Foreign residents WILL be included in COVID-19 vaccination program: CCSA

[Sheryl]

I sent a message to PR Thai Government on this issue via Twitter and received a prompt reply.

 

Me: 

Many foreigners with pink ID cards and meeting Phase 2 criteria have been able to register on it. However they fear they may be turned away when they show up for their appointments. You need to give clear instruction to the hospitals as many think they are forbidden to vaccinate foreigners, even with appointment through Mor Prom.

 

Reply from @prdthailand:

Thank you for your suggestion. According to the English spokesperson of CCSA, now the Ministry of Public Health is contacting the hospitals directly to facilitate foreigners. Kindly visit here for more details about this matter https://www.facebook.com/thailandprd/videos/242932910958060

 

 

[Harveyboy]

21 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Will this get reversed tomorrow?

yep 

[jollyhangmon]

1 hour ago, Jimbo2014 said:

They have to get past the Health Min obvious dislike of foreigners first.  To the back of the bus lesser casts.

 

... could be worse mate, just wait until we're forced to only take the 'short bus', 555 ... 

 

[worldview]

If one were to chronologically view all of the government pronouncements over the past 4-6 weeks about what expats could/should expect regarding vaccinations, your head would be spinning.  Even in this newsletter there are three articles on this subject, all with differing conclusions.  To say that the right-hand does not know what the left-hand is doing is a gross understatement.  Why such an incompetent as the Health Minister is allowed to keep his job (I already know the answer ????) is beyond me.

[jesimps]

22 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Will this get reversed tomorrow?

More likely than not, going on past form.

 

[jesimps]

21 hours ago, jonclark said:

After the mass hysteria and rants yesterday in a different thread about foreigners being excluded (which was never actually said,) it is nice to see that common sense has prevailed.

 

I have several large helpings of humble pie???

Oh the naivety of some.

[ThailandRyan]

24 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

I sent a message to PR Thai Government on this issue via Twitter and received a prompt reply.

 

Me: 

Many foreigners with pink ID cards and meeting Phase 2 criteria have been able to register on it. However they fear they may be turned away when they show up for their appointments. You need to give clear instruction to the hospitals as many think they are forbidden to vaccinate foreigners, even with appointment through Mor Prom.

 

Reply from @prdthailand:

Thank you for your suggestion. According to the English spokesperson of CCSA, now the Ministry of Public Health is contacting the hospitals directly to facilitate foreigners. Kindly visit here for more details about this matter https://www.facebook.com/thailandprd/videos/242932910958060

 

 

Some serious tap dancing she was doing in that presentation.  Blaming the media on taking it out of context as well.  Maybe there should only be one spokesperson disseminating information so it does not get misquoted supposedly when Dr. so and so, or General P, or Anutin say things that do not jive.

Edited May 7, 2021 by ThailandRyan

[Millcx]

22 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Will this get reversed tomorrow?

If they did there would be a heavy bill sent to the Gov from every country who has a Thai National in it ... Embargoes would then cripple the country

[ChrisKC]

5 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Some serious tap dancing she was doing in that presentation.  Blaming the media on taking it out of context as well.  Maybe there should only be one spokes person disseminating information so it doe not get misquoted supposedly when Dr. so and so, or General P, or Anutin say things that do not jive.

Tap dancing and jiving - that's cool , man!

 

Did you mean "waltzing around? or maybe doing the "twist"

Edited May 7, 2021 by ChrisKC
typo

[Sheryl]

5 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Some serious tap dancing she was doing in that presentation.  Blaming the media on taking it out of context as well.  Maybe there should only be one spokesperson disseminating information so it does not get misquoted supposedly when Dr. so and so, or General P, or Anutin say things that do not jive.

 

i think the Anutin - Prayut conflict is a factor here.

 

Unfortunately the hospitals & health officials need to get the message from MoPH. Public stataments - in English no less - by CCSA won't matter if the messages they are getting from the MoPH differ.

