U.S. embassy in Thailand rejects citizens' appeal for vaccines

[mogandave]

On 6/27/2021 at 6:50 PM, Emdog said:

Was it you who was saying 99% of Americans here "sure bet" don't pay taxes?

 

No, I did not say that. 

[placeholder]

3 hours ago, mogandave said:

 

No, I did not say that. 

You think the difference between "sure bet" and probably is a crucial distinction?

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1221504-us-embassy-in-thailand-rejects-citizens-appeal-for-vaccines/page/9/?tab=comments#comment-16593195

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by placeholder

[rodknock]

what does 555555555555 mean?

[mogandave]

10 hours ago, placeholder said:

You think the difference between "sure bet" and probably is a crucial distinction?

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1221504-us-embassy-in-thailand-rejects-citizens-appeal-for-vaccines/page/9/?tab=comments#comment-16593195

 

 

I do. Probably is anything over 50%, a “sure bet” is close to 100%. 

 

You do not see the difference?

 

In any event, I don’t see what being a taxpayer has to do with whether or not people should be vaccinated. Can you ‘splain that for me?

 

[John Drake]

9 hours ago, rodknock said:

what does 555555555555 mean?

 

 

555

[John Drake]

9 hours ago, rodknock said:

what does 555555555555 mean?

 

In Thai or Chinese?

[Jingthing]

10 hours ago, rodknock said:

what does 555555555555 mean?

Keyboard sticking.

[placnx]

22 hours ago, kurtmartens said:

How do you think you get your politically appointed job?!  Say what you will about the current Ambassador here, at least he is a career diplomat.  

 When I started at the university, I thought to go into the Foreign Service. My adviser suggested that I study Russian History (this was the 60s). In a few courses the message was that people who wanted to advance in the Foreign Service had to stay "on message", i.e. not say things contrary to talking points. Or do anything conflicting with policy, for that matter. In that regard, I doubt much has changed from that time. Seems like State needs a cultural revolution, too.

[mogandave]

6 hours ago, placnx said:

Seems like State needs a cultural revolution, too.

 

It just had one

[Rhys]

... A friend left for Texas to visit home and get vaccined...

 

[irishman25]

On 6/23/2021 at 5:57 AM, ThailandRyan said:

Got the email from the embassy this morning, and I had to just laugh. They have put their trust in Thailand and other countries to vaccinate the citizens who are living or working in those countries.

USA has gone to WAR for less reasons but they always say its to save American lives But NOT in this case. they have so many vaccine available they  have a raffle you get a ticket when you get the vaccine and could win $1 million worth of food?  

[Credo]

I am totally confused by people here.  What part of no don't you understand.  The message is clear.   Your choices are A) wait for a vaccine to be made available by the Thai government;   B) Get on a plane, go to the US or one of its territories and get vaccinated.   

Why do people seem to think that there is an option C), whine about it long enough and maybe they will give it to you.  They won't.   

[AnnieSeek]

The self entitlement of foreigners in Thailand to jump the vaccine queue is astonishing. 

[Jingthing]

24 minutes ago, Credo said:

I am totally confused by people here.  What part of no don't you understand.  The message is clear.   Your choices are A) wait for a vaccine to be made available by the Thai government;   B) Get on a plane, go to the US or one of its territories and get vaccinated.   

Why do people seem to think that there is an option C), whine about it long enough and maybe they will give it to you.  They won't.   

There is nothing to be confused about. I don't even believe that you're confused, but whatever. Everyone understands the choices. Some people choose to advocate for a POLICY CHANGE by the State Department. Of course the chances of that aren't at all good. As you seem to bizarrely suggest, nobody thinks there is an option C. Characterizing attempts to change government policy as "whining" is of course your right, but it's unnecessarily insulting. A better word is lobbying. 

[Jingthing]

8 minutes ago, AnnieSeek said:

The self entitlement of foreigners in Thailand to jump the vaccine queue is astonishing. 

It's not about that at all. Expats are being discriminated against based on not being Thai here. High risk Thais prioritized, high risk expats left out for the most part, exceptions do not count. It's much more about wanting to level the playing field at least to some degree. 

[Credo]

6 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

There is nothing to be confused about. I don't even believe that you're confused, but whatever. Everyone understands the choices. Some people choose to advocate for a POLICY CHANGE by the State Department. Of course the chances of that aren't at all good. As you seem to bizarrely suggest, nobody thinks there is an option C. Characterizing attempts to change government policy as "whining" is of course your right, but it's unnecessarily insulting. A better word is lobbying. 

I don't in anyway wish to be insulting, especially towards the people who actually do lobby for the interests of US citizens abroad.   Unfortunately, that lobbying should have started when the vaccine rolled out, but then hind sight is 20/20.

I note a lot of the 'rugged individualists' seem to now want to take a pot shot at their government for not providing for their needs.   

 

So to you and the many who actually do lobby, I apologize.   

 

[ding]

As an American, I'm 100% unsurprised to learn yet again that we're on our own, where health care is concerned.

[jerrymahoney]

1 hour ago, Credo said:

Why do people seem to think that there is an option C), whine about it long enough and maybe they will give it to you.  They won't.   

The 'whiners' maybe now include 26 US Senators including 4 Republicans who wrote to Sec. Blinken ending:

 

The administration has made remarkable progress in vaccinating Americans at home and U.S. officials overseas. As the attention shifts to global vaccination efforts, we urge you to explore all viable options to support vaccination of the millions of Americans living abroad.

 

https://www.murphy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/6.24.2021 Vaccinating AMCITs Letter FINAL.pdf

 

 

 

[ding]

2 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

The 'whiners' maybe now include 26 US Senators including 4 Republicans who wrote to Sec. Blinken ending:

 

The administration has made remarkable progress in vaccinating Americans at home and U.S. officials overseas. As the attention shifts to global vaccination efforts, we urge you to explore all viable options to support vaccination of the millions of Americans living abroad.

