Expats getting a Covid-19 vaccine in Pattaya for dummies with emphasis on expats outside the Thai system

[HashBrownHarry]

50 minutes ago, WaveHunter said:

There is no need for such a snarky reply to the poster, and accusing him of having"learning difficulties"!.

 

How incredibly insulting that is to all of us who feel the need to voice our frustration and rage over this current situation!

 

There are a lot of expats (me included) who have also "put in our legwork" as you put it!  We have devoted a great deal of time & energy, and put in due diligence to register for vaccination, and have been thwarted over and over again through no fault of our own. 

 

There is every reason for us to express our frustrations and rage!  The rollout SHOULD be prioritizing people 60 years old and older and/or those with risky medical conditions REGARDLESS of nationality becuase to not do that places the entire population at greater risk.

 

Most of us have applied incredible due diligence and and put forth every possible effort to simply become registered, all for naught!

 

My own efforts have included:

• the Mor Prom app
• LINE registration with hospitals
• through local hospitals by email, phone, and in-person visits
• through InterVac
• Filing grievances with my home country government representatives (Congressmen and Senators) and asking for help from my government as a tax paying citizen.

I have devoted hours and hours to this, and all with no positive outcome.

 

This is simply WRONG!  By not prioritizing at-risk groups of people regardless of nationality, it places the population as a whole at greater risk.  People SHOULD BE OUTRAGED AND VOCAL about this, and certainly NOT be criticized for speaking their piece!

 

If you're getting that upset about it go home and get the jab, job done.

 

Why should expats be given preference before the nationals are vaccinated coz they've put in the 'leg work'??

[newnative]

   Just back from Pattaya International Hospital. Their registration for future vaccines is closed. It filled up yesterday.  

[Guderian]

On their FB page...

 

[WaveHunter]

1 hour ago, HashBrownHarry said:

If you're getting that upset about it go home and get the jab, job done.

 

Why should expats be given preference before the nationals are vaccinated coz they've put in the 'leg work'??

You totally miss my point (not surprising, I guess).

 

ANYONE, regardless of nationality that is over the age of 60 and/or with comorbidities should be given priority.

 

It has nothing to do with whether or not they deserve it or "have put legwork into it"  All that should matter is prioritizing vaccinations to those that are most likely to contract the virus and spread it.  That has NOTHING TO DO WITH NATIONALITY.

 

The actual purpose of vaccinations is to protect the population as a whole.  Only a selfish person views vaccination as personal protection and nothing else.  From the tone of your posts, I don't think you appreciate this at all.

[NanLaew]

13 hours ago, thaitero said:

From facebook:

 

And then there were none.

 

From their FB presence.

 

 

 

[NanLaew]

19 minutes ago, WaveHunter said:

1 hour ago, HashBrownHarry said:

If you're getting that upset about it go home and get the jab, job done.

 

Why should expats be given preference before the nationals are vaccinated coz they've put in the 'leg work'??

You totally miss my point (not surprising, I guess).

 

ANYONE, regardless of nationality that is over the age of 60 and/or with comorbidities should be given priority.

 

It has nothing to do with whether or not they deserve it or "have put legwork into it"  All that should matter is prioritizing vaccinations to those that are most likely to contract the virus and spread it.  That has NOTHING TO DO WITH NATIONALITY.

 

The actual purpose of vaccinations is to protect the population as a whole.  Only a selfish person views vaccination as personal protection and nothing else.  From the tone of your posts, I don't think you appreciate this at all.

 

From this and your earlier post, your frustration is palpable. It is a very, very frustrating situation. From testing, through vaccine procurement to vaccine rollout, the Thailand experience has been a slow-motion train wreck. Having said that, after about 15 months down the Covid rabbit hole here, how can this possibly come as a surprise?

 

Applying the logic of the vaccination priorities of most western nations to Thailand only serves to increase one's frustration. If the option exists to go home or even to another country and get vaccinated, it should be explored with as much urgency and due-diligence as any previous or ongoing Covid vaccine cat-herding exercise here in Thailand.

 

If that option is totally nonviable for whatever reasons, if they suddenly came up with ample supplies of SinoPharm and SinoVac to start an across-the-board 'surge' vaccination for ALL Pattaya's residents starting net week, would you go and get it?