[kennw]

What the hell has the health ministry been doing for the last six months? This is not a new situation. Any decent manager would have already had plans and procedures in place. Or were they? could it be that foreigners were to be excluded, that would explain why a Thai ID is necessary to register. Now it seems that the backlash has forced a rethink "other options for foreigners to register are being considered".   Shame on the leader of the Health Ministry.

[khunPer]

7 hours ago, Brierley said:

Great, but what about the expats in the rest of the country? And please don't tell me we're going to have to visit our Embassies in order to prove we're long stay residents, don't we already have enough proof of that from the Thai system?  Driving license, pink card, tabien bahn, passport and visa stamp, TM28, 90 day certificate etc etc! 

Jen-jen (take it easy), the vaccination program that includes foreigners starts in July, so still plenty of time for something to be arranged. Another news story today says that they (the authorities) will work on an app for foreigners to register for vaccination, similar to the app used by Thais, where a few foreigners with Thai ID-number managed to register (which they should not have done already)...????

 

[jomtienisgood]

19 hours ago, Brunolem said:

Where's Harry when you need him?

Dirty. 555555

[lks7689]

1 hour ago, JCauto said:

For those of you who haven't been in Thailand long enough to understand what's going on, allow me to clarify.

 

1. Appearance is more important than substance. This is the Asian concept of "face".

2. It appears that the government is being callous and uncaring towards their rather large expatriate population.

3. This is causing the government to lose face.

4. Therefore what's required is a way for them to regain face, hence this announcement.

5. Since appearances have now been restored, there is no longer any need to deal with the substance, which can now go back to status quo until the next time someone makes a fuss and the government loses face.

 

I will once again point out how the extremely poor neighbour of Thailand to the East somehow has managed to offer free vaccines to foreigners without discrimination while at the same time ensuring that they are vaccinating their frontline workers etc. It's almost as if they realize that the virus doesn't discriminate and that the falang are useful and welcome in their society. Bloody Communists!

Which is why I shifted my investment from Thailand to Cambodia years ago. 

[ChrisKC]

21 hours ago, Sheryl said:

 

I think it is important to understand that when government talks about "foreigners" they are not talking about only or even primarily Western expats. Why should they?

 

The majority of foreigners in Thailand are migrant workers from neighboring countries. Over 2 million of them by most estimates.

 

From an epidemiological perspective, numbers matter which makes western expats of much less concern than these other groups.  It is migrant workers that the spokeswoman referred toi when she said some foreigners have already been vaccinated in Phase 1.

 

Very, very few migrant workers are over age 60 or have chronic diseases, which may be one reason why planning for Phase 2 did nto focus on foreigners.

Sheryl,

 

It occurred to me later, that those foreigners you mention correctly are maybe not considered "residents" or at least not all of them. The figure I have seen of those migrant workers is between 4 and 5 million.

in addition I didn't include them in my comment, as I thought it likely that since all of them are from land-bordering neighbouring countries, they maybe considered as more appropriate for them having vaccinations in their own country.

 

From this forum's point of view,  more of a focus is on the accepted position of us all being expats, (only about 200,000) with yearly extensions in most cases, and can definitely be thought of as residents, whereas I think this cannot be said of migrant workers. I am quite OK to be corrected on my opinion on this.

 

Maybe a question is: what is the definition of a "resident"? Bearing in mind this word is in the title of the thread

[JohnB1945]

It will not be reversed as it is full of weasel words so that it will never happen, but in a deniable way! "Creation of a mobile app", "Continuing to work on ways" and "will be released at a later date"! This is the Thai way of telling foreigners to go forth and multiply.

 

The reality is that foreigners will come right at the very end of the queue, after 100% of Thai citizens, even given that many foreigners are high risk, older, with other conditions, there will for sure be deaths due to this; but don't expect the manslaughter charges to come soon!

