Officials confirmed yesterday that ex-pats in Phuket will be included in the Thai government's vaccine schedule and will receive Covid-19 vaccinations. The Phuket Communicable Disease Committee is in control of enacting all Coronavirus policies on the island, and a key member, Dr. Chalermpong of Vachira Phuket Hospital, announced today that foreigners will be provided Covid vaccines as well. A new online form was launched today, and Phuket's Vice Governor advised that initial appointments would be made only online, requested people without online access to be patient and not walk into hospitals.
The Sinovac vaccines will be received to Phuket this month, and AstraZeneca doses for those over 60 will be received in June. The first 100,000 doses are intended for registered residents and people from other provinces that work in tourism, but the batch will be open to people from other industries, including foreigners. Chalermpong confirmed that inoculation eligibility will be wide.
“All people on the island who are older than 18 but younger than 60 years old, including those registered as locals of Phuket, those from other provinces, and foreigners, are eligible to be vaccinated.”
The Vice Governor is calling for people's cooperation, especially in the tourism industry, as he aims for a 70 per cent vaccination rate, focusing first on tourism workers and registered residents. To accelerate the process, all businesses – hotels, tour or activity operators, even department stores – are being requested to enrol their staff in priority jabs.
So far, 20,000 workers from 700 businesses have registered. The registration is available online, as well as a separate site for residents, which launched on Tuesday morning. People who registered previously through the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office’s Google Form do not need to re-register.