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

[Smilermike]

I find this disgusting how this goverment keep back tracking decisions made. Vaccinations should be given /offered for all people regardless of nationality or status. I myself know that i have paid more tax in this country than most thais pay in a life time or if ever,,( not should that matter in the least).  My home country does not discriminate who gets the vaccine. Just because you have blue eyes should not matter at all. The object is to vaccinate the whole country asap! Every province should vaccinate their own area regardless, foreigners or not as quick as they can and that should not mean that only nationals come first. Its funny how all countries dont discriminate other nationalities when vaccinating.

Respect in these matters should be adhered to. To be respected in this world you need to respect others.

Edited May 6, 2021 by Smilermike
Mispelling

[Tee00]

No time for all this Drama,I'm heading back home to New York for holiday in june.Already have appointments set up for Moderna.Good Luck People 

[Neeranam]

1 hour ago, Ian C HH said:

Racism in the extreme. Question - what, if anything at all, are our respective Ambassadors doing to protest against this discriminatory action of the Thai Government. 
Many countries have Dual taxation agreements, dual trade agreements etc etc. is it now time to threaten with a dual vaccination policy- along the lines of if it’s done to our nationals in Thailand then the same treatment to thai nationals in our home countries? Just a thought. 

It's not racism in the slightest. I am Thai but also a 6'4" Scotsman and will not be discriminated against here. 

[Surelynot]

Just now, Neeranam said:

It's not racism in the slightest. I am Thai but also a 6'4" Scotsman and will not be discriminated against here. 

OMG how many times are you going to tell people you are Thai....give it a rest.

[Geir Rasch]

I do not know about ThaiVisa members, but like most foreigners I know i Thailand we are retired and do to the tax agreement between Norway and Thailand I pay tax to Thailand for the part of my pension that I take to Thailand. That make me a resident, not a tourist.

Any way, this is not about money, its about equality. Though I might be richer that the average thai, there are thousands (millions?) of thais richer than me and most of us expats.

When you pay tax to Thailand I think you should be treated like thais when it comes to this (vaccine).

 

 

 

[Geir Rasch]

19 hours ago, WaveHunter said:

Every country in the world with vaccine rollouts has placed a priority on their own citizens in terms of who gets vaccinated first.  Why should Thailand be any different? 

 

You can argue moral grounds that the deciding criteria should be risk category and not nationality, but citizens of any country have a right to expect that their needs come first.

 

 

Yes, but in most countries they see people coming from other countries as citizens like those with origin in the country.

[SantiSuk]

The U-turn opens the gate for a money-making opportunity from foreigners (expats living here plus vaccine-tourists from elsewhere).

 

I reckon they will eventually find some way of exploiting that! Maybe not June, but well before the year end

Edited May 6, 2021 by SantiSuk

[Dog walker]

Having lived here in Thailand for over 10 years and paid all my staff's social security every month  Not being able to use the health system and having to pay for private medical cover I can accept. Being placed at the back of the queue for the jab, this is down right racially motivated and as always the Thai government work on a way to screw foreigners over with a charge for the vaccination. No wonder so many want to leave this wonderful country, run by a load of morons who are only interested in lining their own pockets. Total disgrace and embarrassment for the country once the rest of the world hears about it.

[Enzian]

The problem isn't simply that the private hospitals are being stalled from offering a vaccination (for a fee of course). It's that they are being stalled for the wrong reasons, some of which we are not allowed to talk about.

[JCauto]

20 hours ago, sandyf said:

Cambodia & Phillipines started their rollout back in February, each with a donation of 600K doses from China.

Indonesia and Laos are also getting large consignments from China.

Thailand is not a lot different from their neighbours.

 

They are in one way - Laos and Cambodia don't restrict foreign residents from getting the vaccine and provide it to them for free!

How's that workin' out for ya?

[brewsterbudgen]

6 minutes ago, JCauto said:

They are in one way - Laos and Cambodia don't restrict foreign residents from getting the vaccine and provide it to them for free!

