Covid 19 vaccinations - shameful response by UK Government

[sungod]

It does make you wonder if the UK government think the Thai Government Vaccine program is good enough for UK citizens, then why are the UK embassy giving vaccine to their Thai staff?

 

 

[Oxx]

Given that the government has now said that foreigners are at the back of the queue for vaccines (plus the government has only ordered enough vaccines for half the Thai population), and that private hospitals are being blocked from ordering vaccines, and that the British Embassy is doing nothing to help British citizens living here (well, apart from its own staff), what does the Embassy expect us to do (possibly other than die a horrible death)?

[Kiujunn]

Fly home

[jayboy]

On 5/2/2021 at 1:13 PM, sungod said:

It does make you wonder if the UK government think the Thai Government Vaccine program is good enough for UK citizens, then why are the UK embassy giving vaccine to their Thai staff?

 

 

 

I would have thought the more pertinent question is - why, if the British government thinks that the Thailand vaccine rollout is acceptable for resident British citizens, does it feel it necessary the local arrangements are not acceptable for them, ie by vaccinating its  staff with imported products.

 

To be honest I don't really have a problem with this.But it would be better if this hypocrisy was admitted openly.And in view of the 'can't really be bothered attitude" which many have noted, it's hard not to be unimpressed.

[sungod]

16 hours ago, jayboy said:

 

I would have thought the more pertinent question is - why, if the British government thinks that the Thailand vaccine rollout is acceptable for resident British citizens, does it feel it necessary the local arrangements are not acceptable for them, ie by vaccinating its  staff with imported products.

 

To be honest I don't really have a problem with this.But it would be better if this hypocrisy was admitted openly.And in view of the 'can't really be bothered attitude" which many have noted, it's hard not to be unimpressed.

 The lack of response on here by the BE speaks volumes.

[Adelphi]

On 4/29/2021 at 4:23 AM, Adelphi said:

I am a UK National living in Thailand.  Last year I paid over £10K tax on my UK income.  In return I get not a sausage from the UK Government.  I can just about understand the argument which says that when we decided to live outside of our own countries that we knew what the deal was.  However, when our lives are threatened by a pandemic I would have thought that that was a game changer.  

 

I understand that all of those who work in the UK Embassy in Bangkok have been vaccinated as well as the employees of the British Council.  I hope this is true as I would have expected no less from my Government.  What is beyond me is why they did not expand there vaccination plans to include all vulnerable UK Citizens living in Thailand.  The UK Ambassador recently said in a podcast - that it was not the UK Governments policy to provide health services outside of the UK.   I would respond to that by saying- "why on earth not change your policy when your Citizens lives are in danger and you have the means to help them".  Like many others I would have been more than willing to pay for any help regardless of the tax I have already paid.  In my opinion those of us who are living abroad are being abandoned by our Government and it is simply shameful.  

 

On April 29th I posted the above when I started this post.  I posted it in the British Embassy Q&A section so that someone from the Embassy could respond.  So far they have not said a word.  With the news from the Chinese and now the French regarding getting their nationals vaccinated - all I can add is that the shameful silence from our Embassy on this issue has become deafening. 

 

[jayboy]

4 minutes ago, Adelphi said:

 

On April 29th I posted the above when I started this post.  I posted it in the British Embassy Q&A section so that someone from the Embassy could respond.  So far they have not said a word.  With the news from the Chinese and now the French regarding getting their nationals vaccinated - all I can add is that the shameful silence from our Embassy on this issue has become deafening. 

 

 

According to the Bangkok based cartoonist Stephff, with whom many members will be familiar, the French Embassy staff have declined vaccination ( including the Ambassador ) before the rest of the French community.

 

 

[brianthainess]

On 4/29/2021 at 12:09 PM, petermik said:

Why the hell should the UK Government bail you out when you live here....you want the vaccine so go home and get it free or pay for it here.....????

Well the UK government have not ostracized Thais or any other race in the UK, but the Thai government apart from being way behind in ordering vaccine are leaving us to the very last. All people should be treated equally, it would only be fair.

