Jabs a pipe dream?

David Brown’s question in his Jan 6 letter, “Do expats get the jab?” is clearly rhetorical. I believe he knows very well that expats will not have access to the government’s limited supply of Covid vaccines, even if they are willing to pay for them. Apart from a small number of foreign residents, who received Gold Cards before they changed the rules, expats, even if they are permanent residents, are not eligible for the Thai Universal Healthcare system. Expats will be expected to pay the market rate for imported vaccines from private hospitals, if and when they are able to import supplies and get them approved by the Thai FDA.

Although David Brown’s point is well made, a more pressing question is whether the government will vaccinate the estimated 3-4 million foreign migrant workers. The legal migrants have some sort of government health coverage that they have to pay for, although it is not clear whether this will cover vaccination. However, up to half of the migrants are estimated to be undocumented.

While the government is planning to give them work permits, it remains to be seen how this will work out on the ground and whether it will lead to universal vaccination of migrant workers. Given that the migrant workers have to live and work in cramped conditions which enable the virus to spread easily, it is incumbent on the government to have all of them vaccinated. This will involve increasing the supply of vaccines beyond what the government has already announced which seems barely adequate to vaccinate 50% of the Thai citizen population, whereas vaccination of about 70% of the population is needed to achieve herd immunity.

GEORGE MORGAN