500,000 doses of US-donated Pfizer vaccine to be given to Thailand’s frontline medics

[webfact]

500,000 doses of US-donated Pfizer vaccine to be given to Thailand’s frontline medics

 

 

No fewer than 500,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine, from the 1.5 million doses donated to Thailand by the United States, will be administered to frontline medical personnel, said Dr. Rungruang Kitpati, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, Sunday.

 

He dismissed as totally untrue a report, published on social media by a doctor who raised a question about the distribution of donated Pfizer vaccine, claiming that only 200,000 doses will be available for Thai medics.

 

The spokesman said that the distribution will be managed by a committee, comprising the Public Health Ministry and other agencies concerned and that vaccinations will start in August.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/500000-doses-of-us-donated-pfizer-vaccine-to-be-given-to-thailands-frontline-medics/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-07-26

 

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[ourmanflint]

Distribution decided by committee is one of the reasons Thailand is in the mess it is in. 

[gt162]

Good plan and hope it gets carried out ASAP.

 

Those nurses and doctors and other healthcare workers need all the help they can get.

[Thailand]

I think it may be picked over by less worthy recipients before it makes the frontline.

[Andyfez]

Does treating Pfizer in this way indicate they consider this vaccine I'm a better standard than what they currently have?

What about the 200,000 doses supposed to go to foreigners? Will that go to a committee as well?

[jacko45k]

3 hours ago, ourmanflint said:

Distribution decided by committee is one of the reasons Thailand is in the mess it is in. 

Yes, wasn't there supposed to be an allocation for foreigners in Thailand too..... there will be more percentage shares than a Pattaya nightclub at this rate.

[CANSIAM]

I think the Military are trying to get their hands on those Pfizer vials after the Medical personnel.......... that could lead to an uproar........

Edited July 25, 2021 by CANSIAM

[bkk6060]

As much as I would like to have it, I have no problem with the medical workers getting it first.

I am sitting in my condo drinking coffee as many of them are in the high risk danger zone helping sick people.

[mtls2005]

The 1.5 mm Pfizer doses, donated by the U.S. government, have been apportioned.

 

The best view of this is an infographic on the front page of the BP. It is quite convoluted.

 

150,000 doses for 75,000 "Foreigners in Thailand (elderly and people with underlying conditions are prioritized)". Distribution is undefined at this point.

 

The scramble for this will be epic.

 

Expect delivery 29 July.

[TheFishman1]

So the donation of vaccines from the United States will not go to any foreigners TIT

[mtls2005]

5 minutes ago, TheFishman1 said:

So the donation of vaccines from the United States will not go to any foreigners TIT

 

 

26 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

150,000 doses for 75,000 "Foreigners in Thailand (elderly and people with underlying conditions are prioritized)". Distribution is undefined at this point.

 

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

The spokesman said that the distribution will be managed by a committee, comprising the Public Health Ministry and other agencies concerned and that vaccinations will start in August.

Just give it to the doctors... no need for another committee to help screw it up.

[herfiehandbag]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

The spokesman said that the distribution will be managed by a committee, comprising the Public Health Ministry and other agencies concerned and that vaccinations will start in August.

The Public Health Ministry are the very ones who are telling people they cannot be vaccinated because they are foreigners!

 

Might as well forget it. 500,000 (deservedly) to front line health workers. The rest will go to military and police and the good people.

[seajae]

our daughter received hers last week in the govt hospital at Surat Thani, she is training to be a doctor, she did have side effects  from it as well & had already had both chinese <deleted> vaccine shots. She is also having a covid test today as some of the staff already have covid, hopefully she is clear

[wwest5829]

2 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

As much as I would like to have it, I have no problem with the medical workers getting it first.

I am sitting in my condo drinking coffee as many of them are in the high risk danger zone helping sick people.

As an American resident Expat retired in Thailand, I agree. At 74 with history of heart condition, I would appreciate some consideration for Pfizer or Moderna vaccine ASAP.

[mtls2005]

Just now, wwest5829 said:

As an American resident Expat retired in Thailand, I agree. At 74 with history of heart condition, I would appreciate some consideration for Pfizer or Moderna vaccine ASAP.

IMO opinion you, and others in this category, along with Veterans, should be first in line for 2 doses of the 150,000 Pfizer donated vaccines.

