Thailand's re-opening "coming soon" as Anutin shows "Vaccine Passport"

[Sheryl]

37 minutes ago, Captain Monday said:

 

It takes a certain kind of pessimism to continue the nonsense that vaccines that produce up to 95 percent immune response will not reduce transmission.

 

 

This has always been a misinterpretation. Along with the the idea that certain vaccines are not effective in people over a certain age.

 

In both instances the actual case was that the data on it was not yet available. A big difference but people seem to have trouble distinguishing between "not yet proven" and "proven not".

 

It was always to be expected/ highly likley  that (1) vaccines would reduce the ability to transmit the virus and (2) vaccines would also protect the elderly. There just was not initially any actual proof. Now it is starting to come in, and it is as expected.

 

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

2 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

 

Let us know when this covers COVID vaccinations, and which countries accept Thailand's "version".

 

Until then it's just noise.

If it is mandated by the WHO to cover COVID-19 then all 196 signatory countries to the International Health Regulations (IHR) will have to accept it. 

 

Only mandates Yellow Fever at the moment though, and they are working on a digital version but it would be prudent to hold both a soft and hard copy I would have thought. 

[RR2020]

49 minutes ago, Captain Monday said:

 

It takes a certain kind of pessimism to continue the nonsense that vaccines that produce up to 95 percent immune response will not reduce transmission.

There is very good news, as expected,  coming out of Israel that patients  infected post vaccination, the viral load deep in the throat and nasopharangeal cavity is reduced to neglible levels, thus reducing potential for transmission, especially with masking. When transmission slows mutation slows. 

 

A bit of paper or a QR code is just a marker that will be used by different venues and different countries in various ways. Regular vaccination, probably yearly, will be part of our long term mitigation strategy going forward. Social distancing, continues, masking continues, increased sanitation continues. c-19 will probably  never go away completely. The other solution is to close off the country forever, as been demonstrated is impossible for Thailand due to long porous borders.  Only remote islands, like in Pohnpei in Micronesia, that can can control all entry can ever hope to do this. Now since their populations are completely "not immune" to covid they must vaccinate asap.  Or they will have to remain completely isolated, forever.

 

 

 

Thats the whole point.......it can only REDUCE.

 

It cannot eliminate.

 

Whats the point of a vaccine passport if 5% of the people who hold it might be carry the virus and passing it on.  Thats with the "so called" efficacy of 95%.   Actually many are only 60% or 70% or 80% effective.

 

That means 40% or 30% or 20% of those carrying their lovely little vaccine passports might also be carrying the virus and passing it on to people.

 

 

The point is........a Vaccine Passport is no guarantee the person does not have Covid.  So what purpose does it serve ?

 

Its like a box of 10 condoms where 3 of them have holes in..........are you happy to use all 10 ?????????

 

Yes,. its safer than using none...........but with 3 with holes in over time they are useless........the end result is the same.

 

 

Vaccine passports should be dumped before they even get started.

 

Just make the vaccine available then open the doors................if you dont want the vaccine, your choice.  As long as everyone has had the chance to take it, or not........thats all a government is responsible for.

 

 

"Vaccine passport" is pure nonsense in relation to Covid and how low the efficacy is of pretty much all the vaccines.

 

 

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

I still have my old yellow vaccination card...would that be legit if stamped?

Perhaps that depends on the policies/regulations of the country your departing for (your destination) and again same point on actual arrival plus the policies/ regulations of any stopover countries. 

 

If it's a full digital system/process this is all made much easier. 

[ukrules]

Any tourists will be vaccinated in their own country with one of just a few well known vaccines right now.

 

By the end of the year there will be many more vaccines, some of them will inevitably not work as well as the others.

 

The yellow fever vaccination cert is not a good comparison.

 

How many 100's of different yellow fever vaccines are there? There's not going to be many. There will be hundreds of COVID vaccines moving forward, this is going to be the problem.

