Expats over 60 urged to register for vaccine on Thai govt site

[Martinpeter]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Regarding Bangkok, had an interesting FB chat with Phyathai II Hospital's EN staff regarding people who booked vaccine appointments with them via the Intervac website for later this month....

 

I wanted to know if, at this point, the appointments scheduled for the last week of June were still valid, postponed, canceled or what?  And this was the conversation that ensued:

 

"Me: Question.... A lot of expats were able to schedule vaccine appointments at P2 for the period June 23-30 via the government's Intervac website.... Can you advise... are those appointments going to be honored... or have they been canceled or delayed at this point? No one can access the Intervac website right now to check their status.

 

Phyathai 2 Hospital English: The office of Department of Disease Control will send an email to all registered persons to confirm or postpone the appointment one day prior to vaccination date. We suggest you wait for an email of them.

 

Me: No one has gotten any kind of email from DDC.... they aren't sending out emails to ANYONE!

 

Phyathai 2 Hospital English: It will be sent one day before your appointment.  For example, if your vaccine date is on 23rd of June, the email will be sent on 22nd of June

 

Me: You're really not answering my question... At this point, are the appointments set for June 23-30 still valid, or have been postponed?

 

Phyathai 2 Hospital English: We cannot confirm the appointment at the moment. We does not receive an update from Ministry of Public Health. But we receive the list of persons one day in advance. The persons who receive confirmation from Ministry of Public Health get vaccinated.

 

Me: ok... thanks for clarifying that....  only problem is... among all the expats I know...including those who have already gone for vaccines, NO ONE has ever received any email from DDC....

 

Phyathai 2 Hospital English: In case of not receiving any email, and you would like to confirm, you can send an email to check with us [the evening before] at [email protected]. Otherwise, you can call us in the morning of vaccine date.

Me: OK... got it! What number to call? Or what extension once people get the switchboard?

 

Phyathai 2 Hospital English: The number to call is 02-617-2444, ext. 2047, 2057."

 

Hope the above is helpful to folks with Phyathai II appointments.

 

 

Thank you , you have answered my questions, great! well done!

 

cheers

 

hopefully my appointment next week will still be on!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

13 minutes ago, Martinpeter said:

Thank you , you have answered my questions, great! well done!

 

cheers

 

hopefully my appointment next week will still be on!

 

Please do post here with whatever happens... You get a confirming email the day before  or not? Your appointment is honored or not?

 

It will be helpful to all those, myself included, who have supposed appointments in the following days!

 

Edited June 18, 2021 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[mtls2005]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

You might think of paying Pattaya Memorial 4000 baht as an option contract on a future vaccine. Maybe wasted money, maybe a wise move.

 

 

Private hospitals are not supposed to take payment now for Moderna.

 

Once they have the vaccine in hand, they will contact you to arrange an appointment, and at that time you will make full payment (transfer, credit card).

 

So yes, we will have to pay for both doses, when we confirm the first appointment. 

 

 

 

[mtls2005]

It sounds like there will be a total of 3.5 MM doses of AZ this month. Previously someone (government, AZ, SBS?) committed to 6 MM doses.

 

1.9 MM delivered (1.8 MM last week, some locally produced, 117K delivered from SK Bioscience in South Korea in February), with another 600K and 1 MM maybe due today, tomorrow, next week, or by 30 June.

 

10 MM doses of AZ due in July.

 

Can't see them making up the 2.5 MM backlog, and the 10 MM in July. Might be lucky to get what 6 MM on 12.5 MM?

 

Will be interesting to see what happens when second shots start rolling around mid/end Sep. Who gets a first shot, and who gets a second shot? Throw the syringe in and let them fight for it.

 

 

Meanwhile Chula says the second dose of Sinovac is the bees-knees.

