Vaccination in Thailand is a mess, especially for expats like myself. The government is jabbing Sinevac (ineffective?) and AstraZenca (dangerous?) so many Thais are refusing the vaccines altogether. There is much anger directed at the Prime Minister since other, better vaccines were available. Why Thailand went with two of the worst vaccines is unclear, but the answer probably rhymes with 'honey.' An internal memo was leaked recently, about the plans to give a 3rd Pfizer jab to people who've already had two Sinevac jabs.
“At present, if it [Pfizer vaccine] is administered on the third group, it is tantamount to admitting that Sinovac vaccine offers no protection. This will make it harder to defend it”.
To be eligible for the free government jabs a foreigner needs a "yellow" book and a "pink" ID card. I never pursued getting these: the main advantage seemed to be the right to own an automobile in one's own name, but I'm happy to register vehicles in the names of wife or kids. (Many of the "Hill people" of Thailand also do NOT have ID cards despite their ancestors living here for generations. Can they get vaccinated?)
The U.S. vaccinated all employees of its embassy and consulates here, but not ordinary U.S. citizens. (France did offer free vaccination for all French nationals living in Thailand.) Now I read that the U.S. has already donated 1.5 million Pfizer doses to the Kingdom on condition that 20% be used for foreigners. (That gives an idea of the huge expat population living here.) Apparently the Thai government has purchased another 20 million Pfizer doses for delivery near year's end.
Meanwhile, we (two Thai nationals and myself) have joined a queue to get vaccinated at a private hospital, maybe in January, maybe with Moderna. (We missed other such queueing opportunities: queues open and are filled hours later.) We had to pay in advance for these vaccinations ($130 each). If we get the Pfizer jabs first, perhaps we'll be able to sell our Moderna queue positions to recover the $130 investments.
), and Sinopharm (not good, but at least it prevents deaths it seems), letting a lot of people die in the meantime, not because those vaccines don't save lives, but because many more would have been saved if they had had those vaccines and millions of Pfizer doses the company was willing to sell as part of an agreement because the largest Pfizer vaccine trial was here - only a few days ago the government yielded, so we'll have Pfizer after all, but much later and in much lower numbers than we could have.
