DogNo1

If you're an American, read the first inside page of your passport.  Countries where Americans are residing do have an obligation to provide them with assistance.   Thailand fumbled its timely procurement of vaccines. This puts Americans in danger, especially the elderly and those with health conditions that make them particularly vulnerable to infection by the virus.  I think that it should be possible for some of the tens of millions of doses that are being sent to India to be diverted to Thailand and given to Americans and possibly other foreigners as well.  Thailand would be averse to losing face over its inability to provide vaccines on a timely basis. This is probably partly behind its previous declaration to deliver vaccines to Thais first, now rescinded. A supply of America's surplus AZ vaccine could help Thailand out of a tough place.  It might take strong demands from Americans to get that done.  The medical establishment in Thailand is plenty angry about the tardy procurement of the vaccines.  Perhaps the face saving for certain highly placed officials will win out and we will just have to wait.  Flying out to get vaccinated would be costly in terms of time and money and probably dangerous as well so I am going to hope to be vaccinated in June. 

BTW, doesn't America provide many millions in financial aid to Thailand each year?

Many posters have criticised my sense of entitlement.  I am curious what their nationalities are.  What degree of prejudicial thinking would make the segregation of Thais and foreigners in regards to their access to a vaccine acceptable?    

My doctor at Bumrungrad anticipated that I would be able to be vaccinated in April.  As the acquisition of vaccines was delayed and then delayed again, he and more than 75,000 colleagues petitioned that the health minister, Anutin, resign.  If the government's tardiness in buying the vaccines has resulted in a shortage of doses, that makes it reasonable for foreigners to appeal to their various embassies for Vaccinations.  As a single American, not a high level decision maker, it is only appropriate for me to ask for vaccines for Americans.  Other nationalities can appeal to their own embassies and, perhaps, suggest that their embassy piggyback on an American shipment of AZ vaccines.

People have referred to me as belonging to the other half which they are ashamed of.  I served my country in dicey situations for 24 years.  Which half would that put me into?   

There is a certain amount of virtue signalling in some posts.  Putting America and certain Americans down does not make you a superior person.

I can't find it now, but a poster on this thread posted a link to information about foreigners being able to request vaccines from their embassies.  That is helpful.  Thanks.

I'm proud to be an American and not ashamed to demand that I be treated fairly.  I literally can't count the number of pages on this forum in which people complain about being treated badly.  In fact, mistreatment of foreigners is a common theme.  The Thai government has recently switched from prioritizing Thai citizens for vaccinations to prioritizing Thais and non-Thais equally.  That's as it should be.

Gee, I don't know how I could have had the temerity to demand that the US government divert a couple of hundred thousand of the ten of millions of doses that it is sending to India to vaccinate American citizens in Thailand instead.  Especially when they do not have priority but will be be vaccinated after Thais.

Actually, something seems to have caused the Thai Government to recalculate.  An article in a local paper today declared that Thais and foreigners would be granted the same priority.  I called Bumrungrad today to confirm the news and received a callback from the cardiology department assuring me that they would contact me as soon as a shot was available and that my place on the list remains the same.  So I won't have to register with that government organization.

I don't know what to make of posters accusing me of wanting to go the the front of the queue.  I just want a place appropriate to my age in a mixed group of vaccination candidates which is not segregated by nationality.  Also, as an American citizen it is appropriate for me to appeal to America for help, not to other countries or entities.  Actually it is up to Thailand to distribute the vaccines fairly without making it necessary for me to spend a lot of time and money to leave the country to protect my health.  That is now apparently what it is prepared to do.  I breathe a sigh of relief as it appears that I will be vaccinated at an appropriate time in my age group.
 

Incidentally, my friends and former colleagues in Japan are NOT being vaccinated as a segregated group but are being mixed in normally with Japanese of their age group.  Fair is fair!

There are numerous examples of Americans whose lives were in danger in friendly or neutral countries being rescued by small American contingencies.  Think of Gen Schwarzkopf.  Americans can't rescue citizens of other countries.  That is up to those countries' embassies or militaries.  I think that many foreign embassy staff and their Thai employees have already been surreptitiously vaccinated.   

As the different government entities discuss vaccine permissions to be passed between them and then government registered patients being recommended to a hospital for a likely kickback.  The tax and fees will be paid by the foreign vaccinees.   This is still only at the stage of discussion at committee meetings. When the vaccines will be ordered is apparently not known.  This is actually putting the lives of us old guys in danger.   I could leave personally but many American residents can't afford to do that.  That's why 

US Military intervention seems necessary.  The Thais seem to care very little about saving elderly American lives.   Vaccinations could have been started much earlier.  Medical staff seem furious about the situation.  I think that this debacle will strongly affect future tourism.   Amazing Thailand Indeed!

The absence of vaccines has dragged on for a long time.  The Thai government seems to be totally confused about whether, how and when American foreign residents will be vaccinated.  The dithering just goes on and on.   I think that it is time to appeal to the US Marines to fly in a squadron of Ospreys laden with vaccine supplies and land them on the embassy grounds on Wireless.  They could set up a small camp and remain long enough to allow all Americans in the country to come for a vaccination.  It's clear that the Thai government holds our lives in no regard.  The US military has run such missions before to rescue Americans whose lives were in danger.   We now need to call on the military to save our lives.  The Thai government certainly isn't going to do it.  Our lives are indeed in danger here and many of us can't easily fly out.

Can anybody get behind this and join a petition to the US Embassy or even the Pacific Command in Hawaii?  The time for inaction is past.  We must save ourselves!

Smoke screen!  We have read numerous instances of hospitals and private companies submitting applications to buy the vaccines for months only to have the government agencies refuse to authorize them.  They were apparently told they couldn't apply individually but would have to obtain their vaccine supplies through the government. Now Anutin is saying that they don't want to apply individually because of insurance risks.  It apparently doesn't matter how many people are sickened or die.  

In a local newspaper today, the headline of an article was entitled "Government drops the ball again..."  It concerned the recent large outbreak in Klongtoey with many people sick and dying.

This is reminiscent of 19th Century mentalities when loss of life meant nothing to governments.

Just a few days ago, it appeared that, though I am an elderly foreigner, I could expect to be vaccinated sometime in June.  Now that seems to be put back until August.  I am now keenly aware that although Thailand describes itself as a "medical hub," it is not a safe place to be.

Were it not for greed, Thailand could have rolled out vaccines back in April.  If I can survive until August, I will not forget that, through incompetence and uncaring, Thailand has put my life in danger.   When I talked with my cardiologist at Bumrungrad back in February, he assured me that I would get an injection sometime in April.  It is doubly galling that, although I am at high risk because of my age, I must go to the back of the line because of my non-Thai nationality.  I am a renter of a serviced apartment so, although I pay quite a lot of money, I do not have the credentials allowing me to register for an earlier jab.  

People thinking of moving to Thailand should seriously consider this threat to their health if they reside here.