Some S’poreans in Thailand opt to wait for preferred Covid-19 vaccines, SE Asia News & Top Stories

BANGKOK – Some Singaporeans living in Thailand have watched in envy as friends and family get vaccinated at home.

“When peers (in our age group) in Singapore started getting vaccinated, we became kancheong (‘overly anxious’ in Cantonese),” said housewife Christine Lee, 35, who lives in Bangkok with her husband and young children.

She had tried to use the Thai government portal set up for foreigners to register for Covid-19 vaccines last month, but faced problems with the online application.

Fortunately, she and her husband managed to get the AstraZeneca vaccine through the latter’s employer.

There is also the question of getting the “vaccine of choice” for some of the Singaporeans, as Thailand relies mostly on locally made AstraZeneca and China’s Sinovac.

Other vaccines, like the mRNA-based Moderna, are deemed alternative vaccines and are offered by private hospitals at a…