Vaccine Apartheid in Thailand

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, EricTh said:

 

That is simply NOT true.

 

I have been to several vaccine registration booths and all said 'Thai citizens first', they didn't even ask at that time whether I had the pink ID card.

 

So it is a loophole of the Moprom app, a bug....

 

The miscommunication between the higher-up authorities and the nurses resulted in some foreigners getting the vaccine instead.

 

 

Love the way you insist this is a ‘loop hole of the Mor Prom app’....    Its no such thing... 

 

IF anyone is registered with the Mor Promp App they can get the vaccine - its that simple, no loopholes, no bugs - it just is what it is, a system for ‘anyone’ who is carrying a Thai registered ID... there really is nothing nefarious or anti-foreigner about it no matter how hard people want to play the victim. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

30 minutes ago, wordchild said:

1 hour ago, EricTh said:

 

That is simply NOT true.

 

I have been to several vaccine registration booths and all said 'Thai citizens first', they didn't even ask at that time whether I had the pink ID card.

 

So it is a loophole of the Moprom app, a bug....

 

The miscommunication between the higher-up authorities and the nurses resulted in some foreigners getting the vaccine instead.

 

 

Expand  

Bumrungrad, for example, opened up their vaccination program, at least initially, for Thais only. That was made clear to anyone who enquired.

Was that a policy that they decided on? frankly i doubt it, more likely that is what they were told to do. 

 

Again.. Not true. 

 

I was able to register with Bumrungrad and Samitivej - I received text messages from both inviting me to register. I received an SMS's from Bumrungrad and a reminder before an appointment date I which cancelled as soon as I received my vaccine (registered through the Mor Prom app). Samitivej never confirmed an appointment date so it was just registration and that was it. 

 

I’m starting to suspect some people ‘want’ there to be a problem so they have something to be angry about and occupy themselves with. 

 

 

Understandably there are a lot of foreigners here who are unhappy about the vaccine situation. There are also many Thai’s in a similar situation. 

I wonder how many foreigners expect to go ahead of their Thai neighbours and receive the vaccination in areas where Thais and the general public are not yet currently receiving vaccines. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2021 by richard_smith237

[wordchild]

30 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Again.. Not true. 

 

I was able to register with Bumrungrad and Samitivej - I received text messages from both inviting me to register. I received an SMS's from Bumrungrad and a reminder before an appointment date I which cancelled as soon as I received my vaccine (registered through the Mor Prom app). Samitivej never confirmed an appointment date so it was just registration and that was it. 

 

I’m starting to suspect some people ‘want’ there to be a problem so they have something to be angry about and occupy themselves with. 

 

 

Understandably there are a lot of foreigners here who are unhappy about the vaccine situation. There are also many Thai’s in a similar situation. 

I wonder how many foreigners expect to go ahead of their Thai neighbours and receive the vaccination in areas where Thais and the general public are not yet currently receiving vaccines. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That does not accord with my experience.

I registered with Bumrungrad (via their initial survey), i followed up some time later with a call and was told that the  vaccinations were only for Thai people who were over 60 (i qualified on neither grounds).

I also know a 60 plus year old foreigner who is both a diabetic and a longstanding customer of Bumrungrad, he spoke to his regular doc about vaccine but was told that there was nothing that could be done. In the end he got vaccinated at another hospital and has vowed to never use Bumrungrad again.

I also got vaccinated myself  (first dose) at another hospital thanks to Thai business contacts and i probably share his views re Bumrungrad, I think they have lost some goodwill through all of this. 

  

Edited July 15, 2021 by wordchild

[club]

56 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Love the way you insist this is a ‘loop hole of the Mor Prom app’....    Its no such thing... 

 

IF anyone is registered with the Mor Promp App they can get the vaccine - its that simple, no loopholes, no bugs - it just is what it is, a system for ‘anyone’ who is carrying a Thai registered ID... there really is nothing nefarious or anti-foreigner about it no matter how hard people want to play the victim. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and when the 1.5 mil Pfizer doses get here we will see the same thing. Thai first. In the USA over 300,000 Thais were vaccinated many not US citizens, But you never heard Americans first. Everyone who wanted it got vaccinated no matter what nationality you are

[wordchild]

double post sorry

 

Edited July 15, 2021 by wordchild
double post sorry

[wordchild]

6 minutes ago, wordchild said:

The point i was trying to make in my OP was not really so much about vaccine discrimination against foreigners. I think that it is obvious that there has been, to some degree, especially toward those who dont work here or are outside the "system" in some way. Others may not see it like that, so fine, not something i am going to debate any further. There are plenty of threads on that already.

Really the point i was trying to make ( obviously badly)  was that many of the Thais that i know (and work with) believe BOTH, that there IS discrimination against foreigners AND that this is absolutely the correct way to go about things. And this seems to be the almost universal view amongst the Thais i know here. 

Despite having lived in Thailand for over a decade and being involved in business here for 20plus years i have still found this more than somewhat surprising. 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2021 by wordchild

[EricTh]

2 hours ago, wordchild said:

Bumrungrad, for example, opened up their vaccination program, at least initially, for Thais only. That was made clear to anyone who enquired.

Was that a policy that they decided on? frankly i doubt it, more likely that is what they were told to do. 

The policy and implementation are two different things. The policy is to give the vaccine to Thai citizens first especially those in vulnerable group.

 

 

[LongTimeLurker]

It'snot necessarily discrimination, it's economics.

 

The Farangs are rich, they can afford to pay for it.

