According to tourism officials in Pattaya, Thailand, they fear the COVID-19 vaccinations are too little and too late.
- Being first polite, the Pattaya tourism officials thanked the mayor for the start of the vaccination process.
- With Thailand hoping to reopen to foreign visitors by October, however, the officials feel they are too far behind with too little supply.
- The only people who qualified for the first of 20,000 shots on Thursday and Friday were medical personnel, volunteers, and the elderly.
Pattaya Business & Tourism Association President Boonanan Pattanasin said he was disappointed so few tourism workers received vaccines and complained the government hasn’t explained why so few sector employees got jabs.
Thanet Supornsahatrangsi of the Chonburi Tourism Industry Council said May 20 that tourism industry groups have pleaded with the government to prioritize tourism-sector workers in Pattaya’s vaccination plans. But the only ones who qualified for the first of 20,000 shots Thursday and Friday were medical personnel, volunteers and the elderly.
Pattaya having only 20,000 jabs also concerned Thanet, since the city originally said it would have 42,000, then revised it to 30,000. But the government’s failure to obtain vaccines at the same pace as most other countries has left Thailand unprepared for the latest coronavirus wave. More than half the vaccines were diverted to Bangkok, where more than 1,000 cases of COVID-19 are being reported almost daily.
