carlf

My Japanese wife tells me this is because the Japan policy is to vaccinate all with mRNA, mostly Pfizer, I believe. But I think that they ordered some AZ originally "just in case", and as they roll out more Pfizer, they probably just need to get rid of that excess AZ.

No worries. They can just reduce the amount of testing in order to reduce the number of found cases.

Maybe time to reverse the Phuket restrictions. No longer allow anyone to LEAVE Phuket (for the mainland or other islands) unless they get a PCR test? 555

Yes, I think it does matter. I, too, would really be curious to know what pourcentage are real tourists vs. Thailand residents. You're right that they all spend money, but those who are residents would have probably spent the money anyway in a Bangkok ASQ, so this whole operation is just moving money from Bangkok hotels to Phuket. No extra revenue for Thailand. Granted, as a Thailand resident, I'd far prefer to do 2 weeks in Phuket rather than in an ASQ, but if Thailand isn't making extra money, I wonder how long they can keep up the Sandbox.

Thanks for this info. Interesting.... troubling. It's in contradiction with a recent article that I read in Le Monde (https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2021/07/29/peut-on-transmettre-le-covid-19-en-etant-vaccine_6089910_4355770.html ... sorry, in French).

I'm not an expert either, but the articles that I've read suggested that those who are vaccinated with "effective" vaccines that protect the patient from getting a serious (dangerous) case of COVID also do NOT spread COVID nearly as much as those who are not vaccinated. I've read estimates that non-vaccinated people spread COVID 3x to 5x as much as those who are (well) vaccinated. So therefore vaccinations would slow down significantly the spread.

As much as I would personally like to see the Thai gov't intervene and block / limit the export of AZ to help so many friends in Thailand, I think such a move would be a disaster. Short term, this would be a terrible disservice to Thailand's neighbors, and longer term it would put into question the honesty and integrity of Thailand as a reliable neighbor and a reasonable partner for any future endeavors. The Thai government had the opportunity over a year ago to request the necessary AZ allocation for Thailand, and clearly they didn't do this appropriately. Sadly, they need to live with that decision as far as the vaccine produced locally is concerned; they should not be changing this if it puts into peril the commitments already made to other countries.

All the French living in Thailand were able to get a J&J shot over the past month thanks to the truly appreciated efforts of the French embassy in Thailand. I don't know the actual numbers, but I'm guessing over 15,000 were vaccinated. Merci bien la France !

1bn baht revenue? Well has anyone tried to figure out how many of those "Phuket Sandboxers" are actually already residents of Thailand, and just returning (as opposed to "tourists") to Thailand? If they are residents, they probably just prefer doing two weeks penance in Phuket as opposed to two weeks in a Bangkok ASQ. So this means that they've successfully taken money from Bangkok ASQ hotels and just transferred it to Phuket. Little net financial gain to the country for those cases.

I wasn't aware that Paracetamol can measure your oxygen in the blood. Personally, if I had COVID and was at home, I'd be VERY grateful for anyone that could lend me any oximeter. Sounds like a very kind & intelligent offer for which one should be grateful.

I think that the other question to be asking is: how many of these people are real "tourists" vs returning people (Thai or expats)? If they are returning people primarily, then the 57K THB per person being spent in Phuket is very likely the same money that they would have spent in a Bangkok ASQ, so Thailand isn't getting any extra money. The money is just being moved from a Bangkok ASQ to Phuket hotel/etc. That's fine if your the quarantined person... I don't doubt that it's nicer to hang out on a beach than sit in your room. But I question whether Thailand as a country is making any extra money to save the tourist business.