‘Vaccine passports’ could allow foreigners to visit Thailand without quarantine: TAT

[Arkady]

9 hours ago, luk AJ said:

 

can you please share the source that vaccinated people may still present a risk of transmission?

 

The efficacy ratings of the vaccines only apply to prevention of developing serious symptoms. The producers don't claim they can prevent asymptomatic infection or transmission.  Although there is no data, it seems likely that both are still possible, although hopefully at lower levels than in unvaccinated people. More study is needed on this.

 

 

[FarFlungFalang]

8 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

Vaccines just reduce the risk of developing serious symptoms, not catching it and spreading it. Although transmission should be less from vaccinated people, it is unlikely to be zero. None of the trials have published data on this.

 

Another idiotic idea from TAT.

A recent study in Israel out of 128,000 double dosed Pfizer vaccinated participants  20 tested positive about 0.015% and the national average is 0.16% which indicates a sizeable reduction in transmissions and no hospitalisations so far.It's just a preliminary study but a positive one.

[Aatsi]

The vaccine passport no cover seem much.

 

‘Vaccine passports’ could allow foreigners to visit Thailand without quarantine: TAT
“We should be very quickly allowing people who are safely vaccinated to travel without quarantine.”

Many other publications as CNN Health wrote:

"It's possible that someone could get the vaccine but could still be an asymptomatic carrier," said CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician. "They may not show symptoms, but they have the virus in their nasal passageway so that if they're speaking, breathing, sneezing and so on, they can still transmit it to others."

Given these unanswered questions, the CDC says vaccinated people should still use "all the tools available to us" to stop the pandemic, including wearing a mask and staying at least 6 feet away from others."

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/08/health/covid-vaccinated-infected-wellness/index.html

 

So vaccinated people get to infect corona faster than non-vaccinated ones, what’s the point here?

[terryofcrete]

Note the inclusion of arranged packages and selected Airlines again . Can’t keep their grubby paws off the brown envelopes  ! 

[Bangkok Basha]

Who's going to issue this so-called "Vaccine Passport"? It's very unlikely a risk-adverse government like the one in the U.S. is going to take the lead in issuing such a document. The World Health Organization has a yellow vaccination book, but the certifications in it are subject to widespread abuse, and just about anyone with a rubber stamp can sign it. I foresee a huge black market for them emerging in China or other places known for counterfeit documents. And given how slow Thailand is in rolling out its own vaccination campaign, who honestly thinks they are going to welcome tourists back as early as March or April 2021. 

[onebir]

2 minutes ago, Bangkok Basha said:

I foresee a huge black market for them emerging in China or other places known for counterfeit documents.

Heard Khao San Road's not so busy lately...

[visacrack]

Remember hook line & sinker? Doh!

[mogandave]

Most any hospital that provides vaccinations gives you a booklet that lists the vaccinations you get, when you get them and when they need to be boosted. 

[mogandave]

1 minute ago, onebir said:

Heard Khao San Road's not so busy lately...

 

When most countries that provide low and no cost vaccinations, where will a black market for this development?

[Dogmatix]

"Suthumpun said that people working in the hospitality sector should be given the vaccine as a priority in order to help protect locals and foreigners by limiting the risk of infection."

 

This is a rather unattractive argument. Everyone wants to promote their own business sector but societies with a conscience  prioritise protecting the elderly, healthcare workers and otherwise vulnerable over people working in pubs and discos etc.  Basically Thailand needs to pull its finger out and come up with an effective vaccine roll out programme which takes advantage of multiple vaccine sources to maximise availability and cost advantages instead of relying totally on one locally produced vaccine that will drag things out till the end of 2022 and beyond and cost more. 

 

They are quite likely to find that people don't want to go on holiday to a country with a largely unvaccinated population.  Even if they have been vaccinated, no vaccine provides 100% immunity and it is constantly mutating anyway. 

