at it overall. For instance, in Table 10 it says that that vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic disease from Alpha and Delta variants is 88 and 80%, respectively , whereas effectiveness against hospitalization is 92 and 94%, respectively (not statistically significant, Fig. 11). Also, case fatality in the Delta group is much lower than for the Alpha variant (Table 2), but I am not sure whether there is a time factor here.

It is a pity that there is no breakdown of vaccines, i.e. what were the numbers for AZ and BioNTech-Pfizer, respectively? 

Finally, the ID rate is very impressive with 60 up to almost 90% of samples sequenced or genotyped (Fig. 1).

Yes, the Delta variant is rather worrying. A few reports on this subject

1. A recent Nature article (22/06) with a general discussion of the Delta variant https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01696-3

2. In Israel (with almost 60% fully vaccinated, all with BioNTech-Pfizer) there has been a sharp uptick in infections and various restrictions may be imposed again

https://www.timesofisrael.com/bennett-urges-israelis-not-to-travel-abroad-amid-rise-in-covid-infections/

3. Some observations from the US:

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/delta-variant-us-cases/2021/06/23/ca715f8c-d371-11eb-9f29-e9e6c9e843c6_story.html

4. A more moderate tone in this article from the BBC, mainly based on experience from India. It basically says that data -as for now- are insufficient to make definite conclusions: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57564560

On 3/1/2021 at 9:52 AM, mtls2005 said:

So a third runway should/may help, but it looks quite close to 1L/19R so there will be limits on operation, I would think? DMK has a similar issue with the runways being too close to each other.

 

I think a fourth runway is planned as well, to the east of 1R/19L.

 

Suvanabhumi was planned as a four runway airport a la Los Angeles, with sets of closely spaced runways on either side of the terminal. The closely spaced runways will likely be used as in LAX, with one for landing and one for take off. If you look at Google maps (in satellite view), you can clearly see the outline of the third runway (at the western edge of the airport), it has been there for years. Indeed, the fourth runway (if this materializes) will be at the eastern edge of the airport.

Just had my AZ vaccination at Phyathai 2. Took about 90 min, handled very well. Next appointment Sep. 14th. Only document required is your passport (if you have no underlying conditions) but bring the confirmation e-mail just in case..

By the way, the plane in the picture is an A350 (easily recognizable by the 'raccoon' mask), not a B787.

When in Europe I buy a LEBARA sim card. These are sold in many EU countries, you can get them from 'mobile shops' but they also often have small stands (look for the blue sign) at airports and major railway stations. I have used them in UK, Germany, Netherlands and Spain. When you top-up, they will double the amount (i.e. 10 Euro becomes 20 Euro), minimum top-up is usually 5 Euros. Calling Thailand is no problem, from the Netherlands the rate to a mobile number is 0.25 Euro/min or 0.15 Euro to a fixed number.   

Major question of course is why the results were poor viz BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines.

People tend to point to new variants as a reason but actually the afore mentioned mRNA vaccines seem to be relatively effective against those. The following article discusses some aspects of the Curevac approach based on what is publicly known (which is not that much):

https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/curevacs-covid-vaccine-setback-shows-not-all-mrna-jabs-are-equal-11623993200438.html

You could look at the immigration website where they are all available in PDF form:

https://www.immigration.go.th/en/?page_id=3202

The 40/400k insurance requirement for NON-O holders applying for a COE seems to depend on the embassy (or maybe even to whom you speak, see comments above on the UK). For instance, the Thai Embassy website in the Netherlands clearly states that it IS required. Whether it is actually enforced is unclear, would like to hear from anyone who has actually gone through the process.

No, you could make an on-line appointment at CW, go there 90 min early to make copies of passport etc, make pictures if necessary (100B), arrange your bank letter (except for SCB) and fill in the various papers All this in the basement. Regarding paperwork, ask for TM.7 form at the counter when you enter immigration division 1 (first floor or ground floor depending where you come from) and say it is for retirement extension. They then should hand you the additional forms (overstay rules, I still live  at..... and a few more). Assuming your paperwork is OK it will then take ca. 15 min to process your application at the appropriate L-counter and another 15 to 60 min to wait for your passport to be returned with the required signature. At least this is how it worked for me end of April (for me not the first extension though). 

18 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

 I wonder if a mix of the AZ vaccine with a second jab of either Moderna, Pfizer or JJ has been studied yet.  

