Picture: PPTV36

 

Mainstream Thai media PPTV 36 (Channel 36) has highlighted the plight of foreigners living in Thailand who have been unable to get vaccinated. 

 

The story from an Australian couple who have found themselves between a rock and a hard place  will be no news at all to thousands who are going on forums like ASEAN Now to voice their frustrations. 

 

The message from the Thai government has been "we will take care of everybody" but the reality - the same for many Thais - there is just not the vaccine available. 

 

In their news report PPTV spoke to Bronwyn Perry, 56, and her husband Timothy, 52 from Australia. 

 

They consider Thailand to be their second home having lived in the kingdom for 14 years. 

 

Their employment came to an end in 2019 and they went back to Australia but returned to Thailand again last December on a Special Tourist Visa. 

 

Now having tried everything they can to get vaccinated in Thailand they are considering Plan B - returning to Australia to get the jab.

 

But this is fraught with difficulty in itself as Australia has gone into lockdown too after a surge in cases of Covid-19 and they are restricting entry to even their own nationals. 

 

This option would mean considerable expense and time wasted and they would then come back to Thailand for the sandbox in Phuket, said Timothy.

 

The couple tried to register on www.thailandintervac.com since the opening announcement on June 7th but it soon closed down. 

 

Their page then advised trying to register at Phayathai 2 Hospital this week or Samitivej Sukhumvit (both major Bangkok hospitals) in August. 

 

They tried the former that said they had opened registration every day this week from 9 to 12 pm. They called at 11 am but were told that the 100 a day quota was already used up. 

 

So even a major hospital like Phayathai 2 only had 500 jabs available for foreigners - nowhere near enough for all the people like the Australian couple who need them. 

 

"Out of our friends less than half have been vaccinated," Bronwyn told the media. "The ones who have got vaccinated are mainly ones who work in companies and they have been able to acquire enough vaccine for them".

 

With their status they have been unable to get vaccinated. 

 

The reporter suggested that "No one is safe until everyone is safe".

 

The message coming from this couple was a sense of appreciation that they had not been overlooked, but a growing frustration that there was just not enough vaccine to accommodate them. 

 

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The message from the regime is, if you want a vaccination you might be best served in your home country.

 

But "If you want a "registration" we're here to help you."

 

Some days they couch this message in easy to swallow words, like "we love everyone the same", or "foreigners will be treated equally, and given equal access to vaccines".

 

Other days, they launch the forty-third iteration of an app, website or hospital.

 

 

Sad, but true.

 

How long will foreigners (except migrant workers from neighbouring countries, who are already getting vaccinated), living in Thailand, will have to wait? Until 2023 or 2024? 

13 minutes ago, webfact said:

"Out of our friends less than half have been vaccinated," Bronwyn told the media. "The ones who have got vaccinated are mainly ones who work in companies and they have been able to acquire enough vaccine for them".

With all due respect, less than a third of all Thai citizens have been vaccinated as of yet

I  have yet to have this confirmed, but I am told a plane load of wealthy Indonesians chartered their own plane and flew  to Australia, they were immediately placed into quarantine, at their own expense, and given  FREE inoculations, which was the reason for their journey anyway, their country suffering badly, and vaccine being scarce there.

There is all reasons to be frustrated as a forreigner.

 

There is actually no serious way, at this moment, to make a vax appointment as a forreigner without workpermit or thai ID.

 

We do not exist, but our money they love.

 

 

20 minutes ago, finnsk said:

There is all reasons to be frustrated as a forreigner.

 

There is actually no serious way, at this moment, to make a vax appointment as a forreigner without workpermit or thai ID.

 

We do not exist, but our money they love.

 

 

I have Thai ID but cannot get vaccinated. 

For one reason or another, Thailand is going for a slow-vax-rollout: reported today that the 100 million needed vaccines will be ordered for next year - or ordered next year - can't remember which, but the effect is about the same.

 

In the meantime, the ugly situation now emerging must just be endured.

 

I think only about 5% of Thais have been vaxed, so I bet there are a lot of Thais in the same boat as the OP couple: frustrated and annoyed - if not angry.

Conspiracy nonsense removed. Repeat that kind of thing again and your ability to post may be removed.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Now having tried everything they can to get vaccinated in Thailand they are considering Plan B - returning to Australia to get the jab.

That's their home country, so that makes sense.

 

As foreigner living in Thailand you are on your own when it comes to health care, and we foreigners knows it, when we decide to stay here by our own free choice.

 

However, with a little bit of patience the government will vaccinate all, also the foreigners that are not really are covered by the health care system.

Just now, Wookie said:

 

I live in Phetchaburi province. I visited the government hospital in Cha-Am the other day with my Thai wife to see if I could get vaccinated. They took a copy of my passport and booked me for a jab next Monday. Perhaps I was just lucky.

2 hours ago, tonray said:

With all due respect, less than a third of all Thai citizens have been vaccinated as of yet

 

You seem to think this current status is

 

a good thing?

a bad thing?

