14 hours ago, internationalism said:

what allowing import by private hospitals, without the government interaction and without taxes?

From the very beginning of  year some 3 hospital networks wanted to buy some 20mln sinovac. They were blocked.

There were few other attempts for some other vax.

So now moderna import is curtailed to only 5mln, from which 1mln for the red cross/army

Assume Big Pharma Co's prefere to work with Government Representative ????

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14 hours ago, internationalism said:

what allowing import by private hospitals, without the government interaction and without taxes?

From the very beginning of  year some 3 hospital networks wanted to buy some 20mln sinovac. They were blocked.

There were few other attempts for some other vax.

So now moderna import is curtailed to only 5mln, from which 1mln for the red cross/army

Sinovac is useless. After 2 doses it is at best 50% effective and this has been proved

14 hours ago, RotBenz8888 said:

But someone has increasing street protests to take into account as well.... 

street protests better than starving to death and losing everything. Not all Thai people are retired expats with pensions and old age. Open the country up and let the retired financially secure people stay home if they want. The rest of the people need to work and eat. 

2 minutes ago, Marco100 said:

Assume Big Pharma Co's prefere to work with Government Representative ????

no, it's the opposite. That's because the government officials want backhands and red tape any progress. As in case with sputnik.

31 minutes ago, Dick Z said:

This colleague of mine absolutely has a point. Since the beginning of this lock down, the 4th of April, the numbers of infections have soared 10-fold. So obviously what has been done is not working, unless you assume they would otherwise have been even higher. So it's time for rethinking and setting the balance between ineffective measures and the damage they create. It has been shown in studies that most transmissions take place at home, not in shopping malls and not even in restaurants, provided the basic measures (distancing, hand cleaning and masks) are observed. I also don't think that Covid spreads from swimming pools in private condo's. So to get and keep the support of the people do things that make sense and that they can understand. And give them something back that brings some joy in life.

I think that they should have been going Lockdown when the first cluster of infection started in Samut Sakorn , below Bangkok and definitely banning traveling for Songkran .

Doing the Lockdown thereafter was late as the virus was sprea in all regions ...

Just now, dougiemac52 said:

Sinovac is useless. After 2 doses it is at best 50% effective and this has been proved

But will in the main still protect against serious illness or death, none of the vaccines will protect 100% against covid. The EU is investigating the possible harmful effects of Mrna vaccines so it's pot luck whatever you choose.

 

 

11 minutes ago, metisdead said:

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Was this from me?

1 minute ago, internationalism said:

no, it's the opposite. That's because the government officials want backhands and red tape any progress. As in case with sputnik.

Yeah but there is no limit in prices for backhands  . I give a hand to you , you give a hand to me ???? . ( in private sector the deal would be far more difficult ) .

11 hours ago, BestB said:

You should read todays news, Not only they bringing in more army to patrol the streets in NSW, but locking down suburb's with 1 case, yes 1 case of person testing positive and entire suburb is on a tight lockdown.

 

Oz government is insane and makes Thai government look half decent.

 

Not only they locked down the country but brought in army to patrol the streets, locked down the country, so citizens can not return and even if could have to pay for everything.

 

An absolute embarrassment, worse than any 3rd world country.

There's a similarity between this Thai (Govt ? ) and the current Aussie one. Money comes before all else .

Just now, wangotango said:

There's a similarity between this Thai (Govt ? ) and the current Aussie one. Money comes before all else .

Where is that not the case?

4 minutes ago, dougiemac52 said:

Sinovac is useless. After 2 doses it is at best 50% effective and this has been proved

no, it's just an example, that private hospitals had plans for import of large quantities of any vax possible, well before the government started to think about getting vax in meaningful quantities.

the thonburi hospital group were talking 20mln pfizer.

It shows, that they see a large market, even at up to 5k per shot. Surely, many foreigners, as well as well-off Thais, wanted to fork out that money, when there was not any chance for anything within the next few months. All spring people were as desperate, as to travel abroad. Some just decided to leave thailand for good

3 minutes ago, club said:

 

 

Was this from me?

 

No, it was not. 

1 minute ago, metisdead said:

 

No, it was not. 

OK

Well the good doctor needs to know opening up without the population 70-75% vaccinated doesn't do a great deal of good either.

 

You only need to see that lesson in the USA, UK and now defiantly, in Brazil.

 

Restricted movement is one of the tools to slow down the movement and speed of the virus until the vaccines are here.

 

Also, trying to break international agreements is a Non starter and just noise on his part.

39 minutes ago, dougiemac52 said:

Sinovac is useless. After 2 doses it is at best 50% effective and this has been proved

 

Yes, and in yesterdays news and peer reviewed in results released in China, states its effectiveness substantially decreases after only SIX MONTHS! 

 

Hence, the scramble for the so called Booster.

 

Another interesting thing that has come out of this and that is vaccinations last longer and offer better protection than people who have had the Covid19  virus and recovered.

 

Just further proof to support vaccinations if it was needed.

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Vaccines are the answer... but Thailand doesn't have any.

All they have is the pitiful supply Prayut & Anutin allowed. any private enterprise that tried to procure more were blocked by them.

Now they are sinking in their own mire.

Sadly, vaccines are not the answer.  Several countries have reached herd immunity and it hasn't stopped the virus from spreading and causing problems.  We just have to get used to living with it and stop all this economic hardship by opening everything up.

read and weep lockdown junkies.    no doubt they will wheel out the old and tiresome  nonsensical argument.... numbers would be higher if no lockdown/restrictions, if my auntie had boll**** she'd be my uncle.  

