Foreigners face longer wait for jab

A healthcare worker prepares a dose of Sinovac's vaccine in Jakarta on Feb 4 this year. (Reuters photo)
A healthcare worker prepares a dose of Sinovac's vaccine in Jakarta on Feb 4 this year. (Reuters photo)

Foreigners in Thailand may have to wait until August before receiving vaccinations from the government.

Panruedee Manomaipiboon of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration said the Health Ministry aimed to vaccinate everyone in Thailand, including foreign residents and immigrants.

"We need to build herd immunity, which means we cannot segregate Thais and foreigners. The government has prepared enough vaccine for everyone in Thailand," she said.

The plan is to vaccinate those most at risk first, such as medical staff and other frontline workers, those with underlying conditions, the elderly, and then move on to the general public.

As for foreigners, only migrant workers in Samut Sakhon have been vaccinated so far.

Nevertheless, she said that foreign residents may have to wait until August to register for vaccination.

"As I have said before, the Health Ministry plans to vaccinate Thais first. We will try our best to vaccinate Thais within two months, namely June and July, and then try to open foreign resident registration in August," Ms Panruedee said.

For registration, she said it should be done via the Mor Prom app.

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Vocabulary

  • frontline: directly involved where fighting takes place - แนวหน้า
  • herd immunity: when most of a population is immune to an infectious disease -
  • immigrant: a person who has come to a different country in order to live there permanently - ผู้อพยพ, คนย้ายถิ่น
  • jab: a vaccination - การฉีดวัคซีน
  • migrant worker: someone who travels to another place or country in order to find work - คนงานต่างถิ่น
  • register: to put your name and other information on an official list in order to be allowed to do something, e.g., vote, study, stay in a hotel etc - ลงทะเบียน
  • segregate: separate and put in different places -
  • underlying (adj): important in a situation but not always easily noticed or stated clearly; existing under the surface of something else - ที่สำคัญและซ่อนอยู่, ที่อยู่ในตำแหน่งต่ำกว่า
  • vaccinate: to give someone a vaccine, usually by injection (putting a liquid, especially a drug, into a person's body using a needle and a syringe), to prevent them from getting a disease - ฉีดวัคซีน
  • vaccine: a substance which contains a form that is not harmful of a virus and which is given to a person or animal to prevent them from getting the disease which the virus causes - วัคซีน
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