Thailand

Thais can register for the first round of Covid-19 vaccines this month

Published

6 months ago

Friday, January 8, 2021

Som-O

PHOTO: UNICEF

Thai residents can register for the first round Covid-19 vaccination at the end of this month, but no exact date has been released, according to the Department of Disease Control. Frontline healthcare workers as well as those who are in any of the 5 high risk provinces and considered the “most vulnerable” are first priority. The 5 provinces at high risk are Chon Buri, Samut Sakhon, Rayong, Chantaburi and Trat.

The DDC’s director-general says that the department has gone through careful consideration on effectiveness and safety of the vaccine and ensures that there will be close monitoring of the vaccine side effects that may happen after the vaccination.

The vaccination will be divided into 3 phases…

First phase: 2 million doses of the vaccines will be available from February to April for 1.32 million Thai residents in the 5 high-risk provinces.
Second phase: 26 million doses will be available from May to June for people in other risk areas.
Third phase: From the end of this year to early 2022, the rest of the Thai population will be vaccinated.

The department will further educate health workers about the preparation for the vaccination procedures including vaccine storage, transportation, and monitoring measures.

SOURCE: NNT

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46 Comments

Rasputin

Friday, January 8, 2021 at 6:44 pm

Everyone vaccinated by early next year? That would entail giving 9 million injections a month, ie (2 doses a couple of weeks apart) That is a MIGHTY BIG ask don’t you think? I hope they can, Good Luck with that, they will need it.

Reply
- Issan John
  
  Friday, January 8, 2021 at 8:45 pm
  
  Leaving aside Phase 1, so starting in “May 2021” to “early 2022”, that’s 11 months to vaccinate around 65 million with two jabs each, so I’d say closer to 12 million jabs a month / 400,000 per day, every day.
  
  There are just over 1,000 government hospitals, so if only government hospitals were used that would indeed be a “MIGHTY BIG ask”, but Thailand still has the “traditional” system of clinics in nearly all sub-districts which could make the big difference as long as it’s maximised.
  
  It’s a bit like the old (very old!) UK district nurse system which IIRC went out around 50 years ago along with local hospitals and local GPs in favour of centralising everything.
  
  They have an excellent, tried and tested system for tetanus booster jabs which, IIRC, manages to give a booster jab to 10% of the adults in each sub-district in only one day, once a year. 10% because it’s a ten yearly booster jab, so everyone gets a letter telling them to go for a jab in their 20th, 30th, 40th etc year.
  
  Simple but effective, and if the sub-districts can give the jabs it becomes a lot more do-able.
  
  If.
  
  Reply
Wijnschenk

Friday, January 8, 2021 at 6:45 pm

Just thai people.
How social of this goverment…..
The expats bring so much to this country…..
But ifcourse thai first.!!

Reply
- Issan John
  
  Friday, January 8, 2021 at 7:48 pm
  
  … what, exactly, is the policy for vaccinating foreigners in your country who aren’t residents, tax payers or working there?
  
  Glass houses, and all that …
  
  Reply
  - Leaonard
    
    Friday, January 8, 2021 at 8:08 pm
    
    We don’t make difference between foreigner and local. Paper or not especially when it is about health.
    So… I’m agree with WijnschenkFriday.
    
    I can understand the first job of gouvernement is to care about their own. But since you accepted expats and lot of them are part of education, assistance or just resident who spend their money here. It is always annoying to see that the gouvernement always act as we don’t exist.
    
    Reply
    - Issan John
      
      Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 2:57 pm
      
      Which country is that?
      
      Where any foreign visitors can just go to a hospital and demand to be vaccinated for free because they’re of a certain age or have certain medical conditions?
      
      Reply
  - Jacob
    
    Friday, January 8, 2021 at 8:46 pm
    
    I’d be happy to pay for the vaccine, but as it sounds that is not an option here.
    
    Reply
    - Issan John
      
      Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 2:59 pm
      
      The Thai authorities have ALREADY said that WILL be an option, and that’s been reported here, on Thaiger.
      