[Thomas Hannah]

The vacine does not always work.They claim that 1 in 10 .it will not work.so you need also a clear test not just the passport.so you get a test.if it is clear.you can book a flight to leave that day or first thing next day.you cannot book a flight first in case you get a positive test.so flight is going to be very expencive.And what if you cannot get a flight straight away.and what if someone on plane proves positive.all plane passengers will have to go quarantine.and you or insurance will have to pay.It has already happend were someone with clear test, caught covid on plane or in quarantine hotel.I myself do not trust the thai,s.they will say someone has it on planes so as to fill certain connected hotel owners hotels up.

[Dogmatix]

7 minutes ago, Bangkok Basha said:

Who's going to issue this so-called "Vaccine Passport"? It's very unlikely a risk-adverse government like the one in the U.S. is going to take the lead in issuing such a document. The World Health Organization has a yellow vaccination book, but the certifications in it are subject to widespread abuse, and just about anyone with a rubber stamp can sign it. I foresee a huge black market for them emerging in China or other places known for counterfeit documents. And given how slow Thailand is in rolling out its own vaccination campaign, who honestly thinks they are going to welcome tourists back as early as March or April 2021. 

 

It might make sense, if Thailand was expediting its own vaccination programme.  But given that vaccinated foreigners with asymptomatic infections will be capable of infecting the Thai population that will remain largely unvaccinated until 2023, according to current plans, and even then will only be 50% vaccinated, it doesn't seem a terribly good idea.

[ttrd]

1 hour ago, JeffP said:

I hope they go for vaccination freedom, I have my second injection tomorrow and get the subsequent certification. Just need TAT to agree on scrapping the isolation, I don’t mind the rest. 

Me too, my target is to arrive to a quarantine free LOS this autumn - fingers crossed ... 

[dash]

5 minutes ago, mogandave said:

 

When most countries that provide low and no cost vaccinations, where will a black market for this development?

For people who want to travel but have to wait until ...to get the innoculation becaus they are not in the acutual selection. Most over 85 who get now vaccinated do not travel a lot.

[connda]

I can't wait for this to get politicized to the point where you need the "Correct" passport, i.e., the correct vaccination. 

It really is interesting.  The Covid vaccine makers themselves say that their vaccine will not make someone immune.
This is from the Mayo Clinic <search the quote, it's there>
"A vaccine may not prevent you from getting the COVID-19 virus. But if you do get it, the vaccination may keep you from becoming seriously ill."

But are we not being lead to believe that a vaccination will make you immune to the virus? 

I personally thought the purpose of vaccinations were to keep you from contracting the virus, and most of the lab producing vaccines are claiming an efficacy rate of 90+% for the newer vaccines that have been developed in the last 8 months.  Ok.  Really?

Which is why I'd rather go with the Chinese Sinovac vaccine.  Based on proven and tested "killed virus" technology.  If I gotta get a jab I'd rather get a jab with a technology with decades of studies and results even if it only has a 50% efficacy.  Why?  Basically because I'm really not worried about Covid.  Yeah, I'm pushing 70, but healthier than most of my Western expat cohorts and I don't have any comorbidities.  So if I am forced to have a jab to get an extension?  Chinese Sinovac of Russian Sputnik.  The New Vaccine Technology?  Ya'll can feel free to be lab rats.  I want to see 5 to 10 years of studies and results first.

Which brings me back to....vaccine passports.  Watch the power elites world-wide  make this a geo-political issue. 
"We won't accept the Chinese or Russian vaccination."
"Well, we won't accept the mRna vaccinations." 

Coming to a screwed up world near you soon! 

Edited January 27, 2021 by connda

[eastendanto]

10 hours ago, Saddic said:

years before gov's get their sh*t together to agree on anything...  and days until TAT changes its mind again...

 

 

if TAT are quick at one thing it is changing their mind!!!

