Thai health ministry denies they are giving free jabs to expats - Thais come first

[Phulublub]

3 minutes ago, expatjustice said:

Thailand on the contrary can't even get those in risk vaccinated, let alone ordinary people, let alone foreigners. 

Surely the priority should be those most at risk, and then on down the ascale....with non-Thais invited to contribute a reasonable sum towards the treatment?

 

PH

[abrahamzvi]

28 minutes ago, Phulublub said:

I haven't seen any remotely reliable figures being mentioned...where have you seen these ripoff charges?

 

Whle I find it deplorable that Thailand currently sees fit to exclude foreigners from any vaccination programme, I would be entirely content to be charged a reasonable sum for adimistratuin of the vaccine.

 

PH

So would I, most certainly!

[expatjustice]

1 hour ago, connda said:

I am married to a Thai woman and I like other foreign men married to Thai women, we are all considered to be Temporary Visitors only a notch above Tourists.  As such, we are not considered "residents" but simply free-loaders.
All different for foreign women married to Thai men.  Then you're seen as a step away from citizenship and a beloved jewel and flower of a Thai family and deserving of Thai healthcare. Shots will be duly provided no doubt.

 

Honestly though, if they gave those same benefits to foreign men marrying Thai woman. There would be more farang in Thailand by now than Thais ????

[tgw]

1 hour ago, Gwen1234 said:

I'd love for someone to take one of these places to court and challenge their practices, surely the courts would rule against them and set precedent for the whole country ? 

 

unfortunately, in the Venn diagram, there is no intersection between the group of people who depend on the administration to follow the law and the group of people who can afford, both financially and in regard to their personal status vs Thai authorities, to sue the administration.

[WaveHunter]

7 minutes ago, rayw said:

...This is immoral and unacceptable IMHO.  I am perfectly happy to pay the normal cost of a vaccine (preferably for me Sinovac) but I find it deplorable the rip off chargees being talked about with private hospitals who as usual care about profits not the care and well being of you and I. ...

 

Maybe what you wish for exists in some make believe place but join us all here in the real world.  I would be delighted to pay 2,000 baht for a vaccine today if it were available to me.

 

If a private hospital charges you 2,000 baht for a vaccine that could save your life, what is the big deal anyway?  Many expats spend that much for a meal at a fancy restaurant without batting an eyelash, where the markup on actual cost for that meal is often astronomical.

 

In my own business I've always had clients who nitpicked on my pricing, arguing that I was overcharging them based on material costs, but NOT taking into account my fixed costs of running a business and the huge investment I had in equipment to produce the goods, and in maintaining inventories of supplies necessary for production, etc... 

 

What you think a product or service costs a provider to make available to you is often far more than you realize.  So, for you to claim that hospitals are ripping you off at 2,000 baht is probably not accurate at all.

 

The real world might be a harsh place at times, but it is what it is.

[WineOh]

7 minutes ago, from the home of CC said:

14 minutes ago, tandor said:

 

then hunker down and wait. Some on this site believe because they're (fill in your nationality and skin color here) they should get the vax before others that were born here

what are you on about????

Vaccine rollout should not be prioritized by race, man! 

It should be prioritized by who needs it most, regardless of where they come from!!!

 

Don't you get that?

Edited May 5, 2021 by WineOh

[connda]

9 minutes ago, Misterwhisper said:

Now just imagine MY home country would explicitly exclude expat foreigners - especially Thais, of which we have hundreds of thousands! - from our national free vaccination program "until enough surplus vaccine is available".

If this happened in your home country, Thais would be up in arms calling it Racists and endemic Asian Hatred.  The same Thais are problem fully supporting the xenophobic, anti-foreigner rhetoric in their home country.

[jonclark]

7 minutes ago, edwardandtubs said:

You seem to know more about it than the ministry of public health. Where's your evidence?

 

Here. 

 

17 March 2021 Thailand Department of Disease Control (DDC) and AstraZeneca Thailand released a joint statement regarding AstraZeneca vaccine, as follow

 

2. To make COVID-19 vaccines available for people residing in Thailand on a foundation of ethics, equality, academic-based evidences, accessible supply, and management capability in national context, Thailand has been working under the Communicable Disease Act B.E. 2558 (A.D. 2015). On January 14, 2021, the National Communicable Diseases Committee (NCDC) has formed a sub-committee and tasked it with overseeing the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations. Chaired by Public Health Vice Minister Dr. Sophon Mekthon, the sub-committee comprises all Thailand’s vaccine frontliners and aims at mitigating severe illness and death, stabilizing healthcare system, reducing virus transmission risk, and sustaining economic and social stability. All operations are under the consideration of Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) and with the cabinet’s approval of budget for vaccines to be available for the people across Thailand. The nation-wide vaccination program is scheduled to be completed in 2021

 

 

[connda]

3 minutes ago, WineOh said:

what are you on about????