How's that workin' out for ya?

Laos' vaccine roll-out has been impressive (still no Covid deaths, officially, either).  That's communism for you!

[Mike k]

8 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

Feel free to come back to the USA to get your vaccine. Should be a breeze. They're begging people to get them now.

My niece posted on Facebook that a drug store in our town has plenty of modena and Johnson and Johnson available for walk in's. Small town in GA 

[DepDavid]

The US government should reciprocate and deny all Thai nationals Covid immunization. AND the advertisement for Covid shot tours to the US should be outlawed!  Yep, just as ridiculous as The Thai government saying at risk foreigners have to wait for a surplus!

[clivebaxter]

1 hour ago, Surelynot said:

OMG how many times are you going to tell people you are Thai....give it a rest.

 

He's not though is he, any more than Cliff Richard and Spike Milligan were Indians, and they were actually born there!

[Jingthing]

25 minutes ago, DepDavid said:

The US government should reciprocate and deny all Thai nationals Covid immunization. AND the advertisement for Covid shot tours to the US should be outlawed!  Yep, just as ridiculous as The Thai government saying at risk foreigners have to wait for a surplus!

Too late.

I reckon the vast majority of Thais in the U.S. that are high risk including Thais there illegally that want the jabs have already received them. FREE.

Why sugar coat this?

Denying inclusion of all people in Thailand that fit the high risk category here along with the Thais in the same time frame is a violation of basic internationally recognized human rights. 

Not talking about whether its free or not. That's not the core issue at all. The core issue is timely access based on priority groups without DISCRIMINATION.

To add as an American I would not support punishing Thais in the U.S. as reciprocation anyway. Those people didn't make the policy in Thailand.

Edited May 6, 2021 by Jingthing

[fleccer]

Right: Thais first. And that's what every country should do, their own citizens first, and then the others.

What isn't happening in Europe where the foreigners are the first, and then their own citizens, especially in Italy

[richard_smith237]

2 minutes ago, fleccer said:

Right: Thais first. And that's what every country should do, their own citizens first, and then the others.

What isn't happening in Europe where the foreigners are the first, and then their own citizens, especially in Italy

 

It is this type of flawed thinking, without logic or any basis of common sense which exacerbates rather than resolves the issues. 

 

Any country which vaccinates their own citizens first is asking for trouble as pockets and enclaves of non-national go unvaccinated and potentially become vectors to continue to spread the virus to those unable to take vaccines and in the higher risk groups. 

 

For vaccination programs to be effective the whole of society (or as many as possible) need to be vaccinated. 

 

 

There is a huge migrant labourer population in Thailand who often live in closer proximity to each other than other groups of non-Thai’s. Regardless of the rights and wrongs from an immigration and labor law view point scores of these migrant labourers are undocumented an here illegally. Yet, they are here. 

 

It is important for Thailand recognise this and protect itself and its population from further spread of the virus by also offering the vaccine to everyone, including all migrants whether documented or not, whether here illegally or legally. 

 

Any deviation from this is simply narrow minded. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[clivebaxter]

7 minutes ago, fleccer said:

Right: Thais first. And that's what every country should do, their own citizens first, and then the others.

What isn't happening in Europe where the foreigners are the first, and then their own citizens, especially in Italy

Rubbish, in Europe it's those most at risk first, where you were born does not, and should not come into it, here it does of course in the land of vaccine segregation.

[Surelynot]

Just now, clivebaxter said:

Rubbish, in Europe it's those most at risk first, where you were born does not, and should not come into it, here it does of course in the land of vaccine segregation.

Same in the US

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, DepDavid said:

The US government should reciprocate and deny all Thai nationals Covid immunization. AND the advertisement for Covid shot tours to the US should be outlawed!  Yep, just as ridiculous as The Thai government saying at risk foreigners have to wait for a surplus!

 

The very idea is borne of petty selfishness and lacks basic intelligence. 