 

 

[Sheryl]

1 minute ago, ChrisKC said:

Sheryl,

 

It occurred to me later, that those foreigners you mention correctly are maybe not considered "residents" or at least not all of them. The figure I have seen of those migrant workers is between 4 and 5 million.

in addition I didn't include them in my comment, as I thought it likely that since all of them are from land-bordering neighbouring countries, they maybe considered as more appropriate for them having vaccinations in their own country.

 

From this forum's point of view,  more of a focus is on the accepted position of us all being expats, (only about 200,000) with yearly extensions in most cases, and can definitely be thought of as residents, whereas I think this cannot be said of migrant workers. I am quite OK to be corrected on my opinion on this.

 

Maybe a question is: what is the definition of a "resident"? Bearing in mind this word is in the title of the thread

For epidemic control purposes resident is anyone who is presently living here.

 

There is no connection between immigration law categories and the term "resident" in everyday speech. It literally means residing in i.e. living in.

 

Migrant workers are very much a priority, in fact some were already immunized under Phase 1.

 

I think from the onset, government has thought of "foreigners" mainly in terms of migrant workers as those account for the vast majority of foreigners in Thailand. Some  of them lack both passport and Thai ID card and some are completely undocumented, making the issue of how to target them complicated.

[VBF]

3 minutes ago, ChrisKC said:

Sheryl,

 

It occurred to me later, that those foreigners you mention correctly are maybe not considered "residents" or at least not all of them. The figure I have seen of those migrant workers is between 4 and 5 million.

in addition I didn't include them in my comment, as I thought it likely that since all of them are from land-bordering neighbouring countries, they maybe considered as more appropriate for them having vaccinations in their own country.

 

From this forum's point of view,  more of a focus is on the accepted position of us all being expats, (only about 200,000) with yearly extensions in most cases, and can definitely be thought of as residents, whereas I think this cannot be said of migrant workers. I am quite OK to be corrected on my opinion on this.

 

Maybe a question is: what is the definition of a "resident"? Bearing in mind this word is in the title of the thread

And could it be assumed that, if a person is on a Non-O visa, albeit with annual extensions for marriage or retirement, the Govt regards them as NON-resident? Not saying it is, or should be, merely posing the question. 

[Sheryl]

1 minute ago, VBF said:

And could it be assumed that, if a person is on a Non-O visa, albeit with annual extensions for marriage or retirement, the Govt regards them as NON-resident? Not saying it is, or should be, merely posing the question. 

 

Nothing at all to do with immigration categories.

 

This is a public health campaign aimed at controlling a pandemic.

 

in public health "resident" has the conventional meaning if "a person currently living in"

 

The people working on this neither know nor care what the various immigration visa/extension categories are.

[dsj]

18 hours ago, Smilermike said:

I give up with this . Either they are OR they are not. Its like working with children!!. Who ever is  in charge of the country . Say it and thats it!! 

 

[VBF]

4 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

 

Nothing at all to do with immigration categories.

 

This is a public health campaign aimed at controlling a pandemic.

 

in public health "resident" has the conventional meaning if "a person currently living in"

 

The people working on this neither know nor care what the various immigration visa/extension categories are.

Thank you - that's what I would HOPE is the situation, and certainly is in UK and, I believe USA - if it applies in Thailand too, all well and good, but the "flip-flopping" and apparent changes of mind made me wonder.

Edited May 7, 2021 by VBF

[samtam]

1 hour ago, John Drake said:

 

But still more of us in Bangkok go to Chaengwattana than some building in Bangrak that they are proposing. I do my 90 day by mail but I wouldn't mind going to immigration for a 90 day and a shot (or second shot) even though it costs me 1000 baht for a round trip by taxi to go there.

 

8 hours ago, webfact said:

COVID-19 Vaccination for Expats, Foreign Diplomats

 

 

NONTHABURI, May 6 (TNA) – The Department of Disease Control prepares a special clinic for COVID-19 vaccination for expatriates and foreign diplomats at Bangrak Building.