[Thomas Hannah]

20 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

A recent study in Israel out of 128,000 double dosed Pfizer vaccinated participants  20 tested positive about 0.015% and the national average is 0.16% which indicates a sizeable reduction in transmissions and no hospitalisations so far.It's just a preliminary study but a positive one.

And 20 tested positive.how is that positive one.of the 128,000 127,000 may not have caught it anyway.

[david555]

So those vaccinated can not carry infection or transfer it ...? ????

Good news that Thailand discovered that ..????.....hope they make this finding news to the World health organization ????

 

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by david555

[eastendanto]

Big assumption that Vaccine passports are going to become reality...

Here's an idea let everyone who has a passport bring it along to their vaccination centre and when they get the jab they also get a 

bona fide vaccine stamp of certification in their passport....nah....to <deleted> easy... lets create a global bureaucratic mish mash

of processes that cost taxpayer time, money and <deleted> poor management of the whole thing.

 

Those who don't have a passport and get vaccinated then follow some other process dreamed up by some non descript human

money making machine working in public service somewhere.

[Stevemercer]

This will become a reality, but not for about 6 months. In 12 months international travel and tourism will be getting back to normal, but we will have to get shots every 12 months.

 

In 12 months there will still be Covid outbreaks, but no one much will care, it will be off social media, and life will go on.

 

In 18 months Covid will be 'out of sight, out of mind' for most people.

[curlylekan]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

The tourism authority says so-called ‘vaccine passports’ would enable foreign tourists to stay in Thailand without needing to spend the first 14 days of their trip in an alternative state quarantine facility.

 

I still don't think they get. It's not just about the ASQ. It is also about everything else that a person has to get together. If it was just a negative covid test and ASQ, I would honestly be there asap, but all the other paperwork to get together in the right amount of time and the Thai embassy people in the Netherlands are no help whatsoever/useless, make coming to Thailand nearly impossible. I don't understand the incompetence.

[FarFlungFalang]

3 minutes ago, Thomas Hannah said:

And 20 tested positive.how is that positive one.of the 128,000 127,000 may not have caught it anyway.

If 127,000 didn't catch it without the vaccine 1,000 would have caught it which is a lot higher than the 20 that caught it with the vaccine. I did make and error in my post the control group was compared to the current national prevalence of 0.65%.

[Dialemco]

It is ridiculous to keeping harping on about international tourism vaccines have not been proved to stop you infected others also Thailand's own vaccination programme will not be sufficient to vaccinate enough people this year. 

[Suua]

14 minutes ago, curlylekan said:

I don't understand the incompetence.

 

Think, education. 

[DeeMak9]

If you do this, people with lab results positive with antibodies should get the same treatment.

[Jimbo53]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

‘Vaccine passports’ could allow foreigners to visit Thailand without quarantine: TAT

 

File photo: Travel Daily (for reference only)
 

Foreigners who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 could be allowed to visit Thailand without the need to quarantine, according to new proposals from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

 

The tourism authority says so-called ‘vaccine passports’ would enable foreign tourists to stay in Thailand without needing to spend the first 14 days of their trip in an alternative state quarantine facility.

 

The ‘vaccine passports’ are one of a number of ideas mooted by TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn in a bid to revive the country’s decimate tourism industry, which faces the prospect of one million workers left unemployed as a result of the pandemic. 

 

Mr Supasorn said under the proposals, vaccinated tourists from the United States and Europe could start arriving in Thailand as early as March or April, with a focus on what  would be the Easter holidays in Europe. 

 

Tourists from China, Japan and South Korea would arrive later once restrictions on all but necessary travel had been lifted by the governments in those countries, he told Thairath.

 

Mr Supasorn said that if the ‘vaccine passports’ get the approval he would expect 10 million tourists to visit the country in 2021.

 

Mr Supasorn added that TAT have already entered discussions with Emirates Airlines and Qatar Airways about offering tourists all inclusive packages. While details were not specified, it is presumed that the packages would enable vaccinated foreigners to travel to Thailand without restrictions or the need to enter quarantine.

