"No one is safe until everyone is safe" - Aussie couple highlight foreigners facing vaccine trouble in Thailand

[BobinBKK]

  Other than blatant racism and segregation, there is absolutely no reason what-so-ever that any foreign national should be turned away from any vaccination location at anytime to register and/or be vaccinated in Thailand. No one should be told, overhear or see signs with the words “THAI ONLY”. We are all equal and everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

 

   According to the current Thai constitution and the agreements Thailand signed with the WTO (referenced below), Thai citizens and foreign nationals are to be treated equally, period. Not holding up to ones commitments and agreements gives the appearance that the Thai constitution isn't worth the paper it's written on and that signed agreements or treaties with any organization or country mean absolutely nothing.

 

   The US State Department confirmed on April 20th that it has sent to each U.S. embassy sufficient vaccines to administer to all American employees. There's absolutely NO excuse why US citizens could not have be included in that plan to countries where foreign nationals are put at the end of the line. If China and France can do it, then so can America, which obviously has the financial means to do so. Without going into details, we are all very aware of why the delay in the vaccine rollout occurred here. Obviously this is why both China and France stepped in specifically to help their own citizens living in Thailand.

 

   In a bid to win friends in the South China Sea dispute with China, the US government will vaccinate members of the South Korean Military, citizens of The Philippines (under threats from the Philippines president), Taiwan and Thailand.

 

   The American government has absolutely NO right to accuse any country of human rights violations when they willfully abandon their own citizen during a global health crisis. Speaking as a tax paying American citizen, I have every right to call my own government shameful and a global disgrace!

 

   American citizens living in Thailand aren’t asking our government to provide us with health care (even though we were all forced to pay into the Medicare system), we are asking for “life saving” Covid-19 vaccines because THIS IS A GOLBAL PANDEMIC!!!

 

Note: Thailand is a member of the World Trade Organization. National treatment is an integral part of many World Trade Organization (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Organization) agreements. It requires equal treatment of foreigners (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(law) and locals.

 

   Under national treatment, a state (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_state) that grants particular rights, benefits or privileges to its own citizens (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen) must also grant those advantages to the citizens of other states while they are in that country. Together with the most favored nation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_favoured_nation) principle, national treatment is one of the cornerstones of WTO.

[raccos21]

The story in the other part of the world are totally different

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/athens-thousands-rally-against-covid-19-vaccinations-2021-07-14/

[simple1]

 

5 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, which was the reason for their journey anyway, their country suffering badly, and vaccine being scarce there.

BS. Not one word in Oz media - would be a lead story on all media outlets if true.

[remobb]

22 minutes ago, DKA1961 said:

I've just recently had my first Vaccination at the Medpark Hospital here in Bangkok. I didn't experience any delays or issues.

 

You can register to get a shot at the MedPark Hospital at this link:- https://www.medparkhospital.com/en/page/covid19-vaccine-expats

 

Good luck ????

Well I have registered thanks. Appointment August 5. Let's hope it happens. Do you know which vaccine the use?

So again, Many thanks.

[PEE TEE]

3 minutes ago, remobb said:

Well I have registered thanks. Appointment August 5. Let's hope it happens. Do you know which vaccine the use?

So again, Many thanks.

should be AZ 

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

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. 

Whoooaaaoo down there a minute... If I've understood this correctly, they came back to Thailand, as tourists, AT THE HEIGHT OF THE PANDEMIC??? If so, I'll find it hard to muster up any sympathy here if responsible choices weren't made.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2021 by Led Lolly Yellow Lolly

[crazykopite]

I am one of the very lucky few as I had my AZ last Friday and i can only conclude this was pure luck as the island i live on went into the sandbox programme today  15 July and the rule was that 70% of the island had to be vaccinated it is my understanding that Koh Samui will welcome 4 overseas tourists tomorrow Friday via Bangkok air its is also rumoured that the 4 are employed within the tourism industry so its most probably a freebee as a way of advertising that the islands are open for business . due to vaccine shortages i dont expect to have my 2nd vaccine on the 1st October as stated on my appointment card only time will tell.

[djayz]

4 hours 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.

If that is in fact the case, and I'm not questioning it for a second, I'd love to know the "logic" behind that decision? It really does look like a slow roll-out. 

