Vaccine campaign may not kick off on Feb 14 due to delay in delivery

By The Nation

 

 

Thailand may have to postpone the launch of its Covid-19 vaccination programme due to issues with transportation and restrictions on export in the European Union.

 

The government had earlier scheduled February 14 as the first day of vaccination.

 

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Health Anutin Charnvirakul, who attended the National Vaccine Committee meeting on Thursday, stated that they had discussed the management of 50,000 doses of Covid-19 AstraZeneca vaccine. He said that it was not clear when the vaccine would arrive in Thailand, but it may affect the scheduled launch on February 14. However, he expected the vaccine to arrive in Thailand in February despite uncertainty over transportation and the EU restrictions on export of vaccines.

 

The first batch of AstraZeneca vaccine for Thailand is being made in Italy. If the European Commission decided to block the export, the vaccine may arrive by June since the contract with AstraZeneca stated that the vaccines would be completely delivered by June, Anutin said.

 

"Thailand has requested an amendment to the contract to deliver the first lot of 50,000 doses, and then another 100,000 doses”, Anutin emphasised.

 

Nakorn Premsri, director of the National Vaccine Institute (NVI), said the institute has coordinated with Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) to prepare data about AstraZeneca's vaccine, in particular, providing information on side-effects that may occur, preparation and post-injection, for public and target groups to receive correct information before making a decision.

 

Sopon Mekthon, chairman of the Covid-19 Immunisation Administration Subcommittee, said the board had added obese people among the first groups to be considered for vaccination as well as various chronic disease groups due to the same risk. However, it depends on the patient's willingness.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30401988

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2021-01-29

 

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Ahhhh. Happy Valentines day T-Ruck. Careful of the needle in your bouquet. 

They must have got word that the eu will block exports of the vaccine to everywhere, including the 3rd World, despite the mean, vindictive, selfish, corrupt and incompetent eu saying it would help such nations. The same eu put so much pressure on the UK to respect the open border in Ireland to prevent any troubles and has now set up a vax border despite the ROI's objections. The eu's vax nationalism will come back to haunt them and the sooner the better. NEVER trust the eu and in particular france.

This is all about getting people to want the vaccine, worldwide I'd say, very old sales ploy, create an apparent shortage, and suddenly everyone wants it because they're afraid it'll run out.

   Human nature manipulation at work...

Well, not entirely correct.

 

According to Cabinet on Jan 5th, Thailand will get 200,000 doses of the Chinese vaccine in February, or 4 times the amount they were getting of the Astra Zenica vaccine, meaning they can kick of a vaccine program in February.

 

...or is the Chinese vaccine also delayed?

 

 

an obvious question, the general said the private sector can import vaccines? how if the government can not?

Am I missing something .... Thailand has a population of around 70m. So 50,000 doses would cover 0.07% of the population. Widely agreed that around 60% is needed for "herd immunity" so it's going to take a while. And we all know where the first 50,000 are going - not to front line staff but the top  50,000 wealthiest people in Government. 

 

As an expat - I fear we may be a little way down the list and need to wait a few years. 

Will be interesting if Vaccine Passports come in ... need a vaccine to go back to the UK, but can't get one in Thailand so stuck here forever !

 

Mmmm....

1 hour ago, zyphodb said:

This is all about getting people to want the vaccine, worldwide I'd say, very old sales ploy, create an apparent shortage, and suddenly everyone wants it because they're afraid it'll run out.

   Human nature manipulation at work...

Yes of course ,there’s very little demand for a vaccine in a world wide pandemic and a vast oversupply- forgetting also that many are supplying on a no profit basis. Careful that tin foil hat doesn’t fall off as you give that empty head a wobble.. 

1 hour ago, Card said:

They must have got word that the eu will block exports of the vaccine to everywhere, including the 3rd World, despite the mean, vindictive, selfish, corrupt and incompetent eu saying it would help such nations. The same eu put so much pressure on the UK to respect the open border in Ireland to prevent any troubles and has now set up a vax border despite the ROI's objections. The eu's vax nationalism will come back to haunt them and the sooner the better. NEVER trust the eu and in particular france.

They listened and acted https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55865539

...and so the vaccine wars begin!

 

The Thai people have to pay the price for EU bureaucracy and incompetence, very sad and a betrayal of all the values that the EU claims to stand for.

And now, in direct violation of the withdrawal agreement with the UK, the EU has erected a hard border on the island or Ireland to prevent vaccines reaching the UK, in spite of promising hundreds of times that it would never, ever do such a thing. Boris only threatened such a move in case of no deal, Brussels has actually done it.