 

Also, IMO, the Embassy should be working directly with you, and this target group (70+, medical issues) to coordinate the vaccination.

 

Full disclosure: I am not in that group.

 

Instead, I fear, you'll have to run the gauntlet of registrations, applications, appointments.

 

And this ignores the geographic and logistics of intra-Thailand travel now.

 

Register in STEP, if you haven't already.

 

https://step.state.gov/

 

Watch the Embassy's Twitter feed and FB. I've set up a fair number of alerts on this one.

 

 

 

 

[mtls2005]

21 minutes ago, seajae said:

our daughter received hers last week in the govt hospital at Surat Thani

 

She received Pfizer?

 

I guess anything is possible here, but maybe she got an AstraZeneca "booster"? I think that's the plan-du-jour for medicos here, now.

 

 

[internationalism]

there are 1.5mln front line medical workers in thai public health system.

some 900k of them are health volunteers, who do take care of infected visiting them 3x daily with medicines, food, doing fast tests and checking on their well being.

They have very basic training, but also very basic equipment and resources to protect themselves from infection and carrying it in the neighbourhood.

I am afraid that, as was the case with the first round of vax program from March to June, it will go to army, police and civil servants 

[mtls2005]

19 minutes ago, internationalism said:

there are 1.5mln front line medical workers in thai public health system.

some 900k of them are health volunteers, who do take care of infected visiting them 3x daily with medicines, food, doing fast tests and checking on their well being.

 

For the record, all of these folks have been fully vaccinated.

 

And now, because their vaccinations may not be resilient against the Delta variant, they are getting third shots (AZ, Pfizer) as boosters.

 

 

I think they're OK. Until they need a fourth shot I guess?

 

 

And yes, the 1 million strong volunteer health brigade here is quite amazing, and their work should be applauded daily.

 

[wwest5829]

41 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

IMO opinion you, and others in this category, along with Veterans, should be first in line for 2 doses of the 150,000 Pfizer donated vaccines.

 

Also, IMO, the Embassy should be working directly with you, and this target group (70+, medical issues) to coordinate the vaccination.

 

Full disclosure: I am not in that group.

 

Instead, I fear, you'll have to run the gauntlet of registrations, applications, appointments.

 

And this ignores the geographic and logistics of intra-Thailand travel now.

 

Register in STEP, if you haven't already.

 

https://step.state.gov/

 

Watch the Embassy's Twitter feed and FB. I've set up a fair number of alerts on this one.

 

 

 

 

Thanks. Yes I am registered at the Embassy (Consulate in Chiang Mai). Regular checkup with my RAM Cardiologist soon so I am hopeful of recommendation and her getting me registered for Pfizer/Moderna ASAP. October? After the New Year? Who knows …

[Isaan sailor]

The Pfizer doses are a gift to Thailand from America.  I can think of no greater purpose than the frontline medical workers here—even if used as a booster.  Retired American expats could also benefit from this gift—but that’s up to the Thai government to distribute as they wish.

[mtls2005]

5 minutes ago, Isaan sailor said:

The Pfizer doses are a gift to Thailand from America.  I can think of no greater purpose than the frontline medical workers here—even if used as a booster.  Retired American expats could also benefit from this gift—but that’s up to the Thai government to distribute as they wish.

 

Based on the apportionment, this was a lengthy negotiation - note that the 1 mm doses of Pfizer for Malaysia was announced on a Friday and delivered the next Monday. And I think Thailand got pretty much all they wanted. So they decided what is to done with these 1.5 mm doses. And I suspect the 150,000 doses for foreigners may end up in the arms of luk-krungs, best case, color palette to be provided.

 

They've (Thais) decided on 500,000 doses for medicos. And 800,000 for Thai Nationals ONLY, over 60 with underlying conditions. 

 

 

[connda]

4 hours ago, Andyfez said:

What about the 200,000 doses supposed to go to foreigners?

Now going to frontline health workers and anyone else who is connected - family, friends, administrators, politician.  They'll roll out one or two farangs and take a picture of them making a "V" sign while getting a shot and hype that as foreigners getting 20%.  Expats, especially US expats and veterans, aren't going to see any of this. 

[MrJ2U]

Wheres the other million doses going.

 

They say the elderly.

 

Elderly Generals and there families most likely.

