Phuket Moderna vaccine rush leaves expats frustrated

[webfact]

The notice posted at 10:45am today (July 7). Image: Bangkok Hospital Phuket

 

PHUKET: Expats in Phuket have vented an outpouring of frustration online after being unable to register their reservation of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccination being offered by Bangkok Hospital Phuket today (July 7).

 

Registrations were made online through a web portal set up to receive reservations, and opened at 9am.

 

However, by 10:45am today Bangkok Hospital Phuket posted a notice announcing that stocks had already sold out.

 

Full story: https://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-moderna-vaccine-rush-leaves-expats-frustrated-80599.php

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2021-07-08

 

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[RichardColeman]

'Thank you for your continued trust' ? 

 

In what ? 

[Rhys]

Another 4ps... sad.

[cardinalblue]

The moderna roll out is being mismanaged…..same thing happened in CM

 

take names and monies and see what the total numbers are then put your order in

 

what they have done is allocated private hospitals a set amount which they have no idea  what the interest level is…

 

find out the interest level and then one party representing the hospitals negotiate for one total number of doses plus 20%…
 

 

[clivebaxter]

'Once the vaccines become available again'? they have not even signed the contract yet for this lot, but have the nerve to charge people for something they do not have

[Kerryd]

BHP (Pattaya) did the same thing a few days ago.

The funny part is, they were supposed to be registering people so they'd know how many doses to order. But the messages on their website suggest they already know how many they are going to order/receive (and it doesn't appear to be that many if they closed the registration so quickly).

I have to go back to BHP (Pattaya) tomorrow morning. I'll try to remember to check about it when I'm there (as it completely slipped my mind yesterday).

[Janne1949]

Wow stock lasted 105 minutes not bad. Here in Hua Hin it lasted 10 minutes yesterday than the site was closed

[Somtamnication]

While at their money making branch next to Big C, 2 elderly foreigners tried to sign up in person. Both turned away with the news of the new online app and prepay. "Hodpital order from America when your money pay to us" was the explanation.

 

Very bad handling there, BKK Hospital!

[club]

What current stock of Moderna? They never had it. You need to sign a contract with Moderna  first before you get vaccine. 

[hotchilli]

Complete shambles...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, Kerryd said:

The funny part is, they were supposed to be registering people so they'd know how many doses to order. But the messages on their website suggest they already know how many they are going to order/receive (and it doesn't appear to be that many if they closed the registration so quickly).

 

That contradiction has never made any sense, or been explained by the authorities, as this same kind of sorry scene with the Moderna offers has played out from city to city and hospital to hospital around the country.

 

I think I remember reading there were something like 125-150 private hospitals in the private hospitals association. If you take 5 million doses, divide that in half because of two doses being required, that would seem to mean, on average, that each participating hospital would have enough for close to 17,000 people.

 

However, a prior BKK Post article had a comment from an association rep saying some of the larger private hospitals were only planning to reserve about 10,000 doses each, supposedly because the government was already providing free doses of other vaccines.

 

And there was news reporting that the Thonburi Hospitals Group, led by a guy who's been behind the push to import the Moderna vaccines, perhaps had a commitment to buy/keep a good portion of the total order for its own hospitals.

 

And then of course, there was the rumor/report that some goodly portion of the total PHA Moderna order is going to be diverted to some other group like the Thai Red Cross for unknown purposes/destination. Dunno I ever heard any resolution of that one.

 

All in all, the closeouts of pre-registrations within minutes of their opening just doesn't seem to make any sense. And someone from the private hospitals world owes the public some explanation of just what the heck is going on.

 

[rwill]

The problem is you have at least 30 million people trying to register for 2.5 million spots for Moderna.  There are still around 60 million people not vaccinated in Thailand.  I figure at least half of those can't afford it though.

 

It might be a little better when they start doing registrations for Pfizer vaccine.  As less people should need it by then and supposedly getting enough for 10 million people.

[khunjeff]

33 minutes ago, rwill said:

It might be a little better when they start doing registrations for Pfizer vaccine.  As less people should need it by then and supposedly getting enough for 10 million people.

 

Although that one will be free, so demand should be even higher...

[club]

2 minutes ago, khunjeff said:

 

Although that one will be free, so demand should be even higher...

That is all going to Thai kids over 12

[club]

49 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

That contradiction has never made any sense, or been explained by the authorities, as this same kind of sorry scene with the Moderna offers has played out from city to city and hospital to hospital around the country.

 

I think I remember reading there were something like 125-150 private hospitals in the private hospitals association. If you take 5 million doses, divide that in half because of two doses being required, that would seem to mean, on average, that each participating hospital would have enough for close to 17,000 people.

 

However, a prior BKK Post article had a comment from an association rep saying some of the larger private hospitals were only planning to reserve about 10,000 doses each, supposedly because the government was already providing free doses of other vaccines.

 

And there was news reporting that the Thonburi Hospitals Group, led by a guy who's been behind the push to import the Moderna vaccines, perhaps had a commitment to buy/keep a good portion of the total order for its own hospitals.

 

And then of course, there was the rumor/report that some goodly portion of the total PHA Moderna order is going to be diverted to some other group like the Thai Red Cross for unknown purposes/destination. Dunno I ever heard any resolution of that one.

 

All in all, the closeouts of pre-registrations within minutes of their opening just doesn't seem to make any sense. And someone from the private hospitals world owes the public some explanation of just what the heck is going on.

 

You're missing the most important part from a Thai official said that Moderna was never ordered ,That happened 2 weeks ago. I think the next day Moderna said not only the order was not placed . They also said any order received now would have been for 2022. They are backlogged until 2022  and Thailand once again waited to long to place a order. Now I even question if they ordered the 20 mil doses of Pfizer. Saying its approved doesn't mean its ordered   

[oldcpu]

5 hours ago, Janne1949 said:

Wow stock lasted 105 minutes not bad. Here in Hua Hin it lasted 10 minutes yesterday than the site was closed

I think it was closer to 10 minutes or less in Phuket. .... The registration was supposed to start at 09:00 but the hospital web site for registration immediately went down at 09:00, and was supposed to reopen at 10:30am but I think it closer to 10:33am before reopening. By around 10:43am (possibly earlier) it was no longer accepting registration but just shunting people back to the main registration advert page.

 

However registration was possible for some as I know of one person ( who repeatedly tried through out) who was successful.

 

I also heard that far less vaccines available than expected. When a hospital employee was asked if 10,000 doses were available they only reiterated that far far less doses were available to register for Moderna than most people expected.

 

[pmarlin]

The wife and I got lucky as we got a low queue number and they gave us 5 days to pay the 3300 Bhatt for two shots or we would lose our queue.  This was with a very large private hospital group who have hospitals all over Thailand. we registered 16 Jun 21 and received the SMS to pay on 5 July 21. My sister in law registered  19 Jun and her SMS on 5 July told her try next time when available.

[oldcpu]

I was close to registering in time, but I think I did not quite make it - despite an effort (constantly refreshing laptop screen) to register.  As the Hospital web site was down pretty much until 10:33am or so, I think one needed a degree of both determination and luck to both register successful and be low on the queue to be selected for the vaccine.

 

So while I received this SMS from Siriroj Bangkok Hospital in Phuket today, I can't complain ( as many others in Thailand are unlucky, while I consider myself fortunate in Phuket, as a retiree who does not depend on local economy, and who has qualified for the Government provided AstraZeneca vaccine).

 

I thought it good of the hospital to send an SMS and notify.

Edited July 8, 2021 by oldcpu

[berrec]

It's not rocket science.