 

It is important for the community on a whole that the whole community is vaccinated. 

 

[Surelynot]

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

The very idea is borne of petty selfishness and lacks basic intelligence. 

 

It is important for the community on a whole that the whole community is vaccinated. 

 

...or we could just nuke them?......There must be US fleet somewhere near.

[richard_smith237]

4 hours ago, Ian C HH said:

Racism in the extreme. Question - what, if anything at all, are our respective Ambassadors doing to protest against this discriminatory action of the Thai Government. 
Many countries have Dual taxation agreements, dual trade agreements etc etc. is it now time to threaten with a dual vaccination policy- along the lines of if it’s done to our nationals in Thailand then the same treatment to thai nationals in our home countries? Just a thought. 

 

Embassies are operating in the background and lobbying on our behalf to push for diplomatic solutions to what may initially appear like nationalist policies, and even racist and xenophobic policies. 

 

Threats of reciprocal action would be flawed under the current circumstances and completely unhelpful.

 

 

[John Drake]

10 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I have a theory about what's going on based on what I know now.

It's just a theory and it could easily change tomorrow based on new information.

This is about politics more than about vaccine supplies.

Thai people are blaming the government for the economic misery from the pandemic and not preventing the third wave and yes of course being slow in the vaccine program, and they may get restless, so the government deflects blame to foreigners. Why wouldn't they?

A tactic as old as the hills anywhere.

I think the core "hint" here is the word FREE.

Not so much that some high risk expats may get jabs "early" or relatively early but mostly about the FREE part.

So here's  the theory. 

Forget FREE.

The vast majority of expats always expected to pay anyway, no biggie, we're very used to being charged differently. 

But being greatly DELAYED in getting jabs could be a life and death issue for HIGH RISK expats.

So this is not a NORMAL situation for such expats. 

The Thai government knows that too, and they also know if they push  high risk expats too far to the back of the bus. there will start to be pushback from diplomats, etc.

So how to thread this needle and get the best of both worlds? 
PRIVATE HOSPITALS. 

High fees for vaccines.

Make these expats pay through the nose (we mostly don't care!).

Can still get the political win by not giving us jabs free.

From the popular Thai POV, this is all OK as long as we're forced to pay and pay a lot.

Expats can still get the jabs without waiting an awfully long time (hopefully).

But, of course, we shall see. 

 

Could be. Quite some time ago, there was a TVF article about a Thai poll that said foreigners should be forced to get a Covid shot and also should be required to pay for it. So the idea polled well way back then. Perhaps it still does. There still might be a reluctance among Thais themselves to take these vaccines, especially the Chinese one. Ironic it would be if Thailand ends up with a pile of vaccine its people refuse to take.

[johnch99]

Now there is surprise, who would of suspected that Thailand is being Racist with the covid jab, there is a reason that Thailand is a 3rd world country and there is a reason they will always stay a 3rd world country. The Thai government is a disgrace 

[fleccer]

45 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

It is this type of flawed thinking, without logic or any basis of common sense which exacerbates rather than resolves the issues. 

 

Any country which vaccinates their own citizens first is asking for trouble as pockets and enclaves of non-national go unvaccinated and potentially become vectors to continue to spread the virus to those unable to take vaccines and in the higher risk groups. 

 

Well: I inform you that even those who have been vaccinated spread the virus like as who not vaccinated. I am aware that this answer of mine will be removed, since  here you cannot tell the truth. But it is stronger than me I cannot remain silent

Edited May 6, 2021 by fleccer

[WaveHunter]

The debate in this thread about Thai Ministry of Public Health being racist in their vaccine rollout is ridiculous!  All of you who are claiming that the Thai government is acting in a racist manner when claiming that "Thai come first" seem to think that this policy is immoral or evil.

 

Well it might be if there were enough vaccine doses for everybody right now but that is NOT the case.  Right now demand for the vaccine just to address the needs of the high risk group of Thai Nationals is far higher than the available supply.