 

Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the department, said the government planned to develop herd immunity in the country by inoculating 70% of people living in Thailand against COVID-19 and expatriates were included right from the start.

 

Regarding the vaccination plan, the government took into consideration 67 million Thais and 3 million foreigners living in the country and thus intended to procure 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, he said.

 

The vaccination for foreigners would happen at Bangrak Building because it was near embassies and had convenient access to transport services and there were many expatriates, Dr Opas said. Embassies would procure the vaccines of their choices for their own staff and the Public Health Ministry would have nothing to do with their vaccine acquisition, he said.

 

Expatriates could seek documents from their embassies, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration or provincial health offices to prove their long stay in the country and then seek the vaccination, Dr Opas said. (TNA)

 

Source: https://tna.mcot.net/english-news-691182

 

-- © Copyright TNA 2021-05-07

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

 

Where is "Bangrak Building"? Or should it read "at a building in Bangrak"?

[bstafford214]

1 hour ago, VMKW said:

Did I miss something?

Do you have the link to this web page?  I looked on their site and it does not find anything about this. ??????

[connda]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the department, said the government planned to develop herd immunity in the country by inoculating 70% of people living in Thailand against COVID-19 and expatriates were included right from the start.

Flippity-Flop
Can you believe it or not!
Flip, Flip, Flippity-Flop

[Petchou]

Even if they really include foreigners to get the vaccine, it's not coming from any conviction, cultural values or rational policy.  It's more a result of being pressure by the echoes of their nonsense and the fear of losing face in front of the whole world.  

[ChrisKC]

17 minutes ago, VBF said:

And could it be assumed that, if a person is on a Non-O visa, albeit with annual extensions for marriage or retirement, the Govt regards them as NON-resident? Not saying it is, or should be, merely posing the question. 

My answer is: if that is true, then we are NOT included. But given a few foreigners have been able to register for vaccinations, I conclude we ARE included!

[Sheryl]

10 minutes ago, Petchou said:

Even if they really include foreigners to get the vaccine, it's not coming from any conviction, cultural values or rational policy.  It's more a result of being pressure by the echoes of their nonsense and the fear of losing face in front of the whole world.  

 

Actually it is from a desire to control the epidemic. They cannot protect the Thai population without vaccinating foreigners and they have always known this.

 

in fact, they disproportionately vaccinated foreigners (migrant workers) in Phase I already.

 

There has never been an issue around whether to ever vaccinate foreigners. That's a no brainer.

 

issues have revolved around:

 

- how to do it (especially given that some are undocumented)

- whether it should be free of charge or not

-whether to include foreigners  in Phase II given that Phase II uses mainly AZ and AZ vaccine supplies may not be adequate for even the Thai population.

 

 

 

 

[connda]

5 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

They had been offered to be a part of Covax, but declined. They turned down an offer from India, which now in hindsight works better for India as they now need the vaccines.  They fast tracked Sinovac into the country but have been dragging their heels on approving others. 

Which is why the upper crust deserve global public shaming.
"But we no see it coming!"
Yeah ya'll did.  But ya'll put potential revenues and profits ahead of public health.  Protecting monopolies has no place during a global pandemic.  ????

[Jimbo2014]

1 hour ago, jollyhangmon said:

 

... could be worse mate, just wait until we're forced to only take the 'short bus', 555 ... 

 

 

No doubt we will have to show our numbered tattoos first! 

[connda]

20 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

But concerns among expatriates have been raised in recent weeks, with some venting frustrations on social media about a lack of public information, problems registering or confusion over private vaccine availability.

Plus having individual power-junkie ministers playing from totally different sheets of music.

On one hand the government has to assure foreigners that they are part of the vaccination program;
On the other hand the government has to assure Thais that foreigners are not part of the vaccination program.
What a freaking dilemma, 'eh Somchai?  How'd you manage that?