      It simply doesn’t suit some people’s sense of entitlement and Thai bashing to recognise that.
      
      Reply
  - Buttaxe
    
    Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 9:49 am
    
    China, yes that totalitarian hellhole, is giving the vaccine FREE to Chinese and foreign residents alike. This is consistent with the way foreigners are treated in China – I know I lived and worked there for many years, unlike Isaan John who should stick to commenting on Isaan – although I doubt he’s an authority on that either.
    
    Reply
    - Issan John
      
      Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 3:02 pm
      
      Yes, THEIR vaccine and ONLY their vaccine, and for foreigners ONLY to “foreign residents” which none of those whingeing here are.
      
      … but what do the facts matter …
      
      Reply
  - chupapi
    
    Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 1:02 pm
    
    In the EU Zone it does not matter which country you come from and if you are or not a taxpayer, if there is reciprocity of health systems, vaccines that are free in the original country will be free also in the host one. There may be a modest fee for some local tax that shall be paid anyway. In certain companies or in the academia there, vaccines are also provided for free to all employees no matter where they come from. For paid vaccines (which price is anyway quite low, usually below 20 euros), there is no preference, just have the money.
    
    Reply
    - Issan John
      
      Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 3:05 pm
      
      Whoopee … are you suggesting Thailand should join the EU?
      
      Reply
- Ynwaps
  
  Friday, January 8, 2021 at 11:04 pm
  
  Ya’ll have way too much victim mentality learned during 2020.
  
  Reply
galapagos0424

Friday, January 8, 2021 at 7:16 pm

Small correction, it should be “phase” not “phrase”.

Reply
Jason

Friday, January 8, 2021 at 7:30 pm

Don’t be in a rush to get the vaccination. It is a good thing…but not all vaccines are the same! Take the time to see the results of the vaccines from other countries…. then act.

Reply
- preesy chepuce
  
  Friday, January 8, 2021 at 8:53 pm
  
  I’m only interested in the UK one, not touching anything from the CCP.
  
  Reply
Maag

Friday, January 8, 2021 at 7:43 pm

Sound good , will order an other cognac !

Reply
Frank

Friday, January 8, 2021 at 7:52 pm

We not important we can just die they could care less, always the discrimination of thailand… is AMAZING. THANKS FOR SHOWING AGAIN THAILAND HOW WELCOME WE ARE TO SPEND MONEY BIT FOR THE REST YOU COULD CARE LESS

Reply
- Issan John
  
  Friday, January 8, 2021 at 8:47 pm
  
  As I asked Wijnschenk, Frank …..
  
  what, exactly, is the policy for vaccinating foreigners in your country who aren’t residents, tax payers or working there?
  
  Glass houses, and all that …
  
  Reply
  - Jimmy riddle
    
    Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 2:31 pm
    
    There are plenty of foreigners working here legally that are paying tax. I think the point that a lot of posters are trying to make is, even if we do pay tax, foreigners are still overlooked.
    
    Reply
Wijnschenk

Friday, January 8, 2021 at 8:02 pm

For example israel!!!
Everybody in the country gets free
Injection

Reply
- Issan John
  
  Friday, January 8, 2021 at 8:55 pm
  
  Really?
  
  The 2.7 million Palestinians in the West bank and Gaza who have been told they will have to wait for the WHO’s Covax programme would probably disagree.
  
  Reply
  - Buttaxe
    
    Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 9:43 am
    
    Yet again, you display your ignorance of the world. The West Bank and Gaza are not Israel, they are (brutally) controlled by Israel but they are not Israel. Israeli Palestinians, arabs get the vaccine as Wijnschenk correctly said.
    
    Reply
    - Manu
      
      Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 3:11 pm
      
      Yeap Buttaxe, but you can be sure that he will not respond to that comment, The Chief-Commentator of TheThagier is always there to deni anything, with the most irrational way of thinking coupled with ignorance. This guy has obviously became a covid-obsessed and lost any shred of rationality. And we all know the final step of obsession: insanity!!!
      
