SantiSuk

Slightly offset by the thought that one in three of the passengers on average might be Thai and there is no requirement for returning Thais to have been vaccinated. Better to wait until that factor can be risk-assessed before coming will be my advice to family who are keen to get here from Europe.

"The meeting decided to maintain the 29 red zone provinces, 37 maximum control provinces, and 11 controlled provinces as well as their respective measures." Ridiculous the way they mash up the categorisations. I thought the 29 were dark red and the other colours seem to have been dropped from the vocabulary.

"Notice how they are always blaming us". If you hadn't noticed this is a public health official saying the public are not being careful enough. Likely not a government / military / policymaking man. He is also critical of how the government has handled the crisis. Think before you rush for the hate button.

Let's celebrate. 65% of Indians say they want to travel and Thailand is one of the higher up destinations thy prefer. ...... Oh, wait a minute - it's 65% of 4,000 Indians (carefully) selected by an international travel agency!

Bueng Kan reported 3 infections today and Nong Khai 23. Most other provinces in the North East (now coming down quite dramatically but there are several still with over 100 daily) would give their eye teeth to have Bueng Kan and Nong Khai's apparent 'challenges'.

So if things are so rosy, how come a discount stockbroking group in the UK has just written to me asking me to jump through hoops - provide information about the 'sources of my wealth' that have been used to develop an investment portfolio with them over the last 30 years and to pay a lawyer to certify my residential address and ID, noting that "Thailand is jurisdiction where there is perceived to be a heightened risk of money laundering" ? ????

Last I read (can't remember where, but I think it was 7-10 days ago and it was in a journalistic article, not some expat taking a punt on social meejah ..... er ... like I am here????), the Brits had approval of AZ produced in Thailand as under review but with every expectation that it would gain approval, whereas the EU has not yet indicated it's under review. 90% confident that's what I read.

But the decline is all about lesser numbers coming from the dark red zone and bringing infections with them (or being sent!). Those who want to desert the lockdown and return to familial homes have by and large already done so. Infections arising within the province are actually going up. Average number of infections arising within the province were 15-20 a day until fairly recently. Now they are up at 40. See my chart below (data reported today not included) Total numbers for Isaan are now coming well down also, but I don't have any splits showing infections arising within the other Isaan provinces. I expect that the Sisaket profile (coming well down down in total but local infections rising) is repeated in some (/many?) of the other provinces.

I hope he is a better restaurateur than he is a negotiator. If I can buy 1 ATK for 350 baht in jo ordinary boondocks pharmacy and, knowing how the chinese and koreans will discount quantities, I'd be very surprised if he will not be able to buy 1,000 at 100 baht each

thailandintevac.com is still open for pre-registrations. I just checked the website (Sat 28-Aug 20:30). See below for image of the screen that greets you. What's more is the age 'qualifier' has been reduced to 40 from 60 (on the initial intervac screen at least). Still very limited geographically - Bangkok, Chonburi and Khon Kaen. Caution though: I clicked on Khon Kaen and the hospital page seemed to limit pre-registration to those over 60, not 40 (plus the 7 conditions possible door opener too of course). I went to Khon Kaen last Saturday, 300km drive from deepest Sisaket, but worth it to get the jab programme going. Very efficient and huge vaccination centre at Central Pattana with professional Bangkok Hospital staff and a doctor to talk to (or who wanted to talk to you if you had conditions). I registered with expatvac.com initially on 1-Aug and had then registered with intervac on 5-Aug as back-up. I got the standard 'you screwed up on the passport/visa page but you can put it right now' message from expatvac and by that time I had already received two acceptances from the two intervac hospitals I applied to. Decided not to wait for expatvac and grabbed intervac while it was hot. Intervac had worked smoothly and quickly; expatvac had been administratively messed up and annoying. Caution No 2 though: I got Astra Zeneca; would have preferred Pfizer but grabbed what I couldthe first non-Sino that came along. Happy with AZ, but dose no 2 for AZ is 8 weeks after dose 1 at Khon Kaen (I think AZ may generally be longer-gapped than Pfizer). I see that most people are getting their Pfizer 2nd dose within a matter of 2 - 4 weeks. Had I persevered with expatvac I would probably have been jabbed with Pfizer at Ubon (85 clicks away) yesterday. Ah well - it is what it is. I'm happy!

Seems as though some lucky guys(/gals?) on here got Pfizer via expatvac.com with a second dose coming up quite quickly. I had my AZ jab at Khon Kaen Central on Saturday, applied for via thailand intervac. 300km journey from Sisaket to get there but I don't mind that (enjoyed the drive - no checkpoints of course despite crossing several provincial borders; always has been a figment of Prayut's imagination) and it was all very efficient. I was a bit disappointed though to be given the appointment for the 2nd dose 8 weeks after the 1st. Back to hunkering down!