 

https://www.newsdirectory3.com/chulalongkorn-university-reveals-research-results-after-2-injections-of-sinovac-found-that-the-immune-system-inhibited-the-infection-higher-than-50/

 

[Martinpeter]

14 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Please do post here with whatever happens... You get a confirming email the day before  or not? Your appointment is honored or not?

 

It will be helpful to all those, myself included, who have supposed appointments in the following days!

 

Yes i will keep you/everyone if i get vaccinated? or not.

 

cheers

[WaveHunter]

17 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

Private hospitals are not supposed to take payment now for Moderna.

Once they have the vaccine in hand, they will contact you to arrange an appointment, and at that time you will make full payment (transfer, credit card).

So yes, we will have to pay for both doses, when we confirm the first appointment. 

That is the way it should be, but apparently Pattaya Memorial Hospital has their own policy in mind.  I was on the phone with them yesterday, and this is what they confirmed:

 

They are indeed demanding payment for 4,000 baht in advance (which is higher than the Private Hospital Association's mandated price of 3800 baht), and demanding that it be paid in cash and no later than June 25 without providing any firm date for the actual injections.

 

To me this is unethical, and I will not be doing it. 

 

I've just decided to wait until all the registration hysteria and confusion (both with the public rollout, and the private hospital rollout) subsides.  These last two weeks have just been a TOTAL waste of time and energy ????

 

Edited June 19, 2021 by WaveHunter

[Enzian]

If we all left (I know he said wait, but this is the way I'm thinking) Thailand because of encountering something unethical, who would be here?

Edited June 19, 2021 by Enzian

[Litlos]

19 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

It sounds like there will be a total of 3.5 MM doses of AZ this month. Previously someone (government, AZ, SBS?) committed to 6 MM doses.

 

1.9 MM delivered (1.8 MM last week, some locally produced, 117K delivered from SK Bioscience in South Korea in February), with another 600K and 1 MM maybe due today, tomorrow, next week, or by 30 June.

 

10 MM doses of AZ due in July.

 

Can't see them making up the 2.5 MM backlog, and the 10 MM in July. Might be lucky to get what 6 MM on 12.5 MM?

 

Will be interesting to see what happens when second shots start rolling around mid/end Sep. Who gets a first shot, and who gets a second shot? Throw the syringe in and let them fight for it.

 

 

Meanwhile Chula says the second dose of Sinovac is the bees-knees.

 

https://www.newsdirectory3.com/chulalongkorn-university-reveals-research-results-after-2-injections-of-sinovac-found-that-the-immune-system-inhibited-the-infection-higher-than-50/

 

They should perhaps look at the Indonesian experience before publishing data. Note the number of deaths of healthcare workers vaccinated with Sinovac. Sinovac is and always will be low on the totem pole of acceptable vaccines. I wonder why they keep pushing it, something CP perhaps?

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/indonesia-covid-19-doctors-hospitalised-delta-variant-vaccinated-15033196

 

Cheers

 

Cheers

[WaveHunter]

2 hours ago, Enzian said:

If we all left (I know he said wait, but this is the way I'm thinking) Thailand because of encountering something unethical, who would be here?

Who would be here...?  I'm beginning to think "not me".   I'm seriously considering a return back to the States to be vaccinated, just to be done with all of this nonsense here in the Magic Kingdom, where everything is an illusion and nothing is real! 

Edited June 19, 2021 by WaveHunter

[placeholder]

39 minutes ago, Litlos said:

They should perhaps look at the Indonesian experience before publishing data. Note the number of deaths of healthcare workers vaccinated with Sinovac. Sinovac is and always will be low on the totem pole of acceptable vaccines. I wonder why they keep pushing it, something CP perhaps?

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/indonesia-covid-19-doctors-hospitalised-delta-variant-vaccinated-15033196

 

Cheers

 

Cheers

One of the reasons they're pushing it is because it's what they can get now.

[DefaultName]

The latest text from Memorial Pattaya;

"Recipients who received the message for booking Moderna vaccine at Pattaya Memorial Hospital. We would like to apologize that the booking has been closed now. Any progression will be informed as soon as possible."

