Thailand as a non-medical tourism destination (to be)
Thailand amidst the vaccine meddling that sees no end.
For the past few weeks, even how optimistic I am, all I can say that Thailand has reached its new low everyday. Young protesters are denied bail, a minister who traded heroin found not-guilty by the Constitutional Court and, worst of all, the vaccines that should be the savior of the country are somehow not enough while the main cities, including Bangkok, are now in an unofficial lockdown. Again.
Since 28 February 2021, only 1.4 million people got in Thailand the vaccine shots. Most of them are medical people and those who are in the high-risk areas. People over 60 years old have to register to queue for their shots in June. The younger people might get the shots from August onwards. My researcher friend estimates that if we still continue with this speed, it will take around 46 years to cover the whole population, which is 69 million people. With around 2000 new cases daily, it is very worrying.
The vaccine companies is also a big issue. Right now, there are only two options available, which are Astra Zeneca and Sinovac, which seem to be much dreaded by their notorious side effects. No surprise, the choice of vaccines is closely intertwined with the politics, as one of Thailands’ largest conglomerates is a shareholder of the company that produces Sinovac.
For me, this is so sad for Thailand, a country that used to brand itself as a medical tourism hub. While some tourist countries have come up with vaccine tourism plans, the expensive private hospitals in Thailand are not even allow to buy the vaccines.
Thai people used to be easy-going. It’s this ‘Thai Style’ that has impressed the world for so long. But today, all I can see are rages and hopelessness. No wonder why the facebook group “Let’s leave the country (ย้ายประเทศกันเถอะ)” has almost 160k members in just a few days.
I don’t know what’s going to happen next. I strongly hope that the authority will finally come to senses, start listening to the professionals and do the right things. When COVID-19 happened, I could guess that it would turn out wrecked this way, judging from the fact that our Public Health ministry actually came from the construction industry with no knowledge of medicine at all. From a person whose half of the family members are doctors and nurses like myself, that was really an insult.
Right now I’m really curious how Thailand will brand itself after this mess.
Ok, my rants end here. Sorry that this one is not as lighthearted as it should be.