 

"OK, you pesky foreigners, look we suck at this public health thing so shut up and shove off back to Australia".

 

 

BTW it's more like 5% fully vaxxed, 16% half-vaxxed.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, tonray said:

With all due respect, less than a third of all Thai citizens have been vaccinated as of yet

How many Chinese and French have been vaccinated? That's the area where the couple needs to make their comparison.

They came back after 2 years on a tourist visa, so they are tourists and not expats.

Can they then expect to get special treatment?

3 hours ago, tonray said:

With all due respect, less than a third of all Thai citizens have been vaccinated as of yet

Isn’t it less than 8% of people living in Thailand that have been vaccinated? I doubt a third have had even one jab? What does nationality have to do with it?

15 minutes ago, BEngBKK said:

They came back after 2 years on a tourist visa, so they are tourists and not expats.

Can they then expect to get special treatment?

Probably they expect the same as Thai people in other countries, to be treated the same as all others. The virus kills and spreads without checking your passport.

59 minutes ago, Wookie said:

I live in Phetchaburi province. I visited the government hospital in Cha-Am the other day with my Thai wife to see if I could get vaccinated. They took a copy of my passport and booked me for a jab next Monday. Perhaps I was just lucky.

Perhaps you will get sinovac. 
 

but I think it’s Bangkok that has the most problems dealing with foreigners. I had an appointment in Udon for AZ, but couldn’t go because of quarantine. I’ve since had 14 appointments in Phuket, but cancelled them all because it was sinovac.

3 hours ago, HAPPYNUFF said:

I  have yet to have this confirmed, but I am told a plane load of wealthy Indonesians chartered their own plane and flew  to Australia, they were immediately placed into quarantine, at their own expense, and given  FREE inoculations

So just hearsay, then.    Why would Australia admit unvaccinated foreigners when they're apparently not even admitting some of their own citizens?

8 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

Probably they expect the same as Thai people in other countries, to be treated the same as all others. The virus kills and spreads without checking your passport.

I have 11 Thai friends in England and all are fully vaccinated, even an illegal who comes out of the woodwork gets the jab no questions asked, its as the OP says, nothing is accomplished until all are vaccinated 

1 hour ago, Wookie said:

I live in Phetchaburi province. I visited the government hospital in Cha-Am the other day with my Thai wife to see if I could get vaccinated. They took a copy of my passport and booked me for a jab next Monday. Perhaps I was just lucky.

Are you over 60?

Booked next Monday - are they giving you Sinovac or the salt water variety?

3 hours ago, finnsk said:

There is actually no serious way, at this moment, to make a vax appointment as a forreigner without workpermit or thai ID.

 

We do not exist, but our money they love.

Most Thais can't get vaccinated either, it's not just foreigners who "don't exist" [sic].

Just now, Almer said:

I have 11 Thai friends in England and all are fully vaccinated, even an illegal who comes out of the woodwork gets the jab no questions asked, its as the OP says, nothing is accomplished until all are vaccinated 

Yup, the nationality issue is a complete red herring so far as virus control and health is concerned.

3 hours ago, tonray said:

With all due respect, less than a third of all Thai citizens have been vaccinated as of yet

indeed, stop wining people!

If you were a Thai living in London/UK (in your own landed property that you can freely own), you would have received 2 does of Pfizer by now and a travel certificate. Free. There is no such reciprocity, just get used to it and you will sleep better at night. 

1 hour ago, law ling said:

For one reason or another, Thailand is going for a slow-vax-rollout: reported today that the 100 million needed vaccines will be ordered for next year - or ordered next year - can't remember which, but the effect is about the same.

 

In the meantime, the ugly situation now emerging must just be endured.

 

I think only about 5% of Thais have been vaxed, so I bet there are a lot of Thais in the same boat as the OP couple: frustrated and annoyed - if not angry.

Any members of cabinet not been vaccinated?

3 hours ago, tonray said:

With all due respect, less than a third of all Thai citizens have been vaccinated as of yet

Actually of the great unwashed only 5% have been doubled vaccinated, 9% single. Of the elite, 100%.

1 hour ago, mtls2005 said:

 

You seem to think this current status is

 

a good thing?

a bad thing?

 

"OK, you pesky foreigners, look we suck at this public health thing so shut up and shove off back to Australia".

 

 

BTW it's more like 5% fully vaxxed, 16% half-vaxxed.

 

 

 

I think he was just stating the fact that Thai people are not a lot better off, not an opinion wether it is good or bad.

7 minutes ago, IamNoone88 said:

If you were a Thai living in London/UK (in your own landed property that you can freely own), you would have received 2 does of Pfizer by now and a travel certificate. Free. There is no such reciprocity, just get used to it and you will sleep better at night. 

There can be no reciprocity because there is no vaccine. What I cannot understand is people who say they have the opportunity to be vaccinated but turn it down because they want a "name brand" vaccine. Better take what you can get, especially if you're a foreigner, because I don't see any big shipment of vaccine to Thailand on the horizon.

 Call government should be ashamed about the roll out VaccineTIT