 

Well, that was brief.  So much for "by the 25th".

I'm wondering if they ran out of slots, or got shot down for taking advance payment for a vaccine they don't have and don't really know when they'll get.

 

Did anyone pay them?
 

[WaveHunter]

58 minutes ago, DefaultName said:

The latest text from Memorial Pattaya;

"Recipients who received the message for booking Moderna vaccine at Pattaya Memorial Hospital. We would like to apologize that the booking has been closed now. Any progression will be informed as soon as possible."

 

Well, that was brief.  So much for "by the 25th".

I'm wondering if they ran out of slots, or got shot down for taking advance payment for a vaccine they don't have and don't really know when they'll get.

 

Did anyone pay them?
 

LOL.  Why am I not surprised?  Just another lame and irresponsible event to add to the saga of foreigners trying to get vaccinated here in the Magic Kingdom, where everything is an illusion and nothing is real!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 6/18/2021 at 3:36 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Please do post here with whatever happens... You get a confirming email the day before  or not? Your appointment is honored or not?

 

It will be helpful to all those, myself included, who have supposed appointments in the following days!

 

 

A hopefully good sign for those who have upcoming vaccine appointments at Phyathai II Hospital in BKK... See the following report, in which an Intervac appointment actually led to an expat getting vaccinated, albeit, delayed by a couple days:

 

 

 

 

When I chatted on FB the other day with the EN speaking staff at P2 Hospital, the rep I was speaking with claimed they were doing vaccinations daily there still... though we didn't get into details of how many. I was afraid they might have temporarily shut down vaccinations like some other places, but apparently, as the above report confirms, P2 appears to still be vaccinating for those whose appointments have been confirmed by the MoPH.

 

The above report also confirms what the P2 rep said in our FB chat about the hospital only being willing to vaccinate those who have received a confirming email from the MoPH/DDC, typically the day before one's scheduled appointment. So anyone with an upcoming vaccination appointment at Phyathai II definitely should be keeping a close watch on the email address/account they used to register on the Intervac website.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

There also was a second post immediately following in the same thread above of another forum member who had made a vaccination appointment via the Intervac website, receiving the confirming MoPH email, and was successfully vaccinated at Phyathai II on June 17 also...

 

 

 

Curiously, both of the two above reports say they were forum members who registered via the second Intervac/expatriates website for expats in general (as opposed to the initial one for age 60+ folks and those with preexisting conditions). And both of the two forum members reporting above said they were NOT over age 60.

 

[uli65]

I am glad I am only 56, no urge and no intention to register for all these garbadge vaccines any time soon.

[mtls2005]

Is there any update on this intervac registration site?

 

Are people able to make appointments? Choose a location? Choose a vaccine?

 

I see this message right now:

 

As the current round of vaccination appointments is full, we will be announcing the new round of appointments for vaccination at https://www.thailandintervac.com. We apologize for all inconvenience.

 

 

Has this been the situation for a while? Any clue when tickets will go on sale again?

 

And has the site been secured? Or is it still incontinent?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 20, 2021 by mtls2005

[Misty]

1 hour ago, mtls2005 said:

Is there any update on this intervac registration site?

 

Are people able to make appointments? Choose a location? Choose a vaccine?

 

I see this message right now:

 

As the current round of vaccination appointments is full, we will be announcing the new round of appointments for vaccination at https://www.thailandintervac.com. We apologize for all inconvenience.

 

Can anyone confirm that the UN in Bangkok is now planning to vaccinate (or is in the process of vaccinating) its own personnel, outside of any Thai nationwide program?  The reason I ask is that the announced UN policy is (my italics):

 

"In duty stations where vaccination through the national programme may not be possible, the Department of Operational Support (DOS) is working to ensure alternative arrangements are put in place for UN personnel and their eligible dependentsvia the UN System-wide COVID-19 Vaccination Programme."   https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/coronavirus_vaccinefaq.pdf

 

 

 

 

[DrJack54]

On 6/19/2021 at 9:40 AM, WaveHunter said:

I've just decided to wait until all the registration hysteria and confusion (both with the public rollout, and the private hospital rollout) subsides.  These last two weeks have just been a TOTAL waste of time and energy

I can feel your frustration. We all have it.