      As for the vaccins: Big Pharma is certainly not giving those vaccins for free, certainly not Pfizer, one of the most corrupted big corporation in the world, if not THE one, with incredible lobbying at the highest level in the west (not in the third world of course, no money there) – these beautiful people are involved in so many huge scandals the past 15 years, and most probably more that we do not know about. Anyway…. Where is the money used by countries to buy those vaccins coming from? From taxes. So surely in Thailand at least anyone who pays tax should be entitled to get it for “free” since they already paid for it.
      
      Price of the Moderna vaccin in Europe: 14 euros
      Price of the Pfizer vaccin in Europe: 12 euros
      Price of the AstraZeneca vaccin in Europe: 1.78 euros. Huge credit to Oxford University, partner of AstraZeneca for this vaccin, that included a VERY IMPORTANT clause in their contract with AstraZeneca: the price will be the cost of it as long as the pandemic is on.
      
      A quite subsantial difference of prices, these differences show the huge profits in stake. And that is what it is all about, if anyone was still doubting it by now.
      
      Reply
      - Issan John
        
        Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 3:47 pm
        
        Responded already, actually, before your comment was published. Sorry about that.
        
        … and where do you get the idea from that “anyone who pays tax” won’t get the vaccine “free” in Thailand?
        
        Those who either “pay tax” so are covered by the Social Security Scheme (SSS) or those who are covered by the Universal Health-care Coverage Scheme (UCS) DO get full health coverage “for free” (or at the most 30 baht), and there has never been any suggestion by anyone in authority that won’t apply to the Covid vaccine.
        
        The problem for the whingers is that they don’t “pay tax” here, apart from VAT, so just as in any other country buying a beer doesn’t entitle you to a free Covid vaccination.
        
        … and BTW, Israel paid double that for their vaccines. The ones they’re ONLY giving to Israelis, not to “everybody in the country”.
    - Issan John
      
      Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 3:15 pm
      
      Hardly displaying any ignorance, apart from in your dreams.
      
      Yes, those who are “Israeli” get the vaccine for free but that is NOT “what Wijnschenk [INCORRECTLY] said”, which was that “everybody in the country gets free injection” which is absolute bollox.
      
      ONLY “Israeli” and those resident in Israel “gets free injection”. Anyone else, including “the 2.7 million Palestinians in the West bank and Gaza” who goes to Israel has to either pay (if Israel allows them to, which they haven’t done so far) or has to wait for the Covax programme.
      
      Sorry, but as usual the facts tell a very different story.
      
      Reply
      - Manu
        
        Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 3:38 pm
        
        You write before you think and you persist: surely you know that Gaza and WB are NOT Israel, that they are part of a country called Palestine? Why Israel should give free vaccines to another country??? Will you persist again???? And to complete this: arabs/palestinians living in the “annexed” East-Jerusalem, so in Israel (this part like many others in the region are occupied illegally though but that’s another story), are getting the vaccine like everyone else in Israel. There you go.
      - Manu
        
        Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 4:51 pm
        
        Read properly too… I never said or did “get the idea” that farangs who pay tax will not get it for free, I said in any case they should.
        
        And again, last try: israel and palestine are 2 different countries, why should Isreal give the vaccine for free to people from another country??? it is the same as saying Thailand should give the vaccine to Cambodia or Vietnam, etc…
  - chupapi
    
    Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 1:05 pm
    
    wb and gaza are not technically part of israel. Similarly, who will be in charge of vaccination in northern cyprus? cyprus, grece, turkey, eu? and in artsakh? etc…
    
    Reply
    - Issan John
      
      Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 3:28 pm
      
      Yes, chupapi, I’m well aware they’re not “technically part of Israel”, but if the Palestinians there cross the border to Israel they will be “in the country” and they WON’T “get free injection” despite Wijnschenk claiming that they will.
      
      Northern Cyprus have their own public health care system, but Turkey is already in the process of sending vaccines to the TRNC.
      
      Artsakh? Vaccines from Russia via Armenia who received the first Sputnik V vaccine from Russia two months ago.
      