[Surelynot]

If it is any consolation.......Thai wife went to get her vaccination today (Emporium)........no email of conformation,  web site not up......got there.......sorry, no vaccines try tomorrow?????

[WaveHunter]

56 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

 

From this and your earlier post, your frustration is palpable. It is a very, very frustrating situation. From testing, through vaccine procurement to vaccine rollout, the Thailand experience has been a slow-motion train wreck. Having said that, after about 15 months down the Covid rabbit hole here, how can this possibly come as a surprise?

 

Applying the logic of the vaccination priorities of most western nations to Thailand only serves to increase one's frustration. If the option exists to go home or even to another country and get vaccinated, it should be explored with as much urgency and due-diligence as any previous or ongoing Covid vaccine cat-herding exercise here in Thailand.

 

If that option is totally nonviable for whatever reasons, if they suddenly came up with ample supplies of SinoPharm and SinoVac to start an across-the-board 'surge' vaccination for ALL Pattaya's residents starting net week, would you go and get it?

LIke many other expats I have (and am) considering a trip back to the US for vaccination.  However, I have serious concerns about doing that.

 

Firstly, traveling as an unvaccinated person is quite risky.  Even though strangers you are travelling alongside of would presumably be tested before getting on a flight, that is by no means assured. 

 

Spending 20+ hours sealed inside a metal tube is usually not my idea of fun, but doing it during a pandemic, and also having to loiter in airports during stopovers where many strangers would not necessarily have been tested is a serious risk IMO.

 

Secondly, the time and expense of doing this is a major concern.  I figure it would take a minimum of 6 weeks and probably cost over $5,000.  Not to mention the time and inconvenience of at least one quarantine and perhaps even another upon return. 

 

All of this to get a vaccination that for most people should only amount to a couple of  brief visits to a local hospital.  There is no logical reason for things to be this way here in Thailand, but it is what it is.

 

So, I will continue to hope for a local vaccination in the Kingdom, but if it starts looking like it won't happen until after October, then I will leave the KIngdom to do it, and perhaps not even bother returning since during the last year, Thailand has really lost a lot of the allure for me that it once had.

 

I mean, if this registration/rollout scheme as it pertains to foreigners is an example of what to expect in the future, perhaps Thailand is no longer a good place to be for foreigners.

[Guderian]

Nobody's saying that farangs should get priority over Thais of similar age and with similar chronic vulnerabilities, only that we should be allowed to do as most of us always have done for medical matters: pay our own way at a private hospital. Now that the government has removed that option for us, how can we feel any sense of security about our future medical care in Thailand, even post-Covid? This sets a precedent where, in future, they may decide that some operations and medical procedures at private hospitals are reserved for Thais, paying farangs are not welcome. You need heart surgery, krup? Sorry, but that's reserved for Thai people, why not fly home and get it done?

[Caldera]

14 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Nobody's saying that farangs should get priority over Thais of similar age and with similar chronic vulnerabilities, only that we should be allowed to do as most of us always have done for medical matters: pay our own way at a private hospital.

 

I agree, that would have been the best approach, if only they had allowed the private hospitals to import vaccines early on.

 

As things stand, however, I think many elderly Thais are at higher risk of infection than foreign retirees. Take the old lady who sells som tum in the street nearby my condo as an example - for her very livelihood, she needs to interact with dozens of customers on a daily basis. She should clearly have priority over a foreign retiree who draws a pension, is able to avoid most risks and can thus be expected to lock down for a few more months. Nothing to do with nationality.

[Hamus Yaigh]

On 6/19/2021 at 11:25 PM, NanLaew said:

BTW, he found the intervac site first and asked me for my opinion. I told him it looked like an insecure data harvester and nothing more and I wouldn't be using it.

 

This is nonsense. Why not give it a rest. When was the last time you were even in the country let alone Pattaya since the Intervac site started?

[Guderian]

3 hours ago, Caldera said:

 

I agree, that would have been the best approach, if only they had allowed the private hospitals to import vaccines early on.

 

As things stand, however, I think many elderly Thais are at higher risk of infection than foreign retirees. Take the old lady who sells som tum in the street nearby my condo as an example - for her very livelihood, she needs to interact with dozens of customers on a daily basis. She should clearly have priority over a foreign retiree who draws a pension, is able to avoid most risks and can thus be expected to lock down for a few more months. Nothing to do with nationality.

