Thailand has three runners in global race for COVID-19 vaccine

[webfact]

Thailand has three runners in global race for COVID-19 vaccine

By Thai PBS World’s General Desk

 

(FILES) In this file photo taken on December 8, 2020 a member of staff draws the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine out of a phial at the Southmead Hospital, Briston. – The US Food and Drug Adminstration on December 11, 2020 granted the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine an emergency use authorization, paving the way for its imminent rollout across the country. (Photo by Graeme Robertson / various sources / AFP)

 

With COVID-19 vaccines the only hope for humankind’s recovery from the virus crisis, Thailand has joined the race to secure effective immunisation.

 

Coronavirus has so far infected at least 75.5 million people and killed 1.67 million others around the world. In Thailand, which has seen a new outbreak, the virus has infected some 5,289 people and killed 60.

 

Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Disease Control Department, said the National Vaccine Board’s subcommittee on inoculation will soon come up with a plan to use the limited supply of vaccines with maximum efficiency.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thailand-has-three-runners-in-global-race-for-covid-19-vaccine/

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2020-12-23

 

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[RichardColeman]

11 minutes ago, webfact said:

Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Disease Control Department, said the National Vaccine Board’s subcommittee on inoculation will soon come up with a plan to use the limited supply of vaccines with maximum efficiency.

 

I bet those 'limited supplies' have already been allocated to the top 1% of the country.

[Mango Bob]

Foreigners over 75 with health conditions will be last on the list.

[sammieuk1]

Generals watch polishers and unexplained unusually wealthy form an orderly queue ????

[grumbleweed]

Quote

Under the contract between Thailand and AstraZeneca, the vaccine technology will be transferred to Siam Bio Science, a Thai firm, to produce 26 million doses.

 

What could possibly go wrong?

[Shuya]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

limited supply

Guess who didn't make contracts with suppliers because 'we are world nr. 1 health hub, we develop own vaccine'? 

[Jeffr2]

It doesn't say when the jabs will be available???

[Old Croc]

I thought "the race" was over and the trophies (contracts) distributed.

Not making arrangements with other runner's teams has meant Thailand will finish near the rear of the field with the distribution of prizes.

[bluesofa]

2 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

Generals watch polishers and unexplained unusually wealthy form an orderly queue ????

Or delegate an underling to queue on your behalf.

[Natai Beach]

3 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

I bet those 'limited supplies' have already been allocated to the top 1% of the country.

That is a relief.
I didn’t want to have to wait for mine.

[internationalism]

Siam Bio Science belongs to Crown Property so it’s not surprice that this company was chosen to make the first vaccine. 
So government is paying to astrazeneca and siam bio science 6bln/$200mln for 26mln vials, that would be $7.5 per vial. In Europe it costs $2.18 https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-pfizer-astrazeneca-moderna-vaccine-eu-revealed-belgian-mp-2020-12

Some other vax were quoted $2-3, the most expensive $60 (one od chinese one). 
Strengly no mention anymore about russian and chinese vax, although they both were mentioned not longer than a week ago by health minister as candidates. 
and it’s a mit, that vax is the only solution. There are also medicines being researched and developped. 
it’s strange, that chloroqine was dropped from WHO list. Also strange, that ivermectin is not included yet. 

Edited December 23, 2020 by internationalism

[Patong2021]

Sadly this is dark news. There is nothing to offer now. most everyone in the forums agrees that Thailand cannot begin to return to "normal" or can have foreign visitors until the vaccine is in the population. We see now the impact of arrival infection carriers. 

The one possible vaccine that Thailand will access will be the Oxford Astra Zeneca and production seems to be some time away. This vaccine does not seem to be as effective as the vaccines to be used in EU and North America.

Thailand has a limited cold chain logistic capacity, and you can see this in the frozen food section of the supermarket. Products thawed then frozen again, ice cream with ice crystals etc. I don't think it can possibly hope to use current recipe for vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna.  Johnson & Johnson and Novavax maybe come  next March April 2021, but they need refrigeration too.  Other countries have been planning for distribution for the past year and their militaries have been very involved. I don't know if Thailand has even  started to prepare with military planning and simulation or the purchase of special freezers and mapping out a supply chain.

 

It is very sad to see Thailand so far behind. Forgive cynicism, but maybe cancel a submarine and use the money to prepare for vaccine distribution?

[Patong2021]

4 minutes ago, internationalism said:

Siam Bio Science belongs to Crown Property so it’s not surprice that this company was chosen to make the first vaccine. 
So government is paying to astrazeneca and siam bio science 6bln/$200mln for 26mln vials, that would be $7.5 per vial. 
Some other vax were quoted $2-3, the most expensive $60 (one od chinese one). 
Strengly no mention anymore about russian and chinese vax, although they both were mentioned not longer than a week ago by health minister as candidates. 
and it’s a mit, that vax is the only solution. There are also medicines being researched and developped. 
it’s strange, that chloroqine was dropped from WHO list. Also strange, that ivermectin is not included yet. 
 