Vaccine rollout should not be prioritized by race, man! 

It should be prioritized by who needs it most, regardless of where they come from!!!

 

Don't you get that?

In a civilized country the prioritization would be by need and the common good of the entire public.
Thailand is not a civilized country.  It's a racist, xenophobic, highly nationalist country with a cultural mindset still stuck back in the anti-foreigner, feudalistic 18th Century.

[from the home of CC]

1 minute ago, WineOh said:

what are you on about????

Vaccine rollout should not be prioritized by race man! 

It should be prioritized by who needs it most, regardless of where they come from!!!

 

Don't you get that?

what i do get is that there is a whole contingent of morons on this site who feel they should be at the front of the line. imo they will not ignore the vax needs of visitors here but they won't be the priority, you'll wait your turn or you can get on a plane. BTW, what country permitted fools who travelled here during a pandemic, to stay on here while their own countries killed off 100's of thousands by their inactions - quick answer - this one..

[SPREX]

5 hours ago, tgw said:

....

 

here is my Usufruct in my own name .... To obtain it, you need certain conditions that many farang do not have which elsewhere have a hard time knowing the Thai legislation and  regulation... 

[from the home of CC]

18 minutes ago, expatjustice said:

 

Because your country has already most likely vaccinated a huge chunk of people. 

 

Thailand on the contrary can't even get those in risk vaccinated, let alone ordinary people, let alone foreigners. 

 

It's not a matter of racism really, it's a matter of utter failure in the vaccine rollout plan...

most these posters that scream racism come from places that invented it and turned it into a business that enriched them beyond dreams - very ironic in the least..

[WaveHunter]

59 minutes ago, edwardandtubs said:

There's never been a "stockpile". They're administering the vaccines as they become available, exactly the same as Thailand.

 

Most other countries are sensible enough to realise that all residents need the vaccine and it should be distributed based on need. That's for basic public health reasons and nothing to do with waving a little plastic flag and talking about the "nation".

Whether it is an actual stockpile or a supply chain, there is no shortage of vaccines in the US.  Everybody that wants to be vaccinated can now be vaccinated.  That is NOT the case here in Thailand. 

 

In the US, they are now assured that all of their citizens will be vaccinated, and that means that the big Pharma companies are beginning to make supplies available outside of the US in VASTLY ever increasing amounts.

 

Sorry to burst your comforting bubble of righteousness but regardless of what you believe, every nation on the face of the earth places a priority on their own citizens.  If there is not enough vaccine to go around, you can be sure their own citizens will be at the head of the line,  just like it is here in Thailand. 

 

The REAL world can be a harsh place, but there is absolutely nothing immoral about that.  It just is what it is.

Edited May 5, 2021 by WaveHunter

[malthebluff]

5 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

This is disgusting, plain and simple.

In one fell swoop, Thailand has proven that it is fifty years behind the rest of the world.

 

100 years behind and very racist 

[MacF]

Not one single thing about the jabs for expats comes as any great surprise. They say one thing one time only to deny ever saying it in the first place. I doubt if any of the private hospitals will be any different in their attitude of Thai's first. They will be as always all for one and <deleted> anyone else who lives here other than Thai nationals. 

I think that they want to be rid of the expats here and more they are totally inept at just about anything and everything.

 

[ThaiFelix]

4 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

When do we get proper information from this department, it changes every day. Very sad.

I learnt a long time ago that with regard to anything in Thailand it will be yes, no, yes, no, maybe, yes, no, for 6 to 12 months and then suddenly you need to be ready in 10 minutes but you really should have been here yesterday you idiot farang, and dont forget your wallet!

[PEE TEE]

2 hours ago, John Drake said:

 

Pee Tee, I hope it works out well for you and you get the shot without any problems.

Thank you can only hope it works out as they said in the fists place ,,,good luck to you 

[WineOh]

18 minutes ago, connda said:

In a civilized country the prioritization would be by need and the common good of the entire public.
Thailand is not a civilized country.  It's a racist, xenophobic, highly nationalist country with a cultural mindset still stuck back in the anti-foreigner, feudalistic 18th Century.

spot on mate.

you really do have to ask sometimes 'what the hell are we doing here?' ???? 

[placnx]

4 hours ago, time2093 said:

LOL good luck with that as from what I seen from the Australian embassy response which was a big fat NO for them help their own citizens about getting a vaccine in Thailand.

The embassies will only act on instructions from their governments. If left to their own devices, I expect that embassies would not bother to report back the requests from their citizens in-country. It would be just more work for them to do, so sad!!

[jj2018]

Wellcome to Thailand , we suck your money and throw you away.