 

That's a fair point, but I'd also add that, unlike the Thais who are a part of the government health system, the hospitals here often have little or no idea about the state of health of long-stay expats. Serious chronic conditions will often have been diagnosed and treated in your home country, and places like PIH or BHP will have no record of how serious your clinical vulnerability to Covid is. This is why the registration actually seemed like a good idea to me at first, they could find out who really needs to be protected most urgently before the vaccines even arrived, but sadly it didn't turn out anything like that. While the number of foreigners living and working in Thailand is huge, in the millions, the number of elderly retired expats is much smaller. I've never seen the figure, but I'd guess around 100,000, give or take. That's 0.015% of the total population, and is hardly going to have a drastic effect on the national rollout. I'm not asking to be given priority over Thais, but to be included in the national rollout in a fair and unbiased manner, taking into consideration age and chronic medical conditions, or else to allow the private hospitals to do what they do best and charge us an arm and a leg to buy the vaccines. Instead, we're mostly being left in some sort of vaccine limbo.

[NanLaew]

6 hours ago, Hamus Yaigh said:

On 6/20/2021 at 12:25 AM, NanLaew said:

BTW, he found the intervac site first and asked me for my opinion. I told him it looked like an insecure data harvester and nothing more and I wouldn't be using it.

 

This is nonsense. Why not give it a rest. When was the last time you were even in the country let alone Pattaya since the Intervac site started?

 

I arrived back in Thailand on 19th March 2020.

 

Apart from some short trips to Ubon, I've been in Udon all the time. I have a friend (the guy who is getting vaccinated along with his family) who lives in Pattaya. He keeps me posted on the realities down there. We chat 3 or 4 times a week about the practicalities of the current situation based on our cumulative +60 years of living in Thailand. We are both in the high-risk age band so you can appreciate how serious we were about getting vaccinated.

 

A friend in Udon just mentioned that his friend, an elderly English guy, got his first Covid jab at Rayong General Hospital last week. Apparently he too had made efforts to sign up as soon as the word came out vaccine availability maybe 6 weeks ago? He does have PR and a pink ID card but he says that neither were a factor in getting registered or getting vaccinated. No word if he was already registered at RGH.

[Jingthing]

2 hours ago, NanLaew said:

 

I arrived back in Thailand on 19th March 2020.

 

Apart from some short trips to Ubon, I've been in Udon all the time. I have a friend (the guy who is getting vaccinated along with his family) who lives in Pattaya. He keeps me posted on the realities down there. We chat 3 or 4 times a week about the practicalities of the current situation based on our cumulative +60 years of living in Thailand. We are both in the high-risk age band so you can appreciate how serious we were about getting vaccinated.

 

A friend in Udon just mentioned that his friend, an elderly English guy, got his first Covid jab at Rayong General Hospital last week. Apparently he too had made efforts to sign up as soon as the word came out vaccine availability maybe 6 weeks ago? He does have PR and a pink ID card but he says that neither were a factor in getting registered or getting vaccinated. No word if he was already registered at RGH.

The purpose of this topic is to provide practical information on how expats in Pattaya can access vaccines in Pattaya. 

That is very narrow and very specific. A reader looking at the above post might conclude that there is a current way for expats in Pattaya to begin that process right now. There is not.

 

[TaaSaparot]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

A reader looking at the above post might conclude that there is a current way for expats in Pattaya to begin that process right now. There is not.

 

 

Not true.

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, TaaSaparot said:

 

Not true.

Not good enough.

Details.

How to get in Pattaya now?

If you know tell us.

Specific details.

[Jingthing]

Not sure if this is news but this is getting ridiculous. 

 

thailandintervac.com and /expatriates still closed to new registrations and even logging on to look at an existing record.

 

Of course the site never had any Pattaya hospitals with vaccines anyway.

[Jingthing]

20 minutes ago, Victornoir said:

French Embassy, consular services:

 

 

The French Embassy is setting up an unprecedented vaccination campaign.

The French Embassy, which has been mobilized since the start of the pandemic, obtained, after long weeks of negotiations, the authorization of the Thai government to set up an unprecedented vaccination campaign throughout the country, in firstly, benefit the most vulnerable people in our community in Thailand.

 

French nationals aged 55 and over can therefore register.

 

Appointment made for June 30 at 2 p.m. Bangkok Hospital Pattaya ,single shot , Free.