[brianthainess]

On 4/30/2021 at 8:34 AM, cocacola said:

I am quite happy to be included in the Thailand vaccine rollout program, but when I contacted my local government hospital I was told, as a foreigner, I cannot register. How did you manage to register for the vaccine program?

On June the 14th I was also told this. Thais first.

[chilly07]

On 4/29/2021 at 11:55 AM, Tony M said:

Adelphi, when you say that all of those who work in the UK Embassy in Bangkok have been vaccinated as well as the employees of the British Council, do you mean UK-based staff only (those sent out from UK to work) or do you mean all staff including locally - employed Thai staff ? 

They vaccinated all staff including Thais

[brewsterbudgen]

3 hours ago, chilly07 said:

They vaccinated all staff including Thais

As a good employer should.

[grain]

On 5/2/2021 at 1:05 PM, keithcresswell said:

It seems to me that if the UK can donate surplus vaccines abroad then why not include British tax payers who live abroad. 

It's actually in every country's best interest to see that their citizens abroad do get vaccinated so when they do eventually return home for whatever reason the risk of them bringing infection with them is removed or has been greatly reduced. Australia's Dr. Norman Swan has been talking about this for many months. Australia, just like UK, has returning people bringing new covid strains with them. Swan recommends the gov send sufficient supplies of vaccines to various countries, where they can be administered by Embassy approved hospitals to Australian citizens, so all returning Aussies are fully vaccinated prior to boarding flights home.

[grain]

On 4/29/2021 at 12:09 PM, petermik said:

Why the hell should the UK Government bail you out when you live here....you want the vaccine so go home and get it free or pay for it here.....????

I'd be absolutely delighted to pay for it here. And for the first time in my life I'd be more than happy to pay the greatly inflated 'farang' price. They are welcome to rip me off and charge me 10 times the Thai price because I'm a foreigner and this is not my country. Now please tell where I can go and pay for the vaccine and I'll jump in my car and go there right now.

[thonglorjimmy]

On 4/29/2021 at 12:09 PM, petermik said:

Why the hell should the UK Government bail you out when you live here....you want the vaccine so go home and get it free or pay for it here.....????

 

Maybe HMG could divert some of the considerable UK income tax that is paid by the OP, myself and no doubt many others, part of which goes towards funding the NHS which we have to pay to use, towards the cost of vaccinating us here.
I'm aware of a number of people who have returned to their birth countries to get vaccinated, my home is here by the way, and like many other 74 year olds I be delighted to pay for a vaccine if I could, or even more delighted if the appointment I got in my local hospital in May would eventually be honoured.
Interestingly my local hospital publish a list on their FB page of those called for vaccination, they're now on page 36 with not one non Thai name on the lists.  

[Surelynot]

On 4/29/2021 at 6:11 AM, richard_smith237 said:

How would the British Embassy get 200,000 does of vaccine into Thailand? (for expats and their children who are also British Citizens)

I guess they could always ask the Chinese or the French Embassies how they did it.......just a thought.

[Sheryl]

Embassy please note:

 

While most provinces are vaccinating foreigners (provided they have the vaccine), Chiang Rai province does not.

 

We have had many reports of this and not a single report of successful vaccination there. They seem to have a blanket "no foreigner" policy in place.

 

Quite a few expats affected.

 

[treetops]

On 6/24/2021 at 5:32 AM, thonglorjimmy said:

Maybe HMG could divert some of the considerable UK income tax that is paid by the OP, myself and no doubt many others, part of which goes towards funding the NHS which we have to pay to use, towards the cost of vaccinating us here.

 

The NHS you pay for is still there and functioning as usual.  You presumably knew it had no facilities in Thailand when you moved here, so it shouldn't have come as a surprise now.

[Guderian]

3 hours ago, treetops said:

 

The NHS you pay for is still there and functioning as usual.  You presumably knew it had no facilities in Thailand when you moved here, so it shouldn't have come as a surprise now.