Don't wish to sound like a smart ass but I adopted what you outlined in this post at the very start.

April 1 went to an island (I live bkk). Just knew it would be chaos and broken promises. Will wait till October and obtain in private hospital. If not possible I also will fly to home country. Vaccine readily available.

 

Edited June 20, 2021 by DrJack54

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

1 hour ago, Misty said:

 

Can anyone confirm that the UN in Bangkok is now planning to vaccinate (or is in the process of vaccinating) its own personnel, outside of any Thai nationwide program?  The reason I ask is that the announced UN policy is (my italics):

 

"In duty stations where vaccination through the national programme may not be possible, the Department of Operational Support (DOS) is working to ensure alternative arrangements are put in place for UN personnel and their eligible dependentsvia the UN System-wide COVID-19 Vaccination Programme."   https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/coronavirus_vaccinefaq.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

Vaccinations of UN staff and family members -- total 7,000 in BKK -- has already got underway. A friend works there and had his first Sinovac shot in the last couple of weeks at a hospital. He plans to go to China at some point and you must have a Chinese vaccine to enter.

[WaveHunter]

56 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

I can feel your frustration. We all have it.

Don't wish to sound like a smart ass but I adopted what you outlined in this post at the very start.

April 1 went to an island (I live bkk). Just knew it would be chaos and broken promises. Will wait till October and obtain in private hospital. If not possible I also will fly to home country. Vaccine readily available.

 

Your strategy is pretty much the same as what I've decided on:

• I am registered with a private hospital for Moderna when / if it actually becomes available (probably not until October or later)
• I believe I am registered on InterVac for the public rollout, but since the site is so screwed up I can't confirm I really am, so I'll just keep trying to log in daily to see if they ever go back online again.
• I will monitor threads like this, though it's becoming pretty difficult lately with so much off-topic talk.
  • There is one thread here on TVF that is tightly monitored to prevent off-topic posts that sounds like it's worth tracking: Vaccination Experiences - please post here
• If nothing pans out by the end of the summer for the Pattaya area, then I will probably fly back to my home country for vaccination and be done with all of this nonsense, even though that will be quite expensive, probably involve being quarantined on arrival, and then possibly again on arrival back here...(six weeks and probably US$5000 in cost)

It really sucks to think of being unvaccinated until October,  but here in the Magic Kingdom, it is what it is.

Edited June 20, 2021 by WaveHunter

[DrJack54]

4 minutes ago, WaveHunter said:

There is one thread here on TVF that is tightly monitored to

Originally was having a read in thread you mentioned. To me they were minor success stories. Hua Hin seemed to have some positive posts.

Others had pink ID cards. 

I ignore any upcountry reports as I would be obtaining Vax in Bangkok. 

Some reports of guys trying towards end of day ~4pm. I'm not prepared to do that along with not prepared to queue up with hoards of folk.

The appointment system has been a joke.

Furthermore this is just for first jab. 

On positive note I see that recent back flip on #of weeks between jabs has been altered to recommended number of weeks. 

The certainty of receiving same 'brand' for second jab is not a given.

I would only deal with private hospitals at a cost of course and yes that could be some time in future. Oct at best.