Thank you!

Although that's only for certain French nationals, specific Pattaya information like that is exactly what I was hoping this topic would be used for when I started it.

[WaveHunter]

14 hours ago, Jingthing said:

The purpose of this topic is to provide practical information on how expats in Pattaya can access vaccines in Pattaya. 

That is very narrow and very specific. A reader looking at the above post might conclude that there is a current way for expats in Pattaya to begin that process right now. There is not.

 

I agree (even though I've been guilty of going off-topic here as well).  This thread is getting so saturated with non-useful information and commentary that when something important is posted, it gets lost in the fray.

 

Since this topic of where/how to get vaccinated in Pattaya is now becoming a real critical question that's not even being addressed anymore by the CCSA, we all need to explore this and share pertinent information on this thread. 

 

With so  many smart and clever people on this forum, we should be able to discover a workable solution, while saving our non-useful commentary for another thread.

[polpott]

1 minute ago, WaveHunter said:

I agree (even though I've been guilty of going off-topic here as well).  This thread is getting so saturated with non-useful information and commentary that when something important is posted, it gets lost.

 

Since this topic of where/how to get vaccinated in Pattay is now becoming a real critical question that's not even being addressed anymore by the CCSA, we all need to explore this and share pertinent information on this thread. 

 

With so  many smart and clever people on this forum, we should be able to discover a workable solution, while saving our non-useful commentary for another thread.

Your smarts should tell you that with local Thais now finding it impossible to get vaccinated the lowly farangs in Pattaya have no chance.

[WaveHunter]

I still think that we should appeal to our home governments to help address this issue.  Next to flying back home, it's beginning to look like this may be the best option for being vaccinated here in Pattaya!

 

I know that the official stance of the US Embassy is that the US will not help us, but there actually is precedent in the past of US expats being helped in this way, and what's more there are Thai-based groups of expat organizations beginning to pressure US government officials to do something about this situation.

 

The U.S. is expected to have a surplus of 500 million to 1 billion doses by the end of this year, depending on its vaccine strategy, according to estimates by Brookings Institution.  I think there is every reason to expect my own government to make some of that available to expats!  There is no reason that should prevent that at all, and every reason for it to be done ASAP!

 

A letter to our home government representatives (in the case of the US, our elected House Representatives and Senators) woud be a good step to take.  Of course, it's not a sure thing, but who knows...stranger things have happened.  It's certainly worth a few minutes of your time to fire off an email or two, and being YOUR elected representatives I bet they'll certainly be more responsive than that Thai government has been towards us as expats.

 

The precedent for US expats being vaccinated through local embassies:

In the 1980's, expats were receiving Hepatitis vaccinations on the grounds of US Embassies in Thailand.

 

The French Embassy efforts to vaccinate their own expats and the official Thai response to allowing any country to do this:

The French Embassy in Bangkok recently released a statement that said that discussions are underway with the Thai government regarding the possible vaccination of French nationals and their spouses, and Thailand’s public health minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, told the press that he had met with the French Ambassador to Thailand and that the embassy was discussing the process of importing 10,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for French nationals aged 45+ in Thailand.

 

Anutin said that the department of Disease Control agrees to the basic principle and that the vaccines could arrive by at the end of June.

 

He added that any country which is able to take care of its citizens can import vaccines which are registered with Thailand’s FDA to inoculate their nationals.

 

Anutin said an inoculation provision by an embassy can be undertaken at any medical facility and does not need to be on embassy grounds.

 

The efforts of Thai-based american organizations:

A coalition of Thailand-based American organizations is leading an appeal to the U.S. government to deliver vaccines to tens of thousands of Americans in Thailand as a pilot project that could later be expanded globally, according to Paul Risley, chairperson of Democrats Abroad Thailand and a United Nations consultant. 

 

Other Thai-based American groups have also acted together, signing a joint letter asking Washington to get vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — namely Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines — into the arms of overseas Americans as soon as possible.

 

Addressing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the groups also proposed that Thailand, with its robust health infrastructure, "could serve an ideal testbed for a pilot project for the U.S. Government to deliver approved and effective vaccines to the tens of thousands of private U.S. citizens living here, and then ultimately replicate that effort for the large number of other Americans living overseas." 

 

[WaveHunter]

43 minutes ago, polpott said:

Your smarts should tell you that with local Thais now finding it impossible to get vaccinated the lowly farangs in Pattaya have no chance.