[Neeranam]

11 minutes ago, BobinBKK said:

According to the current Thai constitution and the agreements Thailand signed with the WTO (referenced below), Thai citizens and foreign nationals are to be treated equally, period.

Not true, please quote Constitution if you can. The equal rights in the one I know are for citizens, not foreigners 

[Samyan]

1 hour ago, huangnon said:

2023 will be fine for me. The FDA "experimental: authorized for emergency use" tag for these novel vaccines expires then, and we can maybe see the pros and cons a bit more clearly.

I couldn't agree more. If more people researched these experimental gene therapies and their effects in the body i.e. they only target the toxic spike protein which after being produced by one's own body cells, spread throughout the body with the potential to cause a lot of damage, then perhaps there wouldn't be the clamour for these experimental vaccines.

[Ubonhero64]

I will say this this couple just be patient I am an Aussie expat living here fit and healthy I can wait and so must they Many Thais have not been vaccinated Good luck to them trying to get vaccinated in Australia The Lazy Aus gov in power is only doing slightly better than Thailand 11%vaccination  rate

[CM Dad]

My wife (Thai) and I have been registered to receive vaccines for seven weeks.  We are still waiting.  In the meantime, our Thai neighbor paid Bangkok Hospital 2,000 baht each for her eighteen-year-old son, her parents and herself to receive AstraZeneca vaccines.  They have all now had both of their injections.  In the meantime, my wife and I continue to wait, and our sixteen-year-old son was told he was too young to even register.  By the way, my wife if fifty and I am over seventy, and each of us has a health condition that should have enabled us to be among the first vaccinated.  Shooting rockets into space is more important than 'shooting' a potentially life-saving medicine into a person's arm.  Shooting rockets probably provides many more opportunities for graft and corruption as well.

[PeeJayEm]

This article shows  typically how Thailand regards foreigners.  While I know many young healthy Thais who have had both doses ("my uncle is a doctor..."  etc.) foreigners over 65 will illness have bee left to fight against bureaucracy to get registered - only then to find data leaks, collapse of websites, unavailability of appointments.  This was after months of debate at government level as to whether foreigners were even worth vaccinating compared to Thais - and that confusion still existed even in international hospitals 4 weeks ago when I was told in e.g. BNH that their vaccine would be only for Thais.

I've registered in 5 different ways as instructed by the various conflicting authorities - none of them yielded any appointment - and it's clear now that even if any appointment is been given, it's based on nothing more than a guess as to whether there may or may not be any vaccine actually available at that time. No plan whatsoever.

Their original vaccination plan was based (almost?) entirely on AZ, for peculiar reasons. When that didn't deliver they were left scrambling at the back of the queue begging to get anything they can grab - or be given.

 

It continues to be complete and disgustingly prejudicial and discriminatory shambles. - It show's how Thailand actually regards foreigners behind the smiles. 

 

I therefore left 2 weeks ago.  I was vaccinated in London within 2 days.  Although my visa runs for another year and my 43 years of family ties and friendships within Thailand continue, I won't be going back until the shambles is cleared up.  - It took UK 8 months with a best-in-world class of vaccination programme to be able to start opening up again.  With Thailand's shambolic pace it will be AT LEAST a year until they can safely start opening up again - and I fear that by then the economy will be completely shot. (The talk of opening up to tourists this year is purely to stave of business rage and riots) 

[kingstonkid]

 THERE ARE 2 THINGS THAT COME TO MIND  NOT SURE WHICH IS MORE APPROPRIATE.  BTW DO THEY LOOK OVER 60?

 

 

 

[kingstonkid]

The other choice was 

 

[BobinBKK]

15 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Not true, please quote Constitution if you can. The equal rights in the one I know are for citizens, not foreigners 

Reading and comprehension is fundamental. You can Google and download your own copy...

[RocketDog]

2 hours ago, John Drake said:

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

The answer to this is obvious and has been stated many times. There is an option.

 

Don't like masks, don't want the available vaccines? I don't either. Fair enough.

Do what I'm doing: stay home and mind your own business.

I'm refusing to join this cluster-F.

[Plus Esse Quam Simultatur]

3 hours ago, khunPer said:

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.

