Many private hospitals ready to offer quick Covid-19 jabs - expect to pay 2,000 baht a dose

[cryo]

On 3/5/2021 at 8:43 AM, Yorkshire Tea said:

Turn up at the end of the day, when they have open vials that need using or binning, & haggle.  TIT ????

You are assuming they will follow recommended end of date ????

[impulse]

On 3/5/2021 at 2:00 AM, MadMac said:

You never need to wait long to see the greed popping up in this country. Big money to make easily.

 

You know what I like about stories like this?  No bad news for anyone.  None.

 

If you want to wait for the free vaccine, more power to you.  Nobody's forcing you to pay.  If you don't want to wait ... good news.

 

How is that greed?

 

[sirineou]

3 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

You know what I like about stories like this?  No bad news for anyone.  None.

 

If you want to wait for the free vaccine, more power to you.  Nobody's forcing you to pay.  If you don't want to wait ... good news.

 

How is that greed?

 

Absolutely right, and since it does not affect the government procurement of vaccines  for the general public. It helps those who can't afford to buy it themselves because it leave more available to them.

 

[Susco]

1 hour ago, sirineou said:

Absolutely right, and since it does not affect the government procurement of vaccines  for the general public. It helps those who can't afford to buy it themselves because it leave more available to them.

 

 

How about this consideration?

 

AZ delivers the vaccine at cost price to governments, but can't keep up with production.

 

Hospitals gonna pay a higher price for it, so which customer you think AZ gonna give priority?

 

So delivery backlog to governments gonna get bigger................leaving less available to those who can't afford to buy them

[DonnyS]

It's about your life , Guys . Im at USA . Already being vaccinated (Moderna)  Nonetheless ,  if I would be in Thailand I would pay as much as the market will

bear - to be healthy!!!

[sirineou]

26 minutes ago, Susco said:

 

How about this consideration?

 

AZ delivers the vaccine at cost price to governments, but can't keep up with production.

 

Hospitals gonna pay a higher price for it, so which customer you think AZ gonna give priority?

 

So delivery backlog to governments gonna get bigger................leaving less available to those who can't afford to buy them

, if there was not enough , I am sure the Thai government has the capacity to shot down private purchases.

[Susco]

2 minutes ago, sirineou said:

, if there was not enough , I am sure the Thai government has the capacity to shot down private purchases.

 

Well to answer that, I don't know if there has been an update to the OP since, but this is the headline of the topic.

 

Sources in the Thai business media have suggested that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will likely soon give approval for private hospitals to offer their own Covid-19 vaccinations.

[josephbloggs]

14 hours ago, zyphodb said:

 

I'm sure that they are, then you add profiteering Thai owners and this is what you get...

You guys are hilarious.  The Thai government will administer vaccines to everyone for free - that is stated.  

Private hospitals are offering people to buy the vaccine of their choice if they prefer.  Private enterprise is buying these - if they don't sell them they lose money.  So yes, they sell them at a profit - and 2k THB is not a massive amount as the vaccine needs to be purchased, stored in controlled conditions, shipped in controlled conditions, insured, delivered and administered.  And you think that is worthy of a slur of Thai profiteering.  

How much are the western companies making from the vaccines?  

[Scouse123]

1 hour ago, josephbloggs said:

You guys are hilarious.  The Thai government will administer vaccines to everyone for free - that is stated.  

Private hospitals are offering people to buy the vaccine of their choice if they prefer.  Private enterprise is buying these - if they don't sell them they lose money.  So yes, they sell them at a profit - and 2k THB is not a massive amount as the vaccine needs to be purchased, stored in controlled conditions, shipped in controlled conditions, insured, delivered and administered.  And you think that is worthy of a slur of Thai profiteering.  

How much are the western companies making from the vaccines?  

 

 

AstraZenica, whose vaccine was developed by the university of Oxford, as has been widely mentioned, is making nothing profit wise.

 

They are doing it for humanitarian purposes.

 

The other companies are most certainly in it for the money.

[Scott]

Foreign language post removed.

 

[KhaoYai]

5 hours ago, impulse said:

How is that greed?

Do you think its OK that those in Thailand who can pay may be able to jump the queue?  There are people in Thailand that have no choice but to survive on less than the cost of these vaccines every month (and a lot more people than normal at the moment).  Remember that in saying it is OK, you may also be saying that its OK for those people to contract the virus and die. 

 

Granted, death rates in Thailand are low at the moment (although maybe not as low as reported) but this disease is dynamic, that could change at any moment.  People on very low incomes are susceptible to malnutrition which causes low immune suppression of all diseases. It will be the poor that bear the brunt of any major outbreak in the future.

 

I'm not against paying for vaccines, once the world has been vaccinated and in fact I think foreigners in Thailand that don't pay social security should have to pay.  I just don't think its right that paying gives people preference.

 

One thing I am fairly sure of, if Astra Zeneca find that their vaccine is available on the open market for profit in Thailand, they will take action. That may be as little as a hold on deliveries or as significant as cancelling their agreement for Thailand to manufacture the AZ vaccine.

[KhaoYai]

3 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

2k THB is not a massive amount as the vaccine needs to be purchased, stored in controlled conditions, shipped in controlled conditions, insured, delivered and administered. 

Its actually 4000 baht as 2 jabs are needed - the OP states 2000 per dose. 4000 baht may not be a lot to you or me but some people can't even afford to eat at the moment.

[KhaoYai]

2 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

 

 

AstraZenica, whose vaccine was developed by the university of Oxford, as has been widely mentioned, is making nothing profit wise.

 

They are doing it for humanitarian purposes.