I agree that this whole rollout has been a fiasco for Thais as well as foreigners.  How is your trip back home for vaccination going, BTW?

[WaveHunter]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Not sure if this is news but this is getting ridiculous. 

 

thailandintervac.com and /expatriates still closed to new registrations and even logging on to look at an existing record.

 

Of course the site never had any Pattaya hospitals with vaccines anyway.

Both sites have just been static page holders for a week now I think, with only minor ThaiGlish grammatical changes that are basically ambiguous in meaning.

 

I'm guessing the intervac sites are dead now, so we need to wait for the next public relations iteration to appear.

[polpott]

4 hours ago, WaveHunter said:

I agree that this whole rollout has been a fiasco for Thais as well as foreigners.  How is your trip back home for vaccination going, BTW?

Since last Saturday, now fully vaccinated with AZ vaccine. Heart failure problems probably a week away from being concluded (have zero symptoms now) and have had quality time with my grandson, now a month old. hoping to return to Thailand around the 14th, hopefully via Phuket.

[Jingthing]

4 hours ago, WaveHunter said:

Both sites have just been static page holders for a week now I think, with only minor ThaiGlish grammatical changes that are basically ambiguous in meaning.

 

I'm guessing the intervac sites are dead now, so we need to wait for the next public relations iteration to appear.

Well it's definitely in the lets not even mention it twilight zone on the CCSA announcements. It would almost be funny if this wasn't so serious 

[WaveHunter]

14 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Well it's definitely in the lets not even mention it twilight zone on the CCSA announcements. It would almost be funny if this wasn't so serious 

Thailand has indeed become THE TWILIGHT ZONE!  Sadly, once this pandemic finally ends, it will probably never go back to the way it was. 

 

"Darkness, once gazed upon, can never be lost" (John Milton).  I've had my fun while here in the Magic Kingdom, but I think it's probably time to move on.

[TaaSaparot]

3 hours ago, WaveHunter said:

Thailand has indeed become THE TWILIGHT ZONE!  Sadly, once this pandemic finally ends, it will probably never go back to the way it was. 

 

That can only be true, if Travel itself is never the same again.

 

And yes there is a possibility.

[TaaSaparot]

The United States embassy in Thailand published the following message for American citizens from charge d’affaires Michael Heath:

To My Fellow Americans in Thailand,

In the past few weeks, many of you have asked about the availability of vaccines in Thailand. I want you to know that I hear you and understand your concerns. I am providing you with an update on the actions our government is taking to ensure you have access to vaccines.

 

The Biden-Harris Administration has embarked on a global effort to address this pandemic by sharing 80 million vaccine doses worldwide by the end of June and 500 million more in the coming year. The first 25 million of these doses will soon be released, with 7 million going to countries in Asia, including Thailand. We continue to advocate with the Royal Thai Government for fair access to vaccines by our citizens. We are heartened by Thai government commitments to vaccinate Americans and other foreign nationals who reside here, just as Thai and other nationals are receiving vaccinations with ease in the United States.

[Surelynot]

2 minutes ago, TaaSaparot said:

The United States embassy in Thailand published the following message for American citizens from charge d’affaires Michael Heath:

To My Fellow Americans in Thailand,

In the past few weeks, many of you have asked about the availability of vaccines in Thailand. I want you to know that I hear you and understand your concerns. I am providing you with an update on the actions our government is taking to ensure you have access to vaccines.

 

The Biden-Harris Administration has embarked on a global effort to address this pandemic by sharing 80 million vaccine doses worldwide by the end of June and 500 million more in the coming year. The first 25 million of these doses will soon be released, with 7 million going to countries in Asia, including Thailand. We continue to advocate with the Royal Thai Government for fair access to vaccines by our citizens. We are heartened by Thai government commitments to vaccinate Americans and other foreign nationals who reside here, just as Thai and other nationals are receiving vaccinations with ease in the United States.

So no change then.......wait your turn....or die in the meantime.

[TimBKK]

On 6/22/2021 at 1:03 AM, TaaSaparot said:

 

Not true.

 

14 minutes ago, TaaSaparot said:

And yes there is a possibility.

These child-like, nonspecific declarative statements are useless - if you have specific information, post it.  If not, stop wasting people’s time.