I just wonder which part of the world  you are from because in Denmark all are treated equally.

Thais living there  are not told to be last to get the jab. They come in the same age group with the Danes and not treated  as second class citizens like we are being here.

[Neeranam]

4 minutes ago, BobinBKK said:

Reading and comprehension is fundamental. You can Google and download your own copy...

I've read it already and as I thought, you can't quote anything about foreigners in the Constitution. 

It talks about discrimination against any Thai citizen on the grounds of their ethnicity or race. 

[kohchaiBKK]

4 hours 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.

 

[kohchaiBKK]

I spent 3 hours getting my appointment for the vaccine, only to show up at the hospital and be told they have no vaccines.  Appointments are no guarantee.

[Neeranam]

40 minutes ago, BobinBKK said:

Other than blatant racism and segregation, there is absolutely no reason what-so-ever that any foreign national should be turned away from any vaccination location at anytime to register and/or be vaccinated in Thailand. No one should be told, overhear or see signs with the words “THAI ONLY”. We are all equal and everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

 

How can it be 'racism' when ethnic farang like me are not turned away, or ethnic chinese and Indian Thais are not discriminated against? 

 

I suggest you buy a dictionary and look up racism and constitution. 

It crazy how some countries, the US in particular, wail racism even when it's not. 

 

[farangpaul]

I do not need free vaccination from the Thai government. I just want to be treated as a human being and of course I am willing to pay for a vaccination. But this is not possible because the import of vaccines is hindered. Why is the Thai government playing with my life.

[DKA1961]

44 minutes ago, remobb said:

Well I have registered thanks. Appointment August 5. Let's hope it happens. Do you know which vaccine the use?

So again, Many thanks.

I had the AstraZeneca for my first jab, and the second one will be as well I imagine. But I have just registered and paid with them to have a Moderna Booster shot sometime in October 2021

[Pracha Duang]

6 hours ago, StayinThailand2much said:

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? 

There are many Thais that would happily forfeit their place in the "vaccine line" to wanting foreigners. My wife and I were both educated at Stanford University in the USA and want nothing to do with the vaccine. I would get it if forced but my wife, who is Thai  ( IQ 200+++) , would rather die than get the jab. The Thai government should set something up so that Thai citizens can transfer their right to vaccination to anyone that wants it regardless of where they come from.

[moe666]

6 hours ago, tonray said:

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

Thats the bottom line not enough vaccines for everyone. Stop complaining go home or hunker down and wait it out. I am playing the odds ( yeah sure) there will be a shot sooner rather than later.

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

1 hour ago, Led Lolly Yellow Lolly said:

Whoooaaaoo down there a minute... If I've understood this correctly, they came back to Thailand, as tourists, AT THE HEIGHT OF THE PANDEMIC??? If so, I'll find it hard to muster up any sympathy here if responsible choices weren't made.

 

 

My blood is actually boiling about this. They appear to have had no reason to come back to Thailand. If I'm candid, I feel people like this wreck the position of people like me i.e family, job, here in situ at the start of the pandemic i.e. genuine reasons to be here, and in need of vaccine.

 

Yet here we have two tourists that had apparently NO CAUSE to head on over here DURING THE PANDEMIC, bleating they can't get vaccinated. Rightly or wrongly, it reflects badly on other foreigners.

 

If the people interviewed are reading this, what is your justification for leaving Australia in during the pandemic?

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2021 by Led Lolly Yellow Lolly

[Scott Tracy]

Still bored.

 

Must get a life. 

 

Extension of stay planned for tomorrow, will worry about that. I wonder if the IO have been vaccinated.

[Bangkok Barry]

3 hours 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. 

Same as a sister-in-law in Hungary. Fully vaccinated free with Pfizer. Several Thai members of the family have been offered Sinovac and all but one have refused it. No-one trusts anything that comes out of China, not just we expats.

Edited July 15, 2021 by Bangkok Barry

[rwill]

The local government hospital where I live is still working on getting the people vaccinated that had signed up for the first week in June.  They have postponed people 2 times so far.  They are just not being provided much vaccine supply here.  Most is being kept for other areas.  And this is still just for the elderly and ill.  No idea how long it will be before the general population can start receiving vaccines.