Not strange drugs not promoted,  because they were not proven to be effective. Please do not suggest conspiracy. Yes there are other medications that can be used, but it all depends on the symptoms and stage a patient is suffering. They use steroids for serious critical care case to relieve symptom. I see that aspirin users have benefited from the blood clot prevention property and other drugs. Unfortunately, they use the drugs after the person is very sick and is in hospital. None of the medicines can prevent or cure. The vaccine will reduce the number of people who will go to hospital or who will have serious symptoms. Vaccine may not block the infection, but it can minimize the impact.

[internationalism]

Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine were on WHO list till August. Some countries dropped them from their lists recently. Some are still using. So there ate researches and good clinical results. 

Thailand claimed at the beginning of february, to cure covid using tamiflu, anti-flu medicine, at several patients. This medicine is made in thailand by rhe government pharmaceutical organisation and is not expensive. For flu is also used as prophylactic. 

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand has joined the race to secure effective immunisation.

They've just announced the race to go to the moon, 59 years after someone else got there.

I'm not holding my breath.

[George Aylesham]

3 hours ago, Shuya said:

Guess who didn't make contracts with suppliers because 'we are world nr. 1 health hub, we develop own vaccine'? 

Possibly the UK when we refused the EU's invitation to participate in vaccine purchase plan but to go it alone - result: because of the EU's massive purchasing power they get it for 18 Euros a jab while Britain pays 24 sterling for the same product.

[KhunKenAP]

Yesterday Dec 22, Singapore received thier first plane load of COVID vaccinations. Thailand will be lucky to get any by May. If made here, it will cause a lot of unneeded questions and concerns. 

 

Another fine job by Prayut and Antuin.

 

 

[Caldera]

The headline is rather generous, considering that several runners from other countries have crossed the finish line already at this time. So the fact that Thailand still has three runners in the race isn't exactly awe inspiring.

 

[mommysboy]

3 hours ago, Patong2021 said:

Sadly this is dark news. There is nothing to offer now. most everyone in the forums agrees that Thailand cannot begin to return to "normal" or can have foreign visitors until the vaccine is in the population. We see now the impact of arrival infection carriers. 

The one possible vaccine that Thailand will access will be the Oxford Astra Zeneca and production seems to be some time away. This vaccine does not seem to be as effective as the vaccines to be used in EU and North America.

Thailand has a limited cold chain logistic capacity, and you can see this in the frozen food section of the supermarket. Products thawed then frozen again, ice cream with ice crystals etc. I don't think it can possibly hope to use current recipe for vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna.  Johnson & Johnson and Novavax maybe come  next March April 2021, but they need refrigeration too.  Other countries have been planning for distribution for the past year and their militaries have been very involved. I don't know if Thailand has even  started to prepare with military planning and simulation or the purchase of special freezers and mapping out a supply chain.

 

It is very sad to see Thailand so far behind. Forgive cynicism, but maybe cancel a submarine and use the money to prepare for vaccine distribution?

 

The Astrazeneca vaccine (aka:Oxford Jab) is something of an enigma and it appears less easy to measure by one simple metric. The trial was multi-faceted to gauge factors such as transmission and durability, and was made messy by what appears to be a dosing error which had an unlikely surprise.  But I don't think efficacy is doubted.  In the long run it may prove to be the best all round vaccine, so I think any suggestion that it is the short straw is at least premature, and possibly quite wrong. The latest research seems to suggest that it takes a while to come up to full potency,  but that an initial one dose strategy followed by a delayed booster may be the best.  News regarding this vaccine appears to be subject to a lot of North American bias and not in a favorable way- perhaps that will prove to have merit and the regulators in UK are certainly scrutinizing closely, but then that's their job, I suppose.

 

Perhaps all these vaccines should be judged on their ability to prevent an individual becoming seriously ill- nobody likes a cold but it doesn't kill you.  All three vaccines are about as good as it can get in this regard. 

[mommysboy]

1 hour ago, George Aylesham said:

Possibly the UK when we refused the EU's invitation to participate in vaccine purchase plan but to go it alone - result: because of the EU's massive purchasing power they get it for 18 Euros a jab while Britain pays 24 sterling for the same product.

 

Just one vaccine. UK has 5 or 6 agreed deals, including (hopefully) 100 million of the AZ/Oxford vaccine which is very cheap. 

[Mango Bob]

Sorry no money for a vaccine.  We need to pay for our order of submarines and tanks from China first.  After that then the Thai people.

[side]

5 hours ago, internationalism said:

Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine were on WHO list till August. Some countries dropped them from their lists recently. Some are still using. So there ate researches and good clinical results. 

