3 hours ago, ukrules said:

Perhaps, however there are 100's of vaccines in the pipeline and altering them is a small job compared with creating the first one.

 

How do you alter a vaccine that has already been injected, and then turns out not to be effective against the latest strain?

2 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

If the last test in ASQ (day 12 or 13?) comes back positive (after being neg. pre-flight and in ASQ), and they sequence the strain and it comes back as a newer, more contagious strain, I can see adding another 5 - 7  days quarantine, on a case-by-case basis, just to get a feel for situation. You;ve done a  lot of work to keep things under control, why get lazy now?

No extra 7 days quarantine for you it's straight to hospital for however long they think necessary to cure you., as they do with all positive tests.

10 minutes ago, Susco said:

 

How do you alter a vaccine that has already been injected, and then turns out not to be effective against the latest strain?

The plan is for boosters, so never ending jabs each year

49 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

The plan is for boosters, so never ending jabs each year

They already say that this may develop into a new flu, but it's far too early to say if this is true.  We don't even know if vaccines will stop vaccinated people from spreading it.  Maybe it will!  If that's the case, then all bets are off.

The best way to be right now is wait and see what happens.  Things will be found out, but quoting odd news stories filled with half truths can lead to much disinformation.  (not that' that's what you did)

 

18 minutes ago, Blumpie said:

They already say that this may develop into a new flu, but it's far too early to say if this is true.  We don't even know if vaccines will stop vaccinated people from spreading it.  Maybe it will!  If that's the case, then all bets are off.

The best way to be right now is wait and see what happens.  Things will be found out, but quoting odd news stories filled with half truths can lead to much disinformation.  (not that' that's what you did)

 

Absolutely agree, its still an unknown to a certain extent but plans are being made:

 

The UK vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, said people may need a Covid booster jab in autumn as more variants emerge

 

“Efforts are under way to develop a new generation of vaccines that will allow protection to be redirected to emerging variants as booster jabs, if it turns out that it is necessary to do so,” said Sarah Gilbert, a professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford.

 

All the manufacturers are now looking at creating new vaccines to better target the South African variant.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/feb/07/covid-vaccine-booster-variants-emerge-minister

I'm looking at my watch to see how long it will be until they reverse course on this ridiculousness...

6 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

you see how this will go on for a very long time. 

 

2023...

As long as my Bitcoin and other crypto keeps rising in tandem at an exponential rate long may it continue. 

I don't know if Thailand realises that travel to Thailand may be banned from countries that have vaccinated their population. If not banned then there could be quarantine in their home countries, £1750 in the UK for example. Until Thailand are on a level playing field, in regards to vaccinations, then don't expect travel to be easy any time soon.

6 hours ago, Swiss1960 said:

They really do not want anymore tourists... 3 weeks of quarantine when you have a total of 4-5 weeks of holiday available per year from your work... 

you forgot the two weeks on return ! Looking at a proposed 5 weeks quarantine minimum for a 2 weeks holiday - that's now 7 weeks - or use up all 5 weeks holiday for just 5 weeks quarantine and no holiday

3 hours ago, donnacha said:

Once-in-a-century chance for Vietnam to Leapfrog Thailand as the top tourist destination in S.E. Asia.

 

Could easily be done if they welcome the tourists Thailand has alienated; long-termers, backpackers, wine drinkers, under-50's with money etc.

 

They just need to manage it properly. 

 

Until they relax the laws on foreigners bonking local women outwith marriage it might not take off though...

 

I used to work in Vietnam offshore and the visas for just visiting were a real hassle, now they have online tourist visas, so it is going in the right direction.

5 hours ago, JonnyF said:

This is exactly the reason people won't be travelling en masse any time soon.

 

Book your flight, get your certificates, pay for quarantine etc. then a new strain or a new rule comes out just before you fly and you're locked up for 21 days instead of 14. Test positive for the SA strain and you might also end up in a private hospital for as long as some official decides is necessary. Thousand upon thousands of pounds down the drain.

 

Most people will decide it's not worth the risk. Certainly not for a holiday.

 

Maybe time for TAT to revise their worst case scenario down from 2 million?

 

 

Exactly what I've been saying for ages. Not forgetting the chance of airlines cancelling flights. Even if you do managed to get there, lockdown with immediate affect may kick in. Sad to say I don't see much changing this year.

7 hours ago, Swiss1960 said:

They really do not want anymore tourists... 3 weeks of quarantine when you have a total of 4-5 weeks of holiday available per year from your work... 

Game over for Thailand tourism

Get ready Vietnam and Philippines the tourists are coming.Easier to get visa in these places, cleaner beaches in Philippines and both places cheaper. 

Those in quarantine must feel like they're doing the hokey cokey.

7 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

This is what happens when you have failed to provide a speedy vaccination plan to the Thai people. 

The world has changed.   due to virus from China. ,people lost the lives,lost there jobs ,lost there homes , and its world wide. ,looking in thailand is doing better job than most. ,look. dead in UK and USA. ,look control in the UK. ,,first time in 20 years i missed my winter trip to thailand. ,but have the brains to know. we living in different  world. ,just like the start of AIDS.  ,the world has changed ,with that life has changed.  ,asked China. where this really  came from. ,seems they will not say 

once again the smug incompetents have missed the point.vaccines. get on with it,the variants will spread everywhere,looks like they already have. its time to vacc people which is most important,its happening in many places now USA Uk UAE EU etc dont miss the bus on the pretext you can screw someone and make an extra few baht but old habits die hard.no country has allowed the private sale of vaccs but they wanted to do it here until it was pointed out to them theyd look very.....ummm whats the word......well youve figured it out.testing too-widespread,free and for all.it must be easy to access and not profit driven as usual.i hope that overseas govts charge thais for tests and vaccs so that their greed ridden stupidity eventually get s a wake up call in bkk.then chase down the pos tests.its what most countries are trying to do,from europe to asia,

7 hours ago, ukrules said:

 

Perhaps, however there are 100's of vaccines in the pipeline and altering them is a small job compared with creating the first one.

