Wealthy Thais fly overseas on vaccine tours

Travel agencies in Thailand are offering ‘‘vaccine tours’’ to the United States, Russia and Serbia, as part of a trend in which affluent citizens of unvaccinated countries go abroad for their jabs.

Unithai Trip, a Bangkok tour operator, is offering packages costing from 75,000 to 200,000 baht (NZ$3200 to $8800) for ‘‘vaccations’’ in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. The price depends on the vaccine preferred and the length of time between the first and second doses.

Another agency is offering 23-day holidays in Russia for the Sputnik V vaccine, while a third is taking individuals and groups to Serbia. They report receiving hundreds of calls from locals who do not want to wait until Thailand begins its vaccination programme.

The Thai government announced last weekend which groups will receive a vaccine after its health workers are inoculated. They include people over 60 and those with specified conditions. Nobody will receive a dose until next month at the earliest.

The demand for vaccine trips illustrates sharp inequalities that are emerging around the world.

Britain and the US have vaccinated 52 per cent and 44 per cent of their populations respectively, but many other countries have hardly begun. As supply begins to exceed demand, some US states, including Florida, California and Texas, have essentially been inoculating all comers without asking about immigration or residence status. This is to ensure that illegal and undocumented workers are vaccinated to avoid creating an underclass of potential coronavirus carriers.

Many of the visitors to the US come from Canada and Latin America. In Mexico, about 500 companies are offering all-in packages.

The demand is obvious from the numbers of Mexicans arriving in the US – 99,000 in February and 222,000 in March.

Thailand’s programme will begin with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is being made under licence in the country.

Travel companies report, however, that some wealthy Thais are flying to the US to get the PfizerBioNTech vaccine, regarded by some as safer and superior, partly because of unsubstantiated fears about the risk of blood clots from AstraZeneca’s vaccine.

The Thai government has warned its vaccine tourists that rules between US states vary considerably and can change at short notice.

Thailand has been very slow and haphazard in providing vaccines. The government showed no sense of urgency until early April.