'Shocking new study' ........ by an individual condemned by NY Times as "The Most Influential Spreader of Coronavirus Misinformation Online". Read both and form your own view. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/24/technology/joseph-mercola-coronavirus-misinformation-online.html

No mention of the Moderna juice that was supposed to be delivered in Seotember or the 4th quarter? Is this confirmation that this Private Hospitals Group destined batch is to slip backwards in 2022 or just journalistic oversight I wonder.

How to calculate Body Mass Index per Google search: 'Body Mass Index is a simple calculation using a person's height and weight. The formula is BMI = kg/m2 where kg is a person's weight in kilograms and m2 is their height in metres squared.' Example: as a Brit, 6 foot tall (6 feet = 183cm = 1.83m) and 82 kg in weight my BMI = 82 / (1.83 x 1.83) = 24.5. I'm surprised they use a BMI as low as 25 - I'm nowhere near obese and no doctor or hospital comprehensive health analysis has ever commented that I should reduce my weight. Have i got the calculation right?

Thanks for the correction. Youre right I got it completely a___ about f___!

If you have not received a rejection from expatvac.com (many of us have because of some screw-up over visa recognition by the receiving authorities) then there is still hope for you. I have not seen any posters say that they have received an appointment confirmation from expatvac.conm and probably they will not now send until they have sorted out their mess - could be days, but probably not weeks.

expatvac.com made it clear that registration was only for foreigners that met the government's targeted risk criteria of over 60 or a specified 1 of 7 health condition. But I guess it would have been polite of them to have pointed out your mistake. thailandntervac.com did not restrict applications to foreigners but if you clicked through to register with a specific hospital some of them imposed the same targeted older/sicker farangs. Maybe worth searching the intervac hospitals to see if any that do not have that restriction are still taking registrations. Some of the hospitals still were a coupla days ago but maybe not now. [Note that nearest to you BKK Hospital Khon Kaen did have the older/sicker limitation last time I looked].

No. I was accepted (under the thailandintervac.com scheme, not expatvac.com) with my address in southern Sisaket province. The instructions say KK province plus nearby provinces. I guess they accept that all Isaan provinces are 'nearby' (since I'm 314km away from KK!). Thank goodness I made a back-up application via thailandintervac.com (on 5-August; successful easy registration, appointment confirmation on 16-Aug for AZ on 21-Aug; application via intervac to Bumrungrad was also successful for Pfizer, which I have now cancelled - prefer PF, but prefer not to expose myself to BKK & self-isolate on return). Yesterday I got the standard b%ll%k$ rejection from expatvac (applied 2-Aug) that I am not a foreigner residing in Thailand - 'cos they can't design a system to receive and process the visa/retirement extension info correctly.

Just got my confirmation too. Same time same place same vax. Booked via thailandintervac.com on 5-Aug. At least I assume it is an intervac response not an expatvac 2-Aug one. Date is right, time not quite the one I selected, so will have to stay over the night before.

Nah, there's three; there's also dinosaurs, as your role play so aptly demonstrates ????

Toston & Smedley. If you are over 60 or with at least one certificated health condition of the 7 listed as making you at risk, try thailandintervac.com. It's still a live site. The two sites (of about 8-10 available) I checked this AM to see if registrations were still possible seemed to indicate some possibility. Khon Kaen said "pre-registrations (presumably new ones) start 17th August and Medpark seemed to be active for registrations and i couldn't be bothered to check em all. I was checking only to answer a similar question on a local-to-me expats facebook group; I already have a couple of registrations from that website's earlier incarnation when it reopened after expatvac.com became full, around 2-August. Should be Pfizer or AZ. Will be free if you can get an appointment.

Artisi Nice postscript, I thought "It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia, Arthur Conan Doyle)" But then, if you have the data, doesn't it become an analysis, not a theory? Woops there I go - overthinking stuff!

I registered for KK 10 days ago and was successful having been able to select a time slot for next Saturday. On screen message said "You have successfully registered and Please wait for confirm date and time to your e-mail". So, probably likely that you were a bit late. However I am sceptical whether I will get confirmation. I'll chase them by phone in a few days time. Similar story with my Bumrungrad registration (before I noticed I could potentially get vax in Isaan without self-isolation) and my expatvac early registration. All successful but no appointment yet. You may be no worse off than the rest of us as I have seen noone else getting an appointment from expatvac yet or Bumrungrad/BPH Khon Kaen via intervac (unless they applied to intervac for one of those latter two at an earlier stage than the intervac website's 2nd exposure around 4-Aug). Isaan dwelling 70 yo with a couple of the 7 conditions (but no med certs yet - will get if I'm unsuccessful with current registrations, you never know, perhaps 2 risk factors might be the equivalent of a 'royal flush' later on).

Medpark Bangkok and BPH Bangkok (via Thaiintervac.com) are the only places I've heard of that are actively responding to the two schemes for farang with appointments (thaiintervac and expatvac). In the case of BPH Bangkok an Isaan American friend has an appointment.

In the dark red zone maybe. In the other parts of the country (50% of the Thai nation by population and increasingly exposed as the great repatriation wave continues) not a lot - more like very few and even less got the Astra Zeneca that the vulnerable were led to believe would be alloted!