 

The way out is to vaccinate everyone who moves around the world.

agreed,sensible idea,weve the vaccs lets use them.NOW.once u vacc everyone over 60 its done,99% of deaths are in that age group,we can then relax restrictions whilst jabbing other groups

4 hours ago, KC 71 said:

Have being hearing '2025' being mentioned a lot lately !

Consensus for a return to life like it was 2019 is, in about 7 years

4 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

 Once a population gets it into their mind that they can't live with a virus

In the US,  half a million people got it into their mind that they couldn't live wit a virus

44 minutes ago, Aarin said:

Game over for Thailand tourism

Get ready Vietnam and Philippines the tourists are coming.Easier to get visa in these places, cleaner beaches in Philippines and both places cheaper. 

Philippines? Nah. 

 

It's like an Americanised version of Thailand without any of the allure. 

 

And that accent... 

8 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

This is what happens when you have failed to provide a speedy vaccination plan to the Thai people. 

Well said.

 

no tactical approach or strategy to deal with the situation.

 

just close the airports and covert to museums.

 

 

7 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

It's not about tourism at the moment, do you not get that?  No one is expecting tourists to do three weeks quarantine, this is about trying to protect Thailand from the virus.

Cynical me is thinking this is more about keeping the Thai population under the thumb regarding controlling political demonstrations ????

The South African virus will come and will kill us all.

The world is crazy, that madness will never stop.

 

AZ only 20%,  Pfizer better for this variant.

 

People who have received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been found to have strong T-cell responses against the Kent and South African variants of Covid, suggesting that the vaccine will continue to protect against serious disease in the coming months. AZ maybe not

7 hours ago, JonnyF said:

This is exactly the reason people won't be travelling en masse any time soon.

I is also the reason that People Worldwide have to be vaccinated urgently.

All Corona Virus Mutate, and this one has to be put down before it Mutates into something that really is uncontrollable, and a lot more deadly.

These South African and Brazilian variants of the Virus, are just the first signs that the Virus is starting to Mutate in order to protect its self.

There will be more Mutations to follow, with possibly even greater challenges ahead.

I had a Shingles vaccine today. Not the new Shingrex one that came out in 2017 but the old Vorstavax live vaccine that came out in 2004 and has been discontinued in some countries. I don't hold out much hope for a Covid vaccine freely available here for at least another year. My Dr said maybe 3 years! Maybe he was joking?Maybe not????

8 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Seeing as how the vaccine is reportedly ineffective against the SA variant how exactly would that have helped?

 

Depends on which vaccine you're talking about...

 

The AstraZeneca vaccine, the one currently planned for Thailand, is reportedly not particularly effective against the SA variant.

 

"The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine offers as little as 10% protection against the Covid variant first seen in South Africa, researchers have suggested.

 

Scientists who conducted a small-scale trial of the vaccine’s efficacy said it showed very little protection against mild to moderate infection, though they expressed hope that – in theory – it would still offer significant protection against more serious infection.

 

The disappointing results came as lab tests on the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine found it may still provide substantial protection against the variant."

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/08/oxford-covid-vaccine-10-effective-south-african-variant-study

 

But the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines that have been approved for use in the U.S., but not yet in Thailand, are:

 

Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech both said their vaccines were effective against new variants of the coronavirus discovered in Britain and South Africa. But they are slightly less protective against the variant in South Africa, which may be more adept at dodging antibodies in the bloodstream.

...

As a precaution, Moderna has begun developing a new form of its vaccine that could be used as a booster shot against the variant in South Africa. “We’re doing it today to be ahead of the curve, should we need to,” Dr. Tal Zaks, Moderna’s chief medical officer, said in an interview. “I think of it as an insurance policy.”

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/25/health/coronavirus-moderna-vaccine-variant.html

 

100% lockdown during 2021-22, would be the very best. Stay safe!

Honestly, I am enjoying this "No Tourist" control. Islands are empty, beaches are clean, not dodging bus loads of people and top resorts are incredibly affordable.

 

All I can suggest is rather than people complaining about the Thai govt tourism plans, get out and enjoy some of this now while it lasts because in no time the flood gates will open and then most of you can all go back to complaining about the rip offs, tourist scams, double pricing and crazy bus drivers...????

 

 

8 hours ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Global numbers of new infections and deaths are falling rapidly even with the more infectious variants which seems strange but that's the way it is.

 

It's good to see a change (downward) in the direction of the world numbers lately.... But no time to take the foot off the gas pedal, because there have been drops and then resurgences before.

 

Pursue effective vaccinations, maintain social distancing, wear good masks, etc etc.

 

 

 

https://ourworldindata.org/covid-cases?country=~OWID_WRL

 

 

 

 

8 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

you see how this will go on for a very long time. 

 

2023...

unless folks keep up all the standard pandemic mitigations (masks etc.)  it could be longer than that. This is the most important lap of the race and most folks have had enough already. Trouble is the vax is far from a quick fix and people will still have to park their self centeredness for the general health of all. Since that really hasn't occurred during this pandemic ( at least not to an effective enough state to keep death under control) I don't have a lot of faith in humanity..