 

A certificate of some kind will perhaps be issued separately by each country, then it's up to the Thai health ministry to decide which vaccines among those available that they will accept.

 

It sounds to me like the Thais are planning on issuing these vaccine passports directly to tourists perhaps through their embassies in order to allow people into Thailand - this is where the process will collapse - it will fail very hard and very fast if even one other country accepts documentation directly issued by the vaccinating country, or perhaps deems a country fully vaccinated due to there being negligible COVID circulating in that country due to them having vaccinated about 80-90% of the country and hit the herd immunity threshold.

 

Time will tell I guess. I suspect this vaccine passport requirement will add multiple additional hoops and prevent tourists coming to Thailand for years to come because there's always somewhere else that's easier to go.

 

[RR2020]

You Can Still Spread, Develop COVID-19 After Getting a Vaccine

 

You Can Spread COVID-19 After Getting a Vaccine (healthline.com)

 

 

 

 

Any so called "Vaccine Passport" is completely useless......... it is nonsense to suggest that a vaccinated person should be able to travel without PCR testing and quarantine.   Vaccine or no Vaccine should be treated exactly the same.

[bolt]

The WHO will publish an Approved list of vaccines and I think Thailand will allow tourists to enter who can prove they have been vaccinated with one of the vaccines from the WHO list.

[sammieuk1]

Another layer of photocopying coming soon ????

[Captain Monday]

6 minutes ago, RR2020 said:

 

Thats the whole point.......it can only REDUCE.

 

It cannot eliminate.

 

Whats the point of a vaccine passport if 5% of the people who hold it might be carry the virus and passing it on.  Thats with the "so called" efficacy of 95%.   Actually many are only 60% or 70% or 80% effective.

 

That means 40% or 30% or 20% of those carrying their lovely little vaccine passports might also be carrying the virus and passing it on to people.

 

 

The point is........a Vaccine Passport is no guarantee the person does not have Covid.  So what purpose does it serve ?

 

Its like a box of 10 condoms where 3 of them have holes in..........are you happy to use all 10 ?????????

 

Yes,. its safer than using none...........but with 3 with holes in over time they are useless........the end result is the same.

 

 

Vaccine passports should be dumped before they even get started.

 

Just make the vaccine available then open the doors................if you dont want the vaccine, your choice.  As long as everyone has had the chance to take it, or not........thats all a government is responsible for.

 

 

"Vaccine passport" is pure nonsense in relation to Covid and how low the efficacy is of pretty much all the vaccines.

 

 

Your point is vaccination can REDUCE transmission so, let's all please get vaccinated ASAP and reduce transmission. There is no 100 percent all-in-one solution.

 

I have not yet heard of vaccination being mandated anywhere or to do anything yet other than Qantas CEO saying you will need it to get on his plane. That quieted down but for Buddha sake why not? My friend from last night. He stated he absolutely will not vaccinate unless required by his employer here or Thai immigration. He cant give me a good reason why NOT to take a vaccination (other than the government "lies", What are the side effects in 30 years, and other silly concerns) By the way he is in his 50s, quite overweight with high blood pressure and Asthmha history. What would his doctor likely recommend?

 

Then he gets on a motorbike and rides 25 minutes home to a dark area Moo-Baan 2 large Chang deep! The mind boggles. 

[varun]

3 hours ago, PatOngo said:

Does he think foreign tourists want to mix with UNVACCINATED locals???

That's been happening around Walking Street / NEP / Cowboy for the past 40 years.

[Justgrazing]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

 

The passport is officially titled "International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis

 

Icovop then .. sound like an inflammation .. 

 

" You're limping today dear " 

 

" Yea it's icovop in me knee playing up again " ..

 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

and has parts in English to facilitate international travel. 

 

Hahahaha .. gawd bleeding help it .. 

[crazykopite]

More BS from the ????