15 hours ago, internationalism said:

what allowing import by private hospitals, without the government interaction and without taxes?

From the very beginning of  year some 3 hospital networks wanted to buy some 20mln sinovac. They were blocked.

There were few other attempts for some other vax.

So now moderna import is curtailed to only 5mln, from which 1mln for the red cross/army

This was the most ridiculous idea ever.  Private hospitals were never realistically going to be able to import any vaccines. Vaccine manufacturers are currently only selling to governments. They don’t want to get into situation where they sell to the highest bidder. What vaccine is available on the open market? NONE!

41 minutes ago, dougiemac52 said:

Sinovac is useless. After 2 doses it is at best 50% effective

So literally not useless then.

12 minutes ago, shdmn said:

Sadly, vaccines are not the answer.  Several countries have reached herd immunity and it hasn't stopped the virus from spreading and causing problems.  We just have to get used to living with it and stop all this economic hardship by opening everything up.

Vaccines are the answer. They stop the worst effects of the virus and in most cases hospitalizations. The UK is proof of that.

 

What they need is vaccines running in tandem with opening up the country but they don't have enough vaccinated people or vaccines yet to do that.

 

Doing it your way and the result is.....Brazil.

2 minutes ago, hioctane said:

This was the most ridiculous idea ever.  Private hospitals were never realistically going to be able to import any vaccines. Vaccine manufacturers are currently only selling to governments. They don’t want to get into situation where they sell to the highest bidder. What vaccine is available on the open market? NONE!

Agreed,

 

And there should be a law against people in the health sector raising hopes like they did and forming lists and online queues for a vaccine that are unable to procure.

3 minutes ago, The Cipher said:

So literally not useless then.

I don't think any of them are useless, some work better than others as the evidence is now showing with Sinovac at the bottom of the list.

2 minutes ago, The Cipher said:

So literally not useless then.

If Thailand is giving 700,000 healthcare workers Pfizer booster shots and anyone else that had 2 jabs of Sinovac, that's not good. It does seem to protect from death but a booster 2 months after second jab is not good

At last ! Common sense.

 

The good doctor should add : vaccinate ONLY and QUICKLY fragile people (old and/or sick [diabetes, hypertension, obesity etc.]).

 

Those are the real targets of Covid.

 

Right now in this country, some young 25 years old, in perfect health, take vaccine... while old and sick people are still waiting ! It's absurd.

 

The vaccines DO NOT PREVENT transmission. Therefore, we need to focus on mitigating severes cases and prevent death... That should be our only target.

 

And who suffer from severe cases ? Who die from Covid ? Old and/or sick people. We know the profiles since 18 months.

 

To summarize :

-vaccinate as fast as possible the real targets of Covid  (and do not waste vaccine on young people in perfect good health)

 

-reopen totally the economy (restaurants, shops, schools, garden, swimming pools, public parks etc.)

 

The virus will "go through" and it will eventually die out (because natural herd immunity)... We will prevent many casualties thanks to vaccines.

9 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

I don't think any of them are useless, some work better than others as the evidence is now showing with Sinovac at the bottom of the list.

You have scientific evidence that Sinovac at bottom of list. Do share.

Meanwhile, link below from a study showed Pfizer 42% effective against Delta.

https://ussanews.com/News1/2021/08/12/covid-19-vaccines-effectiveness-against-delta-variant/

13 hours ago, 3NUMBAS said:

the bar industry cant survive this ,sex tourists are toast

I say Karma for the bar industry. Not the working girls, the bar owners are greedy and have been ripping off customers for years. They should at least give the girls 30% of the bar fine. Why pay 190 Baht for a warm beer in a bar, no aircon, when you can get the same at 7-Eleven for 42 Baht. 

The doctor is right in so far as infections will continue to rise but that is because the Genie is out of the bottle when Prayut allowed people to travel for Songkran and workers to head home with the advance announcement of shutdowns in the construction industry and of course, the porous borders and corrupt border crossings as useful as  a sieve.

 

In Isaarn, much as they love the gossip and running around like headless chickens, they don't adjust their behaviour and they just cannot keep it up long term. They have the attention span of a goldfish.

 

Mentioned many times I live =very near the local hospitals and see every day, nurses coming out and having lunch mixing and talking with locals with masks under their chins and even early evening, drinking in Mom and Pop shops ( these are older nurses).

 

They sit enjoying "shooting the breeze" with the locals and dishing out vaccine information. It makes them important locally for a while and gives them celebrity status. They then head off home to share community meals with family where they all sit on the floor and eat. So, the 2 meter rules all go in the dustbin at clocking off time.

 

That is hardly social distancing but it is their way of life!

6 hours ago, nkg said:

 

 He didn't claim to be trying to "ease infection rates". Don't you agree with him that getting more vaccines is more important than ineffective lockdowns?

 

I like how you criticize what he says without making any alternative suggestion of your own.

Asking questions is criticism? My but you are thin skinned. 
 

Why a doctor would not want to ease infection rates is beyond me. 

3 hours ago, Moonlover said:

 

How about quoting it properly instead of cherry picking the words.

 

'People’s homes have become the place where high infections occurred overall, so some lockdown measures should be relaxed immediately before the Thai economy became even worse'. 

My question stands.