Last update: July 19th, 2021.
Swift action across Southeast Asia to combat COVID-19 has served the region well, but countries are anxious to reopen for tourism. Thailand is taking the leap with the release of a Thai COVID Pass.
Authorities confirmed the COVID pass in Thailand back in April and have introduced a phased reopening spanning all the way to January 2022.
How does the Thai vaccine passport work?
In April, the Disease Control Department announced the release of Thailand’s COVID certificate. The passport will resemble vaccine certificates that have been commonplace for decades, like the Yellow Fever Card.
It will display the traveler’s name and identification number as well as the dates of vaccination and the type of vaccine received.
Thailand’s vaccine passport is issued by appointment at one of the following institutions:
- The Bureau of General Communicable Disease at Suvarnabhumi airport
- Travel Medicine Clinic
- Bamrasnaradura Infectious Disease Institute
- Urban Disease Control and Prevention, Bang Khen, Bangkok
“Those who have completed the vaccination will receive a COVID-19 certificate,” announced Anutin Charnvirakul, Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Health, after a National Communicable Diseases Committee held on March 8th, 2021.
The government refers to this document as a “vaccine passport” since it is meant to help restore international travel and tourism, a key industry for the Southeast Asian country.
“If you wish to travel abroad, bring a certificate of vaccination, obtain a vaccine passport or ‘yellow book‘,” said Charnvirakul.
What are the requirements to travel to Thailand?
The tiered reopening plan in Thailand started in April and allowed international visitors to arrive in Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui and Pattaya if they booked a 14-day quarantine stay in a hotel.
On July 1st, travelers to Phuket could avoid quarantine if they could provide proof of full vaccination.
The third part of the plan is to allow visitors to the remaining 5 pilot provinces to forgo quarantine if fully vaccinated from October 2021.
The last phase of the plan is to fully open for tourism again in January 2022, but the new wave of COVID that Thailand is currently experiencing may cause delays.
Travelers need to apply for a Certificate of Entry (COE) before entering the country to ensure they meet all the necessary entry requirements.
The certificate of entry can be displayed on the ThailandPlus app. Upon arrival, travelers must also have proof of medical coverage.
COVID-19 health situation in Thailand
Thailand got ahead of the virus and was able to contain infections until January 2021, with only around 5000 cases up to that point.
Since April, a massive spike in new infections caused the death toll to rise. Thailand is currently suffering its most devastating COVID wave: over 80% of the country’s infections have been in the last 3 months.
As for the vaccine rollout, tourist hotspots and frontline workers are being targeted first.
Just over 14,000,000 doses have been given by the second half of July. 3,000,000 people have been fully vaccinated, nearly 5% of Thailand’s total population.