 

Consider that right now it is estimated Thailand has secured the purchase of around 64 million doses for delivery between June and August.  They have successfully negotiated for an additional 5-10 million doses of Sputnik V and the same amount of Pfizer.  Consider that the total population of Thailand is almost 70 million people.  You don't need to be a math whiz to see that demand vastly exceeds supply.

 

So, what are responsible officials of a sovereign nation to do?  The answer should be obvious.  Their responsibility first and foremost is to their own citizens in high risk groups, followed by foreigners in high risk group.

 

No public official has claimed that ALL Thai people need to be vaccinated before foreigners will receive vaccinations.  It seems obvious that high risk Thai Nationals are the priority, and then high risk foreigners will be next in line.

 

Why do I believe that high-risk foreigners will be next in line?  The answer should be obvious!  It is for the benefit of the population as a whole that ALL high risk individuals are vaccinated ASAP and I think Thai government officials know this. 

 

It simply boils down to Thai High risk group first, and then when a surplus exists, high risk foreigners, and then the rest of the population.

 

Why is that so hard to understand?

[Jingthing]

Vaccinated people can still be infected but they are probably less likely to infect others.

 

 

https://www.health.harvard.edu/coronavirus-and-covid-19/covid-19-vaccines

 

Will the COVID vaccine prevent me from infecting others?

Increasing evidence suggests that a person who has been vaccinated is less likely to infect others.

[Surelynot]

Just now, WaveHunter said:

The debate in this thread about Thai Ministry of Public Health being racist in their vaccine rollout is ridiculous!  All of you who are claiming that the Thai government is acting in a racist manner when claiming that "Thai come first" seem to think that this policy is immoral or evil.

I doubt they are acting on the basis of consciously being racist.......it is more a 1960's Alf Garnett type of racism......they don't even realize what they are doing.

 

Medically there is no harm to the general Thai population by including all at risk expats (probably the vast majority of expats) once all at risk Thais are vaccinated.......that would strike a happy balance.

[richard_smith237]

11 minutes ago, fleccer said:

37 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

It is this type of flawed thinking, without logic or any basis of common sense which exacerbates rather than resolves the issues. 

 

Any country which vaccinates their own citizens first is asking for trouble as pockets and enclaves of non-national go unvaccinated and potentially become vectors to continue to spread the virus to those unable to take vaccines and in the higher risk groups. 

 

Expand  

Well: I inform you that even those who have been vaccinated spread the virus like as who not vaccinated. I am aware that this answer of mine will be removed, since  here you cannot tell the truth. But it is stronger than me I cannot remain silent

 

Thats OK. I can inform you that you are misinformed:  

 

While those who are vaccinated can indeed continue to spread SARS-CoV-2 if they have been exposed, a vaccinated person is far less likely to suffer symptoms, will have far lower viral load, will have far less symptoms which exacerbate spread (sneezing, coughing etc), will be contagious for a far more brief period. 

 

The combined impact of a vaccinated society results in less outbreak. 

 

Thus: your comment that ‘those who have been vaccinated spread the virus like as who not vaccinated’ is wrong..  they ‘could’ but to a far far less degree and if everyone is vaccinated, the impact of spread is extremely limited. 

 

Thus: your comment may be removed, not because you are not allowed to tell the truth, but because you may not have thought carefully enough about the point but posted anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jingthing]

6 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

I doubt they are acting on the basis of consciously being racist.......it is more a 1960's Alf Garnett type of racism......they don't even realize what they are doing.

 

Medically there is no harm to the general Thai population by including all at risk expats (probably the vast majority of expats) once all at risk Thais are vaccinated.......that would strike a happy balance.

Lack of awareness doesn't objectively make the policy less racist.

Another reason we need our embassies to act. 

At least try to communicate how such racist policies are perceived internationally.

Would they want their nationals living abroad to be treated this unfairly particularly on matters of life and death?

Edited May 6, 2021 by Jingthing