anddy

I'm with @PeterRS on this, this is getting SOOO annoying. The point (for me) is not fear of covid, but wanting to get the vaccine to be able to travel again as soon as possible (which currently it is not even fully vaccinated). But with the "Phuket Sandbox" with Q-free entry into Phuket supposed to come July 1st, they now also restricted domestic travel to Phuket to vaccinated people (of which there are virtually none at this point). As for "those who were elected to solve problems", remember they were NOT. They rigged the system and the election such that they got back to power. Thailand in fact DOES have a de-facto dictator (especially in the covid arena, nothing whatsoever happens there without his nod), except he is neither benevolent nor competent but the source of all current ills Considering a vax trip to Germany, too. It would be easy to go there (I think no quarantine requirement there for Thai arrivals) and to get the vaccine. But all so utterly unreliable and unplannable for the return to Thailand. The Phuket model supposed to work only for "low to medium risk countries" (obviously they don't fully trust the vaccines). Even if Germany is low or medium at the time of going there, that designation can change in a heartbeat and then I get stuck there. Complete no-go!

you're rushing to conclusions LOL, June 30th is too soon to believe it! Even July 1st. The first day to believe it will be when the first tourists actually arrive And even then it could be closed again in a split second if and when some outbreak happens, like seychelles-style. It can only be really trusted I suppose when it's been up and running for several weeks AND possibly survived new Covid cases there. I don't want to be overly negative, but the flipflopping (and other monumental government failures) in recent weeks and months has been just appalling

That's good to hear, though in that location they will never attract a tourist crowd (except @vinapu making the occasional trip there). The name is about as simple as it gets: Kin Kao means to eat a meal, so I guess a loosely translated English name would be "Let's eat".

had a salad with seared tuna from them through Grab just last week. My first time too, and it was good (though can't go THAT wrong with just a salad lol). Bit pricey, when compared to, for example, Jones Salad. But quality and taste seem to justify it. They seem to have branches everywhere

NOPE. Was (again) overruled by the central government. What morons, can't they consult each other beforehand? One is painfully reminded of: It would be funny if it weren't so serious. Getting really annoying, the people affected must be despairing....

one can probably get similar stuff pretty cheaply at Uniqlo here in BKK

"there was nothing here" - what an asshole. Reminds me of this fitting meme:

the real reason is more likely insufficient supply because a certain inexperienced firm has issues: https://www.thaienquirer.com/27859/hospitals-postpone-covid-jabs-amid-delays-in-domestic-astrazeneca-production/

This has been stated many times and of it course makes sense to have at least 70% of the Phuket population vaccinated before they open the sandbox in their target date of July 1st. However, this is contradicted by this: So that implies the 70% won't be reached before September. Bye bye sandbox....

hehe yeah I hear ya.... Though Pattaya won't be much fun these days, either

I know I know, I mean just as a gateway to get into BKK after 7 days in Phuket

are these tour packages mandatory to be able to take advantage of the quarantine-free entry? If yes, then the whole project of course is just a mirage and will not materialize If no, then you should go @spoon

exactly, and as @PeterRS remarked at the end of his (very interesting) Kong Kong story the political will has to be there, which clearly is absent here. This is put up for show, with the long time frame there is no risk of any immediate "damage" to the golden goose and in a year or less the whole thing will be entirely forgotten Such "initiatives" have happened here before haven't they? To what effect? Zero as everyone knows

one of the most toothless tigers in the country.... just an extension of the army and their cronies

you're confusing that with the "action for corruption" which has indeed always been on the agenda

interesting, that's probably a good idea because 1. it puts the army to a REALLY beneficial use 2. they know how to organize things and logistics much better than some bureaucracies, so increasing the vax program's efficiency Plus it gives plenty of eye candy (and potentially flirting options) lol

My point wasn't if they have reached herd immunity level or to question the effectiveness of vaccination programmes, I was only wondering why they haven't achieved 100% vaccination rate yet. Since all vaccines were donated, were the numbers of doses not enough and they ran out? Sounds implausible at only 200k doses they require.

I don't get that the Seychelles are only at 60+% vaccinated. I just tread yesterday in the context of a new surge of infections there that they (a) started vaccinating in January, so VERY early, and (b) that their population is 100,000. Small country with limited resources or not, getting 100k people (=200k doses) done is not that much

I find it important to note that this timeline is vaccine doses delivered by the manufacturer and received by the government, NOT doses administered to people. This super capable government may think "oh that's same same but different" but evidently it is not. If they want to fully vaccinate 70% or approx. 50 million people by year end , starting June, that's over 500k shots to be administered every single day on average starting June 1st. That looks like a fairy tale to me. But then again, better aim too high and miss than too low and hit. And better to increase the urgency late (i.e. now) than not at all.

why is that slightly higher than it should be? It's for the PACKAGE of two shots, so only 1500 per shot, seems very reasonable to me. The article states that the cost per dose is $37 -38 or 1200 Baht, so there is very little mark-up

They have indeed started there, over 100k people have already received vaccines (don't ask me if one or two shots and in what proportion), representing 25% of Phuket's population. Not so bad relative to the rest of the country. I just read this recently, but don't have the source handy. Presumably Bangkok Post or Khaosod or Thai Enquirer.

And as usual, there is another new twist in the story: now they say Phuket must have zero cases before they can re-open. Oh really, and why? If they achieve their goal of 70+% vaccination in Phuket and thus the coveted "herd immunity", then why would zero cases be necessary? A few cases here and there won't lead to another major outbreak and no hospitals would be overwhelmed. And, more importantly, even if they get the vaccination level AND the zero cases, then what happens if the inevitable happens and there are new cases after reopening??? As usual a policy not thought through at all, meaning it can be safely ignored. https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2111667/cases-must-drop-for-sandbox-scheme

I would venture to guess on no basis, just with the aim of spreading rather useless) optimism about the reopening. The same could be observed from the government, constant stop and go (as @PeterRS highlighted in the post right above), apart from the usual reasons of incompetence etc, ostensibly in order not to squash the hopes of millions in the sector and to prevent suicides to skyrocket even further Just one attempt in an explanation

I don't know why this is so often framed as a "violation of rights", most loudly by Trump supporters of course. But the government is already violating everyone's rights by requiring people to wear a seat belt in a car (or wear a helmet on a motorcycle) and punishes those who don't even though these devices do ZERO to protect others from harm, only the wearer. And yet, everyone obliges and doesn't complain about the violation. As comparisons go it might be not be a perfect one with mandating a vaccination, but the point is clear. With so much at stake for society as a whole that rather small violation is easily justifiable. Mandatory smallpox vaccination succeeded in eradicating that awful disease. Back then probably nobody complained about a "rights violation" and contributed to this major achievement. Maybe a handful of people even died directly from the vaccine, which is the ultimate violation of their rights, but this prevented the suffering and death of millions. That's the decision society took back then, and might as well take now, though the case for it is of course not as clear cut as then given the milder nature of Covid versus smallpox.

I don't find that puzzling. Embassies and their diplomatic mail transport channels are simply not equipped to handle special medical transports like this, particularly if it's the super deep freeze Pfizer or Moderna jabs. Plus zero staff and infrastructure on the embassy grounds. So logistically it's an impossibility. What they SHOULD do though, kick the Thai governments ass about this! That's the least they can do, and they are perfectly able to.