Thailand claimed at the beginning of february, to cure covid using tamiflu, anti-flu medicine, at several patients. This medicine is made in thailand by rhe government pharmaceutical organisation and is not expensive. For flu is also used as prophylactic. 

re hydroxichloroquine, you need to attach your sources with valid, peer reviewed clinical trials showing it to be effective (there are no such valid, peer reviewed research papers, don't waste your time). Your suggestion that the WHO were somehow all gung-ho about HCQ as late as August seems unlikely as the following link is from the WHO's very own website, it's research to download from *June* for your reading pleasure, it's a full 18 pages long so if it's TL;DR for you, in summary it says "HCQ isn't proven to be effective": https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/targeted-update-safety-and-efficacy-of-hydroxychloroquine-or-chloroquine-for-treatment-of-covid-19

 

On your second statement, am not sure what you are even suggesting re Tamiflu as it's been perfectly clear since approximately forever that it is not effective against covid 19, and how could it be? Maybe you have a vague memory of Thai doctors back in February having hit a handful of covid patients with Tamiflu and a bunch of HIV anti-retrovirals and they didn't die. Since then, all those medical approaches have proven clinically ineffective.

 

[Bender Rodriguez]

corona wiped out ... the common FLU VIRUS and many other diseases, as everybody now only dies from corona in the world

[ronaldo0]

Welcome to the race . Now here is your wooden spoon , because as always with Thailand everything is an afterthought ! ????

Edited December 23, 2020 by ronaldo0

[connda]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

With COVID-19 vaccines the only hope for humankind’s recovery from the virus crisis, Thailand has joined the race to secure effective immunisation.

You could just let it run it's course and allow the human immune system to do it's job like it has for millennia. 

[connda]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

Coronavirus has so far infected at least 75.5 million

7500000 infections / 7800000000 Earth population = 000967949 or .098% of the population of the Earth is infected.  I won't bother to do the deaths.  They pale in comparison to road fatalities.
But just be extremely afraid and get your shot (which isn't available) as soon as you can.  And wear a mask and social distance for the rest of your life. 

[Seeall]

12 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

I bet those 'limited supplies' have already been allocated to the top 1% of the country.

 

After they test it for side effects on you....

[Valentine]

4 hours ago, Mango Bob said:

Sorry no money for a vaccine.  We need to pay for our order of submarines and tanks from China first.  After that then the Thai people.

I thought he already postponed 1 sub so can use that money for relief funds

[connda]

3 hours ago, side said:

re hydroxichloroquine, you need to attach your sources with valid, peer reviewed clinical trials showing it to be effective (there are no such valid, peer reviewed research papers, don't waste your time). Your suggestion that the WHO were somehow all gung-ho about HCQ as late as August seems unlikely as the following link is from the WHO's very own website, it's research to download from *June* for your reading pleasure, it's a full 18 pages long so if it's TL;DR for you, in summary it says "HCQ isn't proven to be effective": https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/targeted-update-safety-and-efficacy-of-hydroxychloroquine-or-chloroquine-for-treatment-of-covid-19

 

On your second statement, am not sure what you are even suggesting re Tamiflu as it's been perfectly clear since approximately forever that it is not effective against covid 19, and how could it be? Maybe you have a vague memory of Thai doctors back in February having hit a handful of covid patients with Tamiflu and a bunch of HIV anti-retrovirals and they didn't die. Since then, all those medical approaches have proven clinically ineffective.

 

Here's what I've done.  Bought and stockpiled  Hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, and zinc.  Should any of my family come down with Covid this will be our first line defense.

Think this is fake?  A major medical journal, The Lancet, pulled its paper attacking the Hydroxychloroquine protocol citing "concerns about the quality and veracity of data in it." 
"The three authors said Surgisphere, the company that provided the data, would not transfer the dataset for an independent review and they “can no longer vouch for the veracity of the primary data sources.”
Quotes are from Rueters.

Studies of Hydroxychloroquine are back under study under the auspices of the World Heath Organization.  All this can be verified by a Internet search. 

Personally you think its still fake news?   Well, then take your doctor's protocol. But me and my family?  We'll keep it on hand until there are current (Dec 2020 and beyond) studies conclusively rejecting Hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, and zinc protocol as being ineffective.  As of this post?  They are none. There are now ongoing studies as The Lancet goes into damage control.  (There really needs to be a sharp division between science and partisan politics as the latter really destroys the integrity of the former.  As well there needs to be a clear division between research conducted by stakeholders which  support the claims of a treatment they provide and monetarily benefit from as opposed to independent studies from non-stakeholders which may offer contradicting results and evidence.)

 

 

 

Edited December 23, 2020 by connda

[sathornlover]

7 hours ago, KhunKenAP said:

Yesterday Dec 22, Singapore received thier first plane load of COVID vaccinations. Thailand will be lucky to get any by May. If made here, it will cause a lot of unneeded questions and concerns. 

 

Another fine job by Prayut and Antuin.

 

 

And Malaysia expects to receive the first batch of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech in February, according to a report by the national news agency Bernama …