[Jingthing]

15 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

It'snot necessarily discrimination, it's economics.

 

The Farangs are rich, they can afford to pay for it.

Sure we can. But it's not available to buy until much later. 

[LongTimeLurker]

2 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

There are also many Thai’s in a similar situation. 

I wonder how many foreigners expect to go ahead of their Thai neighbours and receive the vaccination in areas where Thais and the general public are not yet currently receiving vaccines

I would certainly expect (hope more like) that at-risk Farangs would get precedence over fully fit young Thai caddies at golf courses.

 

It should NOT be a matter of Thai vs. Farang, it SHOULD be a priority a-risk based system.

 

But unfortunately that's not what's happened.

[Jingthing]

4 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

I would certainly expect (hope more like) that at-risk Farangs would get precedence over fully fit young Thai caddies at golf courses.

 

It should NOT be a matter of Thai vs. Farang, it SHOULD be a priority a-risk based system.

 

But unfortunately that's not what's happened.

Exactly right.

That is most certainly not what happened.

[chessman]

2 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

I would certainly expect (hope more like) that at-risk Farangs would get precedence over fully fit young Thai caddies at golf courses.

 

It should NOT be a matter of Thai vs. Farang, it SHOULD be a priority a-risk based system.

 

But unfortunately that's not what's happened.

Sure, but if there are also youngish foreigners who are vaccinated (like I was at the start of June) before elderly more at-risk Thai people then the issue becomes less about ‘apartheid’ and ‘racism’, words that are used far too often on here, and more about a disorganised roll-out with some people, both foreign and Thai, not given the priority they should have been.

 

People seem to have forgotten but interestingly, even though they are now seen as countries who have been efficient and successful with vaccinations, there was a fair amount of criticism of the US and UK in their media in the first few months of their vaccine drives.

[jayboy]

5 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

I’m starting to suspect some people ‘want’ there to be a problem so they have something to be angry about and occupy themselves with. 

 

Grow up

[jayboy]

5 hours ago, wordchild said:

I also know a 60 plus year old foreigner who is both a diabetic and a longstanding customer of Bumrungrad, he spoke to his regular doc about vaccine but was told that there was nothing that could be done. In the end he got vaccinated at another hospital and has vowed to never use Bumrungrad again.

I am aware of a very similar case who had been an out patient at Bumrungrad on or off for nearly twenty years.He was able to register for vaccination (he had pink card and tax ID) but then was left hanging.Eventually - on his asking - he was told (not by medical staff but by some public relations type person) that it would not in the event be possible but he was never given a clear reason.He is more disappointed than angry that Bumrungrad has let him down so badly because - poor fool - he thought he had a genuine relationship with Bumrungrad.

[qwertyuiop]

On 7/14/2021 at 6:16 PM, wordchild said:

It seems clear that Thailand has an explicit  "Thai People First" policy with regards to the vaccine roll out here.

I'm sorry but this simply has not been my experience. I have been treated no better or worse than all those in my village and in my place of employment.

Perhaps the distribution of the vaccines could have been handled better but I have not seen it having been handled according to some form of 'vaccine apartheid' 

[Jingthing]

4 minutes ago, qwertyuiop said:

I'm sorry but this simply has not been my experience. I have been treated no better or worse than all those in my village and in my place of employment.

Perhaps the distribution of the vaccines could have been handled better but I have not seen it having been handled according to some form of 'vaccine apartheid' 

It can be very location dependent but overall I think you're wrong. Look at Pattaya, a major national center for HIGH RISK EXPATS. There has been blatant discrimination against expats here. You're in a village? How many expats there? No biggie to jab you. But in Pattaya we're a significant portion the population.

 

Of course Phuket was a huge exception for both Thais and foreigners because of the Sandbox thingie. 

Edited July 15, 2021 by Jingthing

[Jsnow]

Thailand did the right thing initially by closing borders with China and implementing 14 day quarantine on arrival. This delayed a peak in cases, but for how long? At some point Thailand will need to open and the population will need protection. So why weren’t/aren’t people being vaccinated ?  Thailand just didn’t have the national infrastructure to administer a country wide vaccine roll out + vaccines are expensive, each Pfizer shot cost the UK £30 per dose and needs specialist refrigeration. It cost Israel £45 per shot as they negotiated first. Astra Zeneca was £15 per dose as it’s a more general vaccine. Healthcare in Thailand is very good if you can afford it.  I think Vaccines may be a way out of this even with variants of concern but Thailand needs to come up with a better vaccine strategy as Covid isn’t going away. 

[Jingthing]

15 hours ago, Jsnow said:

Thailand did the right thing initially by closing borders with China and implementing 14 day quarantine on arrival. This delayed a peak in cases, but for how long? At some point Thailand will need to open and the population will need protection. So why weren’t/aren’t people being vaccinated ?  Thailand just didn’t have the national infrastructure to administer a country wide vaccine roll out + vaccines are expensive, each Pfizer shot cost the UK £30 per dose and needs specialist refrigeration. It cost Israel £45 per shot as they negotiated first. Astra Zeneca was £15 per dose as it’s a more general vaccine. Healthcare in Thailand is very good if you can afford it.  I think Vaccines may be a way out of this even with variants of concern but Thailand needs to come up with a better vaccine strategy as Covid isn’t going away. 

Its way too late for them to be proactive with vaccines. That ship has sailed. It's going to be very messy attempts at crisis management for a very long time. 

[LongTimeLurker]

In the meantime, I've signed up for two different government vaccine programmes and have appointment for both!