 

Edited May 5, 2021 by jj2018

[MacF]

Further to my last this stinks of utter racism to anyone who is not a Thai national and that includes everyone else who is not born in Thailand no matter which country you originate from. As to contacting your embassy here you are pissing against the wind with that idea. They will just take the status quo of it is nothing to do with them. The UN should be jumping on the bandwagon but they are another toothless organisation that is about as much use as a wet fart in a space suit on Mars.

[cyril sneer]

the vaccine will be available eventually i'm sure

 

the paperwork and costs of the vaccine passport is what concerns me, wouldn't be surprised if a visa run and quarantine will be required in order to obtain it

[placnx]

4 hours ago, AlexRich said:

I think the US, Europe and Australasian countries should pass a reciprocal rights bill, that applies to all foreign visitors. So a Thai visitor would be denied healthcare until all indigenous citizens had been served, be told to report every month to immigration, and pay 5 times more to enter zoos, theme parks and national parks. 
 

it’s only fair.

You forgot about owning property.

[JAFO]

5 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Me too. I'm fine paying.

Like you JonnyF, I have paid a substantial amount of taxes over my years to this govt working here and should be considered eligible. However I will say, if I am paying, its going to be for a quality vaccination product, not some Chinese deal that was probably given to Thailand because it was out of date or was the first experimental run and they do not know how to get rid of it. 

 

That aside, I think we all knew that every country was going to have roll out issues. Anyone not in the first run was upset and complained. This is like one of those SciFi end of earth coming movies where they are cherry picking the people that get to go on the space ship.

 

I will patiently wait my turn, it will come

[placnx]

4 hours ago, John Drake said:

 

In 6-9 months, it likely will be time for a booster shot and the entire process will need to be repeated. To get that "surplus" required before giving a shot to farangs could take a couple of years.

Booster - that could be true for Sinovac.

[WaveHunter]

1 hour ago, Surelynot said:

Accepting that........vaccinating, say, all Thais over 60 plus any at risk regardless of age......you could then incorporate expats over 60 with Thais 50-60, then expats over 50-60 with Thais over 40 and so on..........yes?

Look, the Thai Government has a hard enough time just approving vaccines.  What most other countries did back in December, Thailand is still trying to accomplish.  Can you really see them debating such a plan as you propose?  It might take them years to come to an agreement LOL!

 

I say just let them roll out the vaccine however they've decided to do it, on the premise that every person that is vaccinated is one less to worry about spreading the virus to the population. 

 

And besides, as far as us expats are concerned, it's not our choice how this all plays out.  If we don't like it, we can always leave the Kingdom, but we have no God given right to be heard on this matter...none at all. 

 

So really, why even discuss this anymore?  I think we're all just spinning our wheels with all this chatter.  Maybe we should find something more productive to do with ourselves  than sit at our keyboards filling up threads with pages and pages having to do with nothing. ????

 

[madmen]

There is also another scenario playing out in the west mainly the USA and the uk and many others where entire populations WILL be vaccinated by end of July. and the airlines will without doubt start the no Vax passport no fly. 

For farang stuck in Thailand that need to travel might find themselves turned back at check in. 

[kiwikeith]

6 hours ago, internationalism said:

as expected.

there won't be also a chance for private hospitals, sometimes at he end of year.

so take any other vax now, to boost immune system and if desperate, travel somewhere for a vax holiday 

 

Falangs will have to wait until there is a surplus, dont hold your breath. If they are preventing private hospitals from aquireing vaccine from suppliers other than Astra then this looks political. 

I think Thailand will have to move mountains to get Astra going, then if you're a foreigner waiting for a surplus then you could be waiting a long time. 

 

I would rather pay for a dose of  choice from a private hospital, as long as they don't go stupid on the price, which they probably would. 

[placnx]

4 hours ago, jonclark said:

 

I understand your frustration (after 20+ years of living here). But try not to be bitter. For developed countries to lower their standards so they align with Thailand's way of working (and thinking), would only be a backward step but would serve to vindicate and reinforce the poor standards that Thailand currently demonstrates.  

 

Do you think that would be a good thing? 

Actually, reciprocity treaties could be interesting. In Canada Chinese have driven up house prices a lot, so making hardship for locals. Can non-residents buy property in China? In Thailand's case, such a reciprocal approach could have an impact, since influential Thais could be affected.

[AndyFoxy]

35 minutes ago, from the home of CC said:

what i do get is that there is a whole contingent of morons on this site who feel they should be at the front of the line. imo they will not ignore the vax needs of visitors here but they won't be the priority, you'll wait your turn or you can get on a plane. BTW, what country permitted fools who travelled here during a pandemic, to stay on here while their own countries killed off 100's of thousands by their inactions - quick answer - this one..

it is pretty simple. If you don't like it, move back home and get the vaccine there.