Provincial health chief Dr. Suriya Kuharat has urged people living in Prachuap Khiri Khan province to register to receive a COVID-19 as soon as possible.
Dr. Suriya said the sooner people register, the sooner they can receive the vaccine and herd immunity can be built throughout the province.
However, for expats in Hua Hin, actually being able to register for a vaccine is easier said than done, especially for people aged under 60.
The vaccine registration process for foreigners in Hua Hin is at best problematic and at worst is simply not available.
Expats are still waiting for the dual language online registration platform the authorities promised would be launched to facilitate vaccine registrations.
The registration desks that had been set up in Market Village and BluPort shopping malls, which were convenient and well organised, have since been removed.
Registration is possible at Hua Hin Hospital but is very much dependant on who you are able to speak to at reception.
Hua Hin Today has received mixed reports of people successfully registering for the vaccine, but only after hospital staff were able to override the registration system by entering a number in place of a Thai ID number, which is required to register.
Other people reported they were simply told vaccines were not available and were pointed to a sign a the hospital for confirmation.
Dr. Suriya was commenting at the daily briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the province.
As the health officials are dealing with five separate COVID-19 clusters in the province, nearly all the confirmed cases in are of the Alpha variant of the virus.
Only two cases have been confirmed as the more contagious Delta variant, Dr. Suriya said.
However, officials are still awaiting lab tests to confirm the strain of the infections found at the two most recent clusters – Kuiburi cluster and the Pre-Built Camp cluster in Hua Hin.
Meanwhile, Dr. Suriya gave information on the latest fatality in the province from COVID-19.
Friday’s death was a 35-year-old fisherman from Myanmar, who was registered as living in Samut Sakhon.
The authorities have ordered anyone who came into contact with the deceased, mainly the crews on the fishing boat where he worked, to be quarantined for 14 days.