      Reply
Jeff

Friday, January 8, 2021 at 9:15 pm

What exactly is a Thai resident? If you’re taxed as a Thai resident, shouldn’t you be considered a Thai resident? What if you have a Yellow house book and a social security number/card?

Reply
- Issan John
  
  Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 3:50 pm
  
  Someone who has Thai residency.
  
  Just like any other country. Try going to the UK or anywhere else in “the West” and claiming that because you pay tax you’re entitled to residency!
  
  Reply
Leo Bourne

Friday, January 8, 2021 at 10:45 pm

The article is a little misleading. The headline says ‘Thais Can Register’. The expanded article says ‘Thai Residents’.
Which is it?

Reply
Jim

Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 3:28 am

wow, everyone is so eager to get a vaccine even though they don’t know whats in it, pure poison

Reply
Roger

Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 9:05 am

Sadly as vaccinations will cost The Thai Gov I do not think the Thai population will ever be fully vaccinated even if a workable vaccine is found.
It would take years for this to happen if ever.
Other countries have order 50 -200 million vaccines for a population smaller than Thailand to try to vaccinate by end of 2021
So what hope has Thailand got ??
The Thai Gov not even try to curb the high road toll so what hope does a cost factor in vaccination have …. The poor will certainly never get the vaccine
Good Luck Thailand

Reply
- Buttaxe
  
  Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 9:56 am
  
  Quite right. If their target is half the population, they might manage a quarter, and that will exclude foreign residents. It is lamentable but pretty consistent with every other aspect of life here.
  
  Reply
  - Issan John
    
    Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 3:54 pm
    
    IF IT’S SO “LAMENTABLE” THEN WHY ARE YOU “HERE”?
    
    Why don’t you go somewhere else?
    
    Reply
  - Issan John
    
    Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 3:55 pm
    
    Why aren’t you still living in your beloved China, instead of “here”?
    
    Reply
chupapi

Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 1:07 pm

IMHO they should vaccinate first by age groups, not by location.

Reply
- Issan John
  
  Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 3:56 pm
  
  They’re vaccinating those most at risk first! what on earth is wrong with that.
  
  Reply
Brilliant and handsome

Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 3:57 pm

Well it’s a toss up.. 57000 cases a day and a vaccination available to us by year end or 200-300 cases a day and no vaccine till 2022. I’ll take the latter..

Reply
James Bonding

Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 4:47 pm

Hello Issan John, do you always get your “facts” from Google searches? I have to ask because most of your comments are so wide off the mark its remarkable and downright scary that there are people like you whos education solely relies on Google searches.

Reply
- Issan John
  
  Sunday, January 10, 2021 at 3:52 am
  
  Feel free to give any examples …..
  
  … and FWIW some facts are from personal experience, some from news articles I’ve read and checked, and some from a search. I prefer to check first rather than to tell someone they’re “wide off the mark” when it’s bollox and they’re 100% correct.
  
  Reply
Issan John

Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 9:22 pm

What I find sad but mildly amusing in all this is the absolute hypocrisy and the sense of entitlement and blinkered selfishness displayed so unashamedly.

While it’s fine for Israel to allegedly only give the vaccine to Israelis but not to anyone else “in Israel” because they’re “from another country”, Thailand’s condemned for even the possibility that it might not give the vaccine to farangs who aren’t resident here, even though the government’s reportedly already said that it will be available to all covered by the UCS and SSS.

That if someone’s “taxed” here they should be “considered a resident” even though no Western country does so.

That “every aspect of life” in Thailand is “lamentable”, but the person saying so still lives here ratherv than China which is the holy of holies.

Amusing, but sad.

Reply
- Issandingleberryjohn
  
  Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 10:51 pm
  
  Whats sad is how much a loser you are to sit here and reply to everyones comments on this site ALLLL day long.
  
  Go drink yourself to death already.
  
  Reply
Issan John

Sunday, January 10, 2021 at 3:58 am

Not sitting – lying down.

… and I leave drinking myself to death to those who have far more experience in that particular area, such as yourself.

Reply