 

You are missing the point. Of course @thonglorjimmyknew that there was no NHS in Thailand, and that he had no entitlement under the 30 Baht scheme here, so either via his own medical insurance, or else paying out of his own pocket, he's probably been quite happy, like most of the rest of us, to use the (pretty good) Thai private hospital system. Now the Thai government, by denying the private hospitals the right to provide as many doses of vaccine as required for their paying customers has, in effect, cut us off completely. We're at the very back of the queue in the national vaccination system (assuming we're in it at all, only a handful of people have been able to register), and the private hospitals are, in effect, closed to us by the government. I for one am quite shocked by that response, and discriminating against us because of our race or passport is sickening. Would the UK have refused a white Dutchman or a black American living in the country a vaccine based on their race or passport?

[puchooay]

16 minutes ago, Guderian said:

 

You are missing the point. Of course @thonglorjimmyknew that there was no NHS in Thailand, and that he had no entitlement under the 30 Baht scheme here, so either via his own medical insurance, or else paying out of his own pocket, he's probably been quite happy, like most of the rest of us, to use the (pretty good) Thai private hospital system. Now the Thai government, by denying the private hospitals the right to provide as many doses of vaccine as required for their paying customers has, in effect, cut us off completely. We're at the very back of the queue in the national vaccination system (assuming we're in it at all, only a handful of people have been able to register), and the private hospitals are, in effect, closed to us by the government. I for one am quite shocked by that response, and discriminating against us because of our race or passport is sickening. Would the UK have refused a white Dutchman or a black American living in the country a vaccine based on their race or passport?

I can't understand the problem. Is it provincial? Many expats being registered for a FREE vaccine in hour home town. Some have even received their first doses.

[Guderian]

4 minutes ago, puchooay said:

I can't understand the problem. Is it provincial? Many expats being registered for a FREE vaccine in hour home town. Some have even received their first doses.

It might well be. Chiang Mai and Hua Hin seem to be quite well organised re. farang vaccinations, but Chonburi is almost completely ignoring us. And there's a lot of farangs in Chonburi, as well as a lot of good private hospitals that aren't allowed to sell us vaccines, at least not until October at the earliest, or some unspecified date thereafter.

[steve187]

On 4/29/2021 at 12:09 PM, petermik said:

Why the hell should the UK Government bail you out when you live here....you want the vaccine so go home and get it free or pay for it here.....????

how do you pay for it her

[OJAS]

22 hours ago, steve187 said:

how do you pay for it her

 

Quite a few people on here are awaiting an answer to that crucial question from @petermik!

[petermik]

7 hours ago, OJAS said:

 

On 6/26/2021 at 12:41 PM, steve187 said:

how do you pay for it her

 

7 hours ago, OJAS said:

 

Quite a few people on here are awaiting an answer to that crucial question from @petermik!

 

Same as you pay for anything over here...Thai Baht....or is that too difficult to understand?

[steve187]

45 minutes ago, petermik said:

Same as you pay for anything over here...Thai Baht....or is that too difficult to understand?

where do i pay the Thai baht, you said pay for it, well with all your knowledge you will know the answer, do you understand this question to back up your post on 29/4

[Eff1n2ret]

I never thought I would see the day when I supply my personal details to the British Chamber of Commerce in the hope that somebody, somewhere will put me on a list to get a vaccine.

Unvaccinated at-risk British Nationals in Thailand Invited to Connect With BCCT : British Chamber of Commerce Thailand (bccthai.com)

It must be rather shaming for the British Consulate that another organisation appears to care more about its fellow citizens than they do. Rather than think that some bland assurance by the Prime Minister to our Ambassador resolves the matter, they should have taken the initiative rather than the BCCT. The stark fact is that while a lucky few have been able to secure vaccines locally, there must be many like myself whose efforts to register seem to have disappeared down a black hole, and we can have no confidence that even if vaccines become available in our vicinities, anyone will bother to consult the decrepit databases where our names might be lurking.

I don't particularly blame the Thai authorities who along with most of the world are struggling to obtain an adequate supply for their country. But by now this must be obvious to those who represent our country here, and who should be much more proactive in representing our interests. One can only salute the French, whose government came to the obvious conclusion that the best thing for their citizens was to shoulder the burden themselves. Our lot don't even seem to want to know how many are in need, or where.

Occasionally on the desk at Heathrow, one used to hear the comment "It'd be a marvellous job if it wasn't for the passengers." That seems to be the default position of those in post here.

[Fab5BKK]