 

https://www.murphy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/6.24.2021 Vaccinating AMCITs Letter FINAL.pdf

 

 

 

I wonder if there will be a decent recipe for crow if they manage to actually do something?

[newnative]

4 hours ago, AnnieSeek said:

The self entitlement of foreigners in Thailand to jump the vaccine queue is astonishing. 

It's not about jumping the vaccine queue; it's about being allowed to just get into the queue.  

[mogandave]

7 hours ago, Jingthing said:

It's not about that at all. Expats are being discriminated against based on not being Thai here. High risk Thais prioritized, high risk expats left out for the most part, exceptions do not count. It's much more about wanting to level the playing field at least to some degree. 

 

Do you have any evidence of this? 

[kurtmartens]

11 minutes ago, mogandave said:

 

Do you have any evidence of this? 

Seriously?  Of course we are "discriminated" against.   And rightfully so, in my opinion, Thailand is doing what it should.  Providing vaccinations for its citizens first and then everyone else second.  I don't have an issue with this and no one really should.  The evidence is in the instructions on how to register for vaccinations incountry, isn't it?

[Jingthing]

16 minutes ago, kurtmartens said:

Seriously?  Of course we are "discriminated" against.   And rightfully so, in my opinion, Thailand is doing what it should.  Providing vaccinations for its citizens first and then everyone else second.  I don't have an issue with this and no one really should.  The evidence is in the instructions on how to register for vaccinations incountry, isn't it?

I have a big problem with it and any medical ethicist would as well. There is no possible justification to exclude high risk non Thais from priority jabs on the same schedule as Thais. That's the main reason our embassies really should get involved. 

Edited June 30, 2021 by Jingthing

[mogandave]

58 minutes ago, kurtmartens said:

Seriously?  Of course we are "discriminated" against.   And rightfully so, in my opinion, Thailand is doing what it should.  Providing vaccinations for its citizens first and then everyone else second.  I don't have an issue with this and no one really should.  The evidence is in the instructions on how to register for vaccinations incountry, isn't it?

 

I’ll take that as a no, that you do not have any evidence. 

 

Are Thais quickly and easily registering and getting vaccinated?

 

Is a significantly larger percentage of Thai nationals been vaccinated than of expats? 

 

 

[Heng]

Do the various embassy locations have a health/medical section for embassy staff (like say on a carrier or military base) or do they need to go off site?   Seems they handled their vaccinations rather efficiently (and quietly).   

Edited June 30, 2021 by Heng

[WaveHunter]

On 6/28/2021 at 4:44 PM, kurtmartens said:

How do you think you get your politically appointed job?!  Say what you will about the current Ambassador here, at least he is a career diplomat.  

Well, that's the problem.  Just like career politicians, a career diplomat learns very early on...how to "play the game", and that game is more to do with protecting his job than really doing the "right thing".

Edited June 30, 2021 by WaveHunter

[placeholder]

25 minutes ago, WaveHunter said:

Well, that's the problem.  Just like career politicians, a career diplomat learns very early on...how to "play the game", and that game is more to do with protecting his job than really doing the "right thing".

This is just ridiculous. The ambassador takes his marching orders from the State Dept. A career diplomat is not going to antagonize his bosses by doing anything outside of what they instruct him or her to do. So, it's not a matter of protecting his job rather than do the right thing, it's about carrying out policy as dictated by the State Dept.

[WaveHunter]

14 minutes ago, placeholder said:

This is just ridiculous. The ambassador takes his marching orders from the State Dept. A career diplomat is not going to antagonize his bosses by doing anything outside of what they instruct him or her to do. So, it's not a matter of protecting his job rather than do the right thing, it's about carrying out policy as dictated by the State Dept.

I'm not disagreeing with you; I'm simply saying, as I said in response to the original poster, that Blinken is not the person that can be expected to make a difference.  He will not go out on a limb to do the "right thing", only regurgitate official public policy...and there is often a VERY BIG difference between official public policy and what the "right thing" is.  

 

My point all along was that expats should not be looking to the embassy or diplomats like Blinken to get the vaccines to expats; rather they should be petitioning their duly elected senators and representatives in Washington DC becuase those are the people that can do the right thing and buck public policy if there is a good reason for doing so.

 

With a projected 1 BILLION dose stockpile and plans to donate millions of doses to foreign countries, I think there is a very good reason to buck current US policy about giving aid to expats in this pandemic...A VERY GOOD REASON!

 

Do you agree or disagree?

Edited June 30, 2021 by WaveHunter

[John Drake]

1 hour ago, placeholder said:

This is just ridiculous. The ambassador takes his marching orders from the State Dept. A career diplomat is not going to antagonize his bosses by doing anything outside of what they instruct him or her to do. So, it's not a matter of protecting his job rather than do the right thing, it's about carrying out policy as dictated by the State Dept.

 

Michael Heath is simply a temp holding down things until a new ambassador gets appointed (over five months with no new ambassador and counting). There is nobody here of ambassadorial rank who can even advocate for expats' covid protection. Heath is just a functionary with no influence here or back in the US. DeSombre, the former ambassador, at least has urged the US supply American expats with covid shots. 

Edited June 30, 2021 by John Drake

[mogandave]

1 hour ago, John Drake said:

 

Michael Heath is simply a temp holding down things until a new ambassador gets appointed (over five months with no new ambassador and counting). There is nobody here of ambassadorial rank who can even advocate for expats' covid protection. Heath is just a functionary with no influence here or back in the US. DeSombre, the former ambassador, at least has urged the US supply American expats with covid shots. 

 

Are ambassadors not just appointees?