 

The other companies are most certainly in it for the money.

Johnson and Johnson have also pledged 'not for profit' during the pandemic.  I believe both companies will return to normal marketing once its declared over. 

[ukrules]

Let me know when the AZ 'Oxford' jab is available.

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

On 3/5/2021 at 3:30 PM, RichardColeman said:

Considering the ability of this virus to destroy countries economies...yes, it should be free due to the simple risk to the economy in the long run

Not forgetting governments have no money, only what they get from taxing the population to distribute and spend diligently on the taxpayer's behalf...

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

I think I'll go with the free Chinese jab.

I trust the Chinese have the antidote to what they invented.

[Kenneth White]

I recently read that there were 10 groups of people that were not eligible for the vaccine where I am in two of the categories. I wonder if that will be true with the private hospitals? I will gladly pay 2000 bht for each injection. 

[metisdead]

Some posts with insulting comments to other members have been removed. 

[sotsira]

On 3/5/2021 at 8:41 AM, ThailandRyan said:

Bring it on, I would definitely pay a few thousand baht for a vaccine of my choosing.  Of course my insurance from the US will reimburse me for the hospital visit and vaccination.  Yes money to be made but then nothing is free.

It's free in the UK, USA, and EU countries that's a fact.

[sotsira]

2 hours ago, ukrules said:

Let me know when the AZ 'Oxford' jab is available.

It's been available since the start of the year, if your waiting for it in Thailand, then 

you've got a long wait.

[irishman25]

On 3/5/2021 at 12:00 AM, keith101 said:

Instead of giving the hospitals 200% + profit i will wait to get mine thanks , already got an email from a hospital in Bangkok last month asking how many family i wanted to book for and immediately deleted it .

To day i got my second moderna vaccine and as a senior its Free (love that word) and i took a shine at the nurse. and felt no pain =her smile after that gave me a (vaccination record card) so now am free again 13months confinement.    

[Peter Denis]

7 hours ago, DonnyS said:

It's about your life , Guys . Im at USA . Already being vaccinated (Moderna)  Nonetheless ,  if I would be in Thailand I would pay as much as the market will

bear - to be healthy!!!

Big difference between 'being jabbed' and being healthy...

[sandyf]

On 3/5/2021 at 3:41 PM, ThailandRyan said:

Bring it on, I would definitely pay a few thousand baht for a vaccine of my choosing.  Of course my insurance from the US will reimburse me for the hospital visit and vaccination.  Yes money to be made but then nothing is free.

Obviously you are free to believe everything you read, the article only referred to "sources".

I doubt if the FDA will approve every vaccine in the world so foreigners can have the vaccine of choice and private hospitals make a killing.

[sandyf]

7 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

You guys are hilarious.  The Thai government will administer vaccines to everyone for free - that is stated.  

Private hospitals are offering people to buy the vaccine of their choice if they prefer. 

Potentially a very limited choice, particularly in the early days.

The private hospitals can try and obtain any vaccine they want, but they cannot import it unless it has been approved by the FDA for use in Thailand.

Unlikely the FDA will go to the expense of approving a vaccine the government does not plan to make available in government hospitals.

[DUNROAMIN]

On 05/03/2021 at 3:00 PM, MadMac said:

You never need to wait long to see the greed popping up in this country. Big money to make easily.

Who cares, bring it on, rather pay the money than wait maybe 6 - 8 months for the government to act, most expats here are in the high risk catergory to die from this virus.

[brianthainess]

Well the B2000 per shot is almost reasonable, but the cynic in me says + doctor fee+ nurse fee+ cost of syringe+ cost of sticky plaster + cost of anything else they want to charge for.

[Morch]

What I'm wondering about is where and how these private hospitals would get the vaccines. There were quite a few articles detailing issues with supply chains, hoarding and production rates.

 

Are manufacturers obliged to prioritize meeting government-level bulk contracts (at lower cost for unit) or can they do as they like?

 

If not buying direct from manufacturers, then guess the option would be either through dodgy middlemen, or from other governments (presumably involving poor countries, and/or corrupt officials). Other than moral issues, this also raises questions regarding storage, documentation and so on.

 

While I think its in the country's best interest to vaccinate all people present, I acknowledge not being thrilled with getting the Chinese version (for example). So yeah, I will pay if it comes to that, but would like to know more about what exactly I'm paying for. Of course, this would also depend on prices, 2000 a shot is one thing, marking that mark-up further is a bit over the top.

[robblok]

15 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

Does it not bother you that vaccines becoming available for profit may delay vaccines going to poorer countries even further?

Not anymore then Europe and the US taking their first cut. If you want to come from the moral high ground then all vaccines should have been distributed equally. So no does not bother me and if it does you then why does it not bother you that Europe and the US and other countries take a first cut. Then poorer countries. Now all of a sudden people get their tail in a twist because an other country gets in line in front of the already in the back poor countries. 

 

Why no problem the first time but just the second.

[gwanoy]

Since they’re probably going to be pushing the Sinovac, I’ll just get mine for the whole family on Lazada. 
Ten percent off in bulk and free shipping!

[Bkk Brian]

56 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Obviously you are free to believe everything you read, the article only referred to "sources".

I doubt if the FDA will approve every vaccine in the world so foreigners can have the vaccine of choice and private hospitals make a killing.

Those sources turn out to be the Public Health Ministry suggesting private companies be allowed to import another 15-20 million doses as the Ministry has not ordered enough.

https://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/TCATG210306100921910

 

The J&J vaccine application for approval has already been sent to Thailand's FDA, hopefully the others will follow soon.