[Heng]

2 hours ago, seajae said:

our daughter received hers last week in the govt hospital at Surat Thani, she is training to be a doctor, she did have side effects  from it as well & had already had both chinese <deleted> vaccine shots. She is also having a covid test today as some of the staff already have covid, hopefully she is clear

If true, that would mean something is fishy with supposed delivery date for the donated Pfizer doses: which had been announced to be July 29. 

[John Drake]

5 hours ago, Andyfez said:

What about the 200,000 doses supposed to go to foreigners?

Remember, there are a lot of Thai dual passport holders, especially among hiso's. They can be "foreigners" for purposes of vaccination. And the US stupidly only designated just "foreigners" as the recipients. The Thais can work that term to mean just about anything. 

[nottin]

Didn't they originally come out with a 1m+ doses they require for medical workers. Then there was uproar and they then said would go only to frontline workers dealing with Covid-19 patients. And the doses came down to 200k. Now we see they will get 500K. 

 

I totally agree that frontline medical staff need to be protected. But I'm not convinced that they should be getting 3rd jabs when so many of the general population haven't even had one. I try running numbers in my head and seems even if their efficacy has dropped a lot, yet the patients they get have zero protection, wouldn't it be better if patients and workers all had at least some protection rather than some have a lot and most have none.

 

Don't mean to sound like an evil cynic, but why the 2.5x increase in required doses now. Sure seems likes the definition of frontline workers dealing with Covid-19 patients widened. My worry is non-medical ppl, because of connections with the hospitals, charities, etc will fall into this group and there's where some of 500k go. 

 

Another interesting group is the one for 22,500 ppl including athletes. Keep an eye how many "athletes" are vaccinated. Pfizer had an agreement with the Olympics to vaccinate athletes, but seeing how the Olympics have already started, that should leave only the Paralympian athletes as their games are a month away. 

[DrPhibes]

5 hours ago, Isaan sailor said:

The Pfizer doses are a gift to Thailand from America.  I can think of no greater purpose than the frontline medical workers here—even if used as a booster.  Retired American expats could also benefit from this gift—but that’s up to the Thai government to distribute as they wish.

Agree, but not up to the Thai government on the US ex-pats here.  That should have been a condition of the donation.  None of us US citizens here are happy on how our government, to whom we still have to pay taxes to no matter how long you live outside of the country, are being treated.

[placeholder]

3 hours ago, nottin said:

Didn't they originally come out with a 1m+ doses they require for medical workers. Then there was uproar and they then said would go only to frontline workers dealing with Covid-19 patients. And the doses came down to 200k. Now we see they will get 500K. 

 

I totally agree that frontline medical staff need to be protected. But I'm not convinced that they should be getting 3rd jabs when so many of the general population haven't even had one. I try running numbers in my head and seems even if their efficacy has dropped a lot, yet the patients they get have zero protection, wouldn't it be better if patients and workers all had at least some protection rather than some have a lot and most have none.

 

Don't mean to sound like an evil cynic, but why the 2.5x increase in required doses now. Sure seems likes the definition of frontline workers dealing with Covid-19 patients widened. My worry is non-medical ppl, because of connections with the hospitals, charities, etc will fall into this group and there's where some of 500k go. 

 

Another interesting group is the one for 22,500 ppl including athletes. Keep an eye how many "athletes" are vaccinated. Pfizer had an agreement with the Olympics to vaccinate athletes, but seeing how the Olympics have already started, that should leave only the Paralympian athletes as their games are a month away. 

2 reason frontline health care workers should get priority in getting the 3rd inoculation

1) it should lower transmission rates

2)healthcare workers are under great stress already. losing the services of fellow workers will increase stress more and make them more likely to quit. also, the quality of healthcare service will suffer.

[Isaan sailor]

28 minutes ago, DrPhibes said:

Agree, but not up to the Thai government on the US ex-pats here.  That should have been a condition of the donation.  None of us US citizens here are happy on how our government, to whom we still have to pay taxes to no matter how long you live outside of the country, are being treated.

Yes, Department of State has thrown all American expats in every country, under the bus.  And we pay taxes, too. Here in Thailand, I think we have around 25,000 Americans living here full time.  That doesn’t seem like an insurmountable number to provide doses.

Edited July 26, 2021 by Isaan sailor