[billsmart]

What I don't understand is what good this will do. Being vaccinated means you can't (probably) have a bad reaction to the virus, but it doesn't mean you can't become infected and be capable of spreading the virus. So, what will it be used for?

[bermondburi]

Nobody is going to be carrying around little yellow books. There will be an internationally recognised app with a QR code to scan etc. 

 

Where i am, there already is an app showing information, immunisation status, ID number, photo, blood type etc. 

 

A vaccine passport will be very similar. Countries that don't have the technology to scan a QR code will soon get the technology to scan a QR code. 

 

Thailand will follow what the rest of the world does regarding this. 

 

[brucegoniners]

Well, they better accept or offer these for people who can prove they were vaccinated overseas, which is where I might be.

[RichardColeman]

Get the feeling Thailand will produce a vaccine passport and then ignore every other country vaccine passport

[beano2274]

has any other country agreed that this Thai Passport can be used? How much for one on Khao San Road?

[miamiman123]

5 hours ago, scorecard said:

...several million... ?

 

 

Yes in Issan…..without vaccine

[miamiman123]

5 hours ago, scorecard said:

...several million... ?

 

 

Yes in Issan 

[mr_lob]

i bet they will really streamline the process for getting permission to enter the country...something like this...

 

Contact local Thai embassy ➡️ covid test ➡️ visit said embassy so plead your case for a visit ➡️ wait ➡️ called back to embassy, covid test, prove vaccination ➡️ wait ➡️ return to embassy to collect Thai vaccination passport ➡️ fly to the land of hubs ➡️ quarantine for 3 days on arrival ➡️ you are free

[richard_smith237]

2 hours ago, pokerface1 said:

So where is a list of all the countries that will accept Thai's arriving with this booklet ??? I for one think most countries will enable travelers to download an app to their phones to facilitate a certificate of vaccination. Perhaps with a selfie of me and my nurse getting a jab 

 

The ‘Yellow Vaccination booklet’  [International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis] is already internationally recognised. 

 

The Thai Travel Clinic at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University already issues this booklet with vaccinations. Most (all?) people who have been vaccinated for yellow fever at the Thai Travel Clinic (and other vaccination centres / hospitals world wide) already hold this vaccination passport. 

 

Digital Vaccination passports could also be added to this system IF a country implements such a system. 

The IATA Digital Passport would be a good option. 

 

Thailand already has the Thailand Plus App already has a QR code - the Digital Vaccination Certificate could easily be incorporated into the data this QR code holds. 

 

The Ehteraz App (Qatar) already holds vaccination data with in the QR code on the App and also lists the vaccine, date of first and second dose in a separate tab. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

2 hours ago, aldriglikvid said:

I just finished my (expensive...) ASQ. Turns out perhaps I could've waited a couple of months for a no-quarantine entry. Oh well, no room for regrets in life. ????

 

I am due back in Thailand in 3 weeks...  I’m not holding my breath on the vaccination passport thing allowing people to travel back without quarantine until I see it happening. 

 

[zoltannyc]

Nothing new about having an international vaccine passport  -  The International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis has been in place since 1933, I got mine around 30 years ago.

 

 

 

 

[PatOngo]

1 hour ago, varun said:

That's been happening around Walking Street / NEP / Cowboy for the past 40 years.

Together with Covid 19, right???

[richard_smith237]

2 hours ago, John Drake said:

How does giving Thais a vaccine passport open up Thailand for foreign tourism?

 

I imagine its part of the ‘road map’ to be used alongside domestic vaccination.

The vaccination passport is both useful as a certificate of vaccination for domestic use as well as international travel.

 

Thailand clearly intends to vaccinate its population over time, meanwhile there are ‘some’ in high-risk groups who cannot be vaccinated. Thus, allowing ‘un-vaccinated’ tourists in who could be asymptotic carriers of Covid-19 potentially places those un-vaccinated locals in high risk groups at risk.

