Covid-19 round-up for expats 2: Will your country give a vaccine?
With so much information swirling around the reopening of Thailand and the international tourism and vaccine distribution for foreigners, we thought we’d round up some updates for our readers about what your home country says about if you should travel to Thailand and how they are helping with a vaccine and the Covid-19 situation inside the Kingdom.
The information in these reports is mainly about the United States, United Kingdom, European Union nations, and Australia. You can read each report here:
- Covid-19 round-up for expats 1: Should you travel to Thailand?
- Covid-19 round-up for expats 2: Will your country give a vaccine?
- Covid-19 round-up for expats 3: Are countries helping Thailand?
PART 2: WILL MY COUNTRY GIVE ME A VACCINE?
The United States recently released a statement through their Department of State that they are unable to provide Covid-19 vaccines for Americans in Thailand. While the government has pledged financial support and vaccine donations around the world including 7 million vaccines to Asia, they are not including US citizens living outside of the United States. They advised anyone abroad to come back to the United States to receive their vaccine in their home country.
Australia’s Embassy in Thailand said in a video posted to their website that their vaccination rollout includes people located in Australia only, and they therefore will not be sending or helping administer any vaccine for Australians in any other country. The embassy said they’re committed to helping keep people informed about how they can sign up for domestic vaccine programs here in Thailand.
The idea that countries are “unable” to provide vaccines seems inaccurate as China included a stipulation that all Chinese nationals inside Thailand receive inoculations as part of their donation of 500,000 Sinovac vaccines to Thailand that arrived June 5. The “Spring Sprout” programme is running now in Bangkok to make sure each of the 150,000 Chinese citizens living in the country receive a vaccine.
France also seems to have managed to pull off the impossible, as they announced that French citizens over 55 years old living in Thailand can register and receive a free Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine. The costs are covered by the French government and French citizens can get a vaccine at Bangkok Hospital branches throughout the country. The French vaccination program in will run through the end of July.