 

TAT will also ask the tourism authorities in other ASEAN countries to adopt the ‘vaccine  passport’ model in order to stimulate tourism across the region.

 

The news comes as two of Thailand’s largest hotel operators have urged the government to cancel the current Covid-19-quarantine rules for vaccinated visitors in a bid to revive the country’s tourism industry.

 

Speaking to the Financial Times [paywall] William Heinecke, chairman of Thailand’s largest hotel group, Minor International, said: "There are tremendous numbers of people who won’t come to Thailand, or won’t come to any country that has a quarantine, because it takes too much time.

 

“We should be very quickly allowing people who are safely vaccinated to travel without quarantine.”

 

Meanwhile, Dusit International CEO Suphajee Suthumpun said: “The current quarantine restrictions are crippling our industry and having a massive impact on Thailand’s economy. With foreign tourists accounting for around 70% of the total industry, and with tourism representing around 22% of GDP, it’s clear that we need to open the borders to vaccinated travellers as soon as possible.”

 

Suthumpun said that people working in the hospitality sector should be given the vaccine as a priority in order to help protect locals and foreigners by limiting the risk of infection.]

 

Thailand, which normally welcomes around 40 million tourists, saw tourist arrivals fall by  90 percent in 2020.

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2021-01-27

 

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TAT reckon 10 million visitors in 2021,another leak from that Brains Trust Office  in BKK,whilst its a sensible idea,whom in their right mind is going to go on holiday to Thailand, where most places including bars ,masage shops and swimming pools are closed.

[SomchaiCNX]

2 hours ago, Catoni said:

   Download and install the yellow “Vaccine Record” app from the App Store of Apple or from app sources for Android.  Made by Dr. Deb the travel doctor. 
 
   I use it to keep a record of all my vaccinations, both shots, and oral vaccines, and I highly recommend it. 
Make sure you keep a record of the official name of the vaccine, the name of the clinic or hospital where you received it, and the date and the Lot or Batch number. Just ask the person who gave you the shot for that info. 
   You can make copies and send to your email or in the cloud for backup. 

Thank you, I should do something like this but I'm not a huge smartphone user. ????

 

[FarFlungFalang]

48 minutes ago, mogandave said:

 

When most countries that provide low and no cost vaccinations, where will a black market for this development?

A slow deployment of vaccines will create a blackmarket.It's already being set up with private entities being allowed to import certified vaccines.

Edited January 27, 2021 by FarFlungFalang

[Jimbo53]

10 hours ago, Thaiophil said:

By then, only health workers, the elderly and the sick will have been vaccinated. They are highly unlikely to fly to Thailand, even if there are flights.

 

Easter 2022 maybe...

Spot on! Thats the reality of it.

[connda]

32 minutes ago, david555 said:

So those vaccinated can not carry infection or transfer it ...? ????

Good news that Thailand discovered that ..????.....hope they make this finding news to the World health organization ????

 

 

And yet from the Mayo Clinic:
"A vaccine may not prevent you from getting the COVID-19 virus. But if you do get it, the vaccination may keep you from becoming seriously ill."  <Google it.  It's out there>
So if you get the vaccine, and you can still get Covid, then that means you can still "carry (the) infection or transfer it" which means I'm still totally confused.  You get the vaccine you can still get Covid, carry it, and transmit it.  But you get a Vaccination Passport which allow you to .... <my head hurts>, show that you're not a carrier of a virus you may be carrying?  (I've got a headache).  ????

For a Cornovirus flu that kills 0.06% of those who get it and primarily those over the age of 65 (Raises hand - "That's me!!!")

Ok - why not.  Let's just take the entire world's economy off a cliff, well except for the Big Boys i.e., major multi global international mega-corporations who are anointed as "Essential Businesses." 
Yeah.  Why not?  Make perfect sense to me.