 

[Guderian]

42 minutes ago, WaveHunter said:

Your strategy is pretty much the same as what I've decided on:

• I am registered with a private hospital for Moderna when / if it actually becomes available (probably not until October or later)
• I believe I am registered on InterVac for the public rollout, but since the site is so screwed up I can't confirm I really am, so I'll just keep trying to log in daily to see if they ever go back online again.
• I will monitor threads like this, though it's becoming pretty difficult lately with so much off-topic talk.
  • There is one thread here on TVF that is tightly monitored to prevent off-topic posts that sounds like it's worth tracking: Vaccination Experiences - please post here
• If nothing pans out by the end of the summer for the Pattaya area, then I will probably fly back to my home country for vaccination and be done with all of this nonsense, even though that will be quite expensive, probably involve being quarantined on arrival, and then possibly again on arrival back here...(six weeks and probably US$5000 in cost)

It really sucks to think of being unvaccinated until October,  but here in the Magic Kingdom, it is what it is.

 

I think a lot of us are thinking along the same lines. The government seems determined to reopen to vaccinated foreigners before the end of the year come what may. Assuming that their announced dates of 1st October or 16th October are too optimistic, it's not unreasonable to hope that they'll have things sorted out one way or another by December. So planning on an arrival date in mid-December would mean flying back home (the UK in my case) at the start of October. That would allow me to do 10 days in self-isolation at home as required, then get the first jab, wait four weeks for the second one, and then another four weeks for it to reach maximum effectiveness before flying back to Thailand. That seems to me to be the cheapest and simplest and safest option if vaccines simply don't appear here.

 

The one thing that could screw things up there is if Thailand experiences a really serious outbreak later in the year and is forced to give up its planes for reopening, but if that happens then you'll be much safer in your own country anyway.

 

[riclag]

On 6/18/2021 at 1:39 PM, clivebaxter said:

The message should have gotten through by now- ignore the government website and contact your local hospital direct

Exactly ! I also gave a refundable deposit to be on a M vacc list at one of the Udon Private Hospital's !

Expected arrival between Oct-Dec ! 

Quoted 3.8k plus any potential  Dr fee's 

Edited June 20, 2021 by riclag

[Enzian]

Surprise. Bumrungrad called this morning 20th and said they're giving me an appointment for AZ on July 13. I told them I have appointment from intervax this Tuesday 22nd, but hold that date because I could be cancelled tomorrow Monday. And hold it anyway, I will confirm one way or other, because if they do it but give me a second date 12-16 weeks out, I may want to negotiate a closer date with Bumrungrad, and maybe at a time Phizer is there. I will check the thread referenced above.

[WaveHunter]

2 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Originally was having a read in thread you mentioned. To me they were minor success stories. Hua Hin seemed to have some positive posts.

Others had pink ID cards. 

I ignore any upcountry reports as I would be obtaining Vax in Bangkok. 

Some reports of guys trying towards end of day ~4pm. I'm not prepared to do that along with not prepared to queue up with hoards of folk.

The appointment system has been a joke.

Furthermore this is just for first jab. 

On positive note I see that recent back flip on #of weeks between jabs has been altered to recommended number of weeks. 

The certainty of receiving same 'brand' for second jab is not a given.

I would only deal with private hospitals at a cost of course and yes that could be some time in future. Oct at best.

 

I felt that way about private hospitals too, but Pattaya Memorial seem to be resorting to the same ridiculous flip-flopping and unprofessional tactics we've seen in the public rollout: 

• I registered with them 2 weeks ago and was told to expect an email when they were ready to make appointments.
• Then I received a text a few days ago saying I needed to come down in-person to re-register AND pay in advance for both jabs, but they were not prepared to issue appointment.
• Then 24 hours after that, I received another text saying "...we would like to apologize that the booking has been closed now.  Any progression will be informed as soon as possible..."

Yeah...RIGHT!  On and on we go here in the Magic Kingdom where nothing is real and everything is just an illusion.

Edited June 20, 2021 by WaveHunter

[WaveHunter]

2 hours ago, Guderian said:

 

I think a lot of us are thinking along the same lines. The government seems determined to reopen to vaccinated foreigners before the end of the year come what may. Assuming that their announced dates of 1st October or 16th October are too optimistic, it's not unreasonable to hope that they'll have things sorted out one way or another by December. So planning on an arrival date in mid-December would mean flying back home (the UK in my case) at the start of October. That would allow me to do 10 days in self-isolation at home as required, then get the first jab, wait four weeks for the second one, and then another four weeks for it to reach maximum effectiveness before flying back to Thailand. That seems to me to be the cheapest and simplest and safest option if vaccines simply don't appear here.