 

The vaccination passport is simply another control measure, one of a number of control measures in use, alongside domestic vaccination, pre-travel Covid-19 test. In the future yearly vaccinations will become the norm and those travelling will need to show that they have received their yearly vaccinations.

 

Thai’s having a vaccination passport simply shows the same - its one of the measures which can be utilised to ensure that the individual (and Thai Population) are vaccinated so that Thailand is fit to received vaccinated tourists from overseas. 

 

 

[bermondburi]

8 minutes ago, zoltannyc said:

Nothing new about having an international vaccine passport  -  The International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis has been in place since 1933, I got mine around 30 years ago.

 

 

 

 

Think we all know they're nothing new now...... 

[vandeventer]

Please what does the passport tell. We see it has a number which links to what? also does it have a picture of the person in it? also does it tell the manufacturer of the vaccine? And how much will it cost us farangs. I might have to brake the piggy bank.

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, billsmart said:

What I don't understand is what good this will do. Being vaccinated means you can't (probably) have a bad reaction to the virus, but it doesn't mean you can't become infected and be capable of spreading the virus. So, what will it be used for?

 

Its used ‘en masse’....  

 

Someone who is not vaccinated may catch the virus and be asymptomatic, or they will show symptoms to a varying degree from a mild cold to sever symptoms requiring hospital treatment. 

 

Someone who is symptomatic, even extremely mild symptoms; a runny nose etc will spread the virus - the vaccine can mean the difference between someone having no symptoms and someone having severe systems or reduced symptoms than they would otherwise experience xx% of the time (95% in some vaccines).

 

Thus: While and ‘individual’ could still become infected and spread the virus, in aggregate a vaccinated population becomes ill less, shows less symptoms, is less contagious and those who are mildly contagious are for a shorter period of time than they otherwise would be had they not taken the vaccine. Meanwhile medical facilities are not overwhelmed and there is space to handle those for whom a vaccine does not work 

 

The more people who are vaccinated the less the virus has an opportunity to spread, the viral load is reduced, there is less spread, which itself leads to less spread (a reverse logarithm) and so on, such that those who cannot be vaccinated are far less likely to become exposed....  in short - herd immunity. 

[richard_smith237]

6 minutes ago, vandeventer said:

Please what does the passport tell. We see it has a number which links to what? also does it have a picture of the person in it? also does it tell the manufacturer of the vaccine? And how much will it cost us farangs. I might have to brake the piggy bank.

 

The passport booklet itself is free.... It comes ‘with the vaccine’ in my case, I received the ‘yellow vaccine passport’ with the Yellow Fever vaccination. 

 

The Vaccinations are listed inside with the ‘sticker’ from the actually vaccination which indicates the vaccine, serial number of the vaccine etc

 

There is no photo on the vaccine passport. 

 

Could it be easy to fake? Yes - the vaccine stickers inside would be harder to fake. 

 

I think the vaccine passport is a good idea. As they become more widely used they will become harder to fake or may be integrated into our ‘real’ passports alongside with information integrated into the biometric chip... also used along side Digital passports with an IATA Travel Pass Initial (and QR code which links to all our details). Ultimately the Yellow Vaccination Passport will become a backup to the digital passport. 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

54 minutes ago, beano2274 said:

has any other country agreed that this Thai Passport can be used? How much for one on Khao San Road?

 

Its not a ‘Thai Passport’ its an existing international recognised document.... 

 

 

Think of it like an International Driving Permit - they are issued locally, fit a specify format and are internationally accepted by those countries which have agreed to accept it (signed a treaty). The same goes for the ‘International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis’...

 

Its accepted internationally, its nothing new, its not a ’Thai’ thing....  like anything else, it can and probably will be subject to counterfeiting.

 

Nothing is foolproof and not using such a vaccination passport because it could be counterfeited is somewhat shortsighted. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Certificate_of_Vaccination_or_Prophylaxis