Is being studied at the moment, for some discussion see this article in Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01359-3 and https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/countries-weigh-mix-match-covid-19-vaccines-2021-05-24/

Slightly off-topic, but Novavax has reported good results for their large scale trials (mainly conducted in US and Mexico) with efficacy -depending on variant- of up to 90%. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/14/health/covid-vaccine-novavax.html. It confirms earlier results from an UK trial  https://ir.novavax.com/news-releases/news-release-details/novavax-covid-19-vaccine-demonstrates-893-efficacy-uk-phase-3

This one is interesting as it is neither an mRNA (BioNTech-Pfizer Curevac, Moderna, ), viral vector  (AZ, Janssen, Sputnik) or inactivated virus (Sinovac, Sinopharm) vaccine  but rather contains a full length spike protein. Presumably this S-protein is from the original sequence or an early variant.

There appear to be problems in large-scale production so won't be available before September at best. Can be kept at 2-8^oC.

And yes,  some of the names here refer to the manufacturer and others to the name of the vaccine, but this is how they are best known.

Three stories related to the topic:

1. WHO saying that virus outpaces vaccininations: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/15/coronavirus-outpacing-vaccine-effort-says-who-after-g7-doses-pledge

2. Delta variant now detected in more than 70 countries: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/14/delta-variant-of-covid-spreading-rapidly-and-detected-in-74-countries

 3. Some countries/territories will reduce time between vaccinations with AZ and/or Pfizer due to rise of the Delta variant: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-57424707, https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/interval-between-astrazeneca-vaccine-doses-to-be-reduced-1.4584636

5 hours ago, MikeWill said:

What is the recommended time interval between jabs for AstraZeneca vaccine?

 

I got my first jab on 10 June and the appointment for the second jab on 29 September (appr 18 weeks). 

Should it be 8 to 12 weeks?

The interval you quote is not 18 weeks.

Here is a sheet from the NHS discussing the interval which is indeed between 8 and 12 weeks, depending on the group https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2021/03/C1254-covid-19-vaccination-programme-faqs-on-second-dose-v2.pdf. Basically those in groups 1-9 (elderly, underlying conditions etc) have a recommend interval of 8-9 weeks, whereas for lower risk groups it is 11-12 weeks. Question is whether vaccine shortage rather than scientific parameters determine the interval between shots. This article in the Lancet discusses effect of interval on efficacy of the AZ vaccine: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00432-3/fulltext. It suggests that between 8 and 16 weeks (the longest period tested) post first shot the interval does not make much difference -possibly slightly better after 12+ weeks- though case numbers are quite low and CI consequently high. On a different note, one shot gives less protection than two shots, so the longer the interval period the more risk you run. 

This is supposed to be the official Thai vaccination passport, a sort of copy of the familiar yellow vaccination book: https://scandasia.com/thailand-introduces-international-vaccine-passport-for-traveling-abroad/ I have not seen one in real life and whether such a paper, apparently hand-signed booklet will satisfy immigration officials abroad remains to be seen (the EU vaccine passport, for instance, has a digital signature. 

46 minutes ago, Lucian said:

Tks dsj. Logged into my account at thailandintervac.com. Initially gave me a scare as it stated that my registration details were incomplete and have to re-register. However after I clicked on "edit" it displayed the registration page with some of my particulars missing (which I definitely had filled in prior). After completing the missing details, I clicked on the Appointment section and saw the 5 colorful boxes to download/print appointment, screening etc. Hope that's all I need on the 22/6/21 to get my AZ vax; which I had selected during the registration/booking process I did on 7 June but somehow I just don't feel confident that I will get the AZ!

Same here. Although I had filled in everything in my initial application, some fields were blank now and had to be re-populated after pressing edit. You than click 'check eligibility' and get a number of clickable links that lead to a few PDFs (including one with a que number and another with details on vaccine lot, next appointment etc, presumably to be filled in by the staff on the spot) that you download. Never received an e-mail.  Appointment date and time were the same as in the original application.

12 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

18 minutes ago, swm59nj said:

     I registered yesterday starting at 3:00pm.  The site said that it was successful. But I could not make appointment since it was greyed out.  But now it appears some people on the forum are saying they were able to make appointment. Some are saying they got an email confirmation and a number of their place in line.  I have not gotten any of these.  Just a box at the end of the registration saying Im registered.

 

I am somewhere in between. Registered yesterday, got an appointment date and time slot, but no e-mail so far.

Latest on the website is that it will only be active between 12.00 and 15.00. Earlier in the morning it still indicated that it would open at 09.00. Chaos.

I have just now been able to book AZ vaccination at Phyathai hospital on June 22nd, the earliest date not greyed out. You now have to wait for an e-mail confirmation.