 

The one thing that could screw things up there is if Thailand experiences a really serious outbreak later in the year and is forced to give up its planes for reopening, but if that happens then you'll be much safer in your own country anyway.

 

If I've learned one thing here in Thailand, especially in the last few weeks is not to assume that anything here will go as planned.  My favorite phrase right now is

 

"Here in the Magic Kingdom, nothing is real and everything is only an illusion."

 

Going back home for vaccination may turn out to be the only option, but it's going to be an incredibly expensive one; for the US, I'm estimating around at least $5,000 just to get a a couple of shots! 

 

That's not to mention the trauma of international travel with long boring layovers in airports.  Being jam packed inside a metal tube for hours on end and sitting on hard uncomfortable chairs in airports during long layovers always makes me feel like I'm in an episode of The Twilight Zone.

 

Add to that, having to do it during a pandemic sitting next to other unvaccinated strangers (the ones that continually are coughing or sneezing always seem to sit right next to me) sounds like a cheap horror movie, or your worst possible nightmare!

 

Maybe a better option is to use some of that money to bribe a hospital worker to get the vaccine now.  I mean, everything seems possible at a price here in Thailand LOL! 

 

Just kidding of course...but I bet there will be news stories of hospital workers getting busted for that before not too long . The way this rollout for foreigners is going, that's almost sure to happen! ????

 

Edited June 20, 2021 by WaveHunter

[Surelynot]

5 minutes ago, WaveHunter said:

If I've learned one thing here in Thailand, especially in the last few weeks is not to assume that anything here will go as planned.  My favorite phrase right now is

 

"Here in the Magic Kingdom, nothing is real and everything is only an illusion."

 

Going back home for vaccination may turn out to be the only option, but it's going to be an incredibly expensive one; for the US, I'm estimating around at least $5,000 just to get a a couple of shots! 

 

That's not to mention the trauma of international travel with long boring lay-overs in airports and that nervous feeling of being around other unvaccinated people in the confined space of a plane and in the airports for 20+ hours.

Apart from cost, one of my major concerns for me is picking up covid when travelling.............going to tough it out here for now and hope my vaccination appointment is honored .

Edited June 20, 2021 by Surelynot

[MJKT2014]

7 hours ago, uli65 said:

I am glad I am only 56, no urge and no intention to register for all these garbadge vaccines any time soon.

Wearing the avoidance of these vaccines and civic responsibility like a (gar)badge of honor.

[mtls2005]

1 hour ago, Enzian said:

I may want to negotiate a closer date with Bumrungrad, and maybe at a time Phizer is there.

 

Has Bumrungrad made any sort of commitment to your re: Pfizer? AFAIK, it's the government ordering from Pfizer, 20 MM doses, and these are said to be for children/YA 12-18 YO. I think some are udner the impression that Bumrungrad will be offering Moderna. 

 

I did see the vaccination station at Bumrungrad, so guess they are dispensing AZ, although not sure where they got it from?

 

 

 

[clivebaxter]

40 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

Has Bumrungrad made any sort of commitment to your re: Pfizer? AFAIK, it's the government ordering from Pfizer, 20 MM doses, and these are said to be for children/YA 12-18 YO. I think some are udner the impression that Bumrungrad will be offering Moderna. 

 

I did see the vaccination station at Bumrungrad, so guess they are dispensing AZ, although not sure where they got it from?

 

 

 

Many private Hospitals are dispensing AZ as part of the government roll out, I went to one last week. While there the Mrs registered and when she got home registered a couple of neighbours over the phone, nothing to stop foreigners trying.