 

Well, the EU has just signed a major trade deal with China and roughly half of all Volkswagens in the world are made in Xinjiang, aka genocide central, I think we can all see now where Brussels is taking its lead from, and it's not Washington DC anymore.

Suspect the only way for a foreigner to get a vaccine this year would be through a private hospital. However, that is not possible until the Thai FDA starts approving the range of tested vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and soon J&J so that private hospitals can buy them in smallish batches with their own funds. Smallish batches since those jabs will be expensive, estimated between 4k and 10k baht. So only certain groups will be able to afford them. I would pay for a legitimate vaccine. Chinese, Russian and even AZ are highly controversial right now. 

@Natai Beach I thought Thailand had

 

1) the highly regarded Chinese vaccines 

 

2) it's own Thai vaccine 

 

Why is Thailand delaying because of the inferior Western vaccines? 

 

 

3 hours ago, Card said:

They must have got word that the eu will block exports of the vaccine to everywhere, including the 3rd World, despite the mean, vindictive, selfish, corrupt and incompetent eu saying it would help such nations. The same eu put so much pressure on the UK to respect the open border in Ireland to prevent any troubles and has now set up a vax border despite the ROI's objections. The eu's vax nationalism will come back to haunt them and the sooner the better. NEVER trust the eu and in particular france.

You should fact check before you put out ribbish

1 hour ago, Guderian said:

...and so the vaccine wars begin!

 

The Thai people have to pay the price for EU bureaucracy and incompetence, very sad and a betrayal of all the values that the EU claims to stand for.

They pay the price of not taking their development seriously and being incapable of contributing in any meaningful way to the scientific community or vaccine development. 

 

The west owes these people nothing. 

50,000, just tell em to stick em Nothing

What happened to the wonderful local Company that was supposed to be ahead of the curve ?

Or was that all hot air ?

17 hours ago, holy cow cm said:

Ahhhh. Happy Valentines day T-Ruck. Careful of the needle in your bouquet. 

It's not the "P" in the bouquet she needs to worry about.

8 minutes ago, natway09 said:

50,000, just tell em to stick em Nothing

What happened to the wonderful local Company that was supposed to be ahead of the curve ?

Or was that all hot air ?

Gone up in smoke... like most of Thailand this time of year....

Whatever happened to the AstraZeneca/Siam Bioscience agreement that was announced in November to produce 200 million doses of vaccine locally here in Thailand? That was supposed to make Thailand a regional hub for production and distribution of vaccine for Southeast Asia. And now they are trying to get the Chinese vaccine because they have nothing for their own people? Who would have guessed that?

The AstraZeneca vaccine seems to be quite crappy compared with other Western made vaccines, so it might be a good idea to consider other options.

 

2 hours ago, johnarth said:

an obvious question, the general said the private sector can import vaccines? how if the government can not?

50,000 doses ? At this rate with 67,000,000 population it would take 20 years , I go back to UK for mine

Don't understand? If Siam Bioscience are licensed to produce the Astro Zeneca vaccine why don't they just get on with it?

https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2021/01/26/news/interview_pascal_soriot_ceo_astrazeneca_coronavirus_covid_vaccines-284349628/

18 hours ago, holy cow cm said:

Ahhhh. Happy Valentines day T-Ruck. Careful of the needle in your bouquet. 

Postponed to June. She'll have to do with the usual gold..5555

3 hours ago, Tidybeard said:

Am I missing something .... Thailand has a population of around 70m. So 50,000 doses would cover 0.07% of the population. Widely agreed that around 60% is needed for "herd immunity" so it's going to take a while. And we all know where the first 50,000 are going - not to front line staff but the top  50,000 wealthiest people in Government. 

 

As an expat - I fear we may be a little way down the list and need to wait a few years. 

Will be interesting if Vaccine Passports come in ... need a vaccine to go back to the UK, but can't get one in Thailand so stuck here forever !

 

Mmmm....

Isn't that exactly what you wished for???????????

56 minutes ago, chilly07 said:

Don't understand? If Siam Bioscience are licensed to produce the Astro Zeneca vaccine why don't they just get on with it?

They don't expect to start production until the middle of the year. I'd guess they need to get the facility up to speed.

9 minutes ago, madmitch said:

They don't expect to start production until the middle of the year. I'd guess they need to get the facility up to speed.

Maybe start building it first..5555

22 minutes ago, jomtienisgood said:

Postponed to June. She'll have to do with the usual gold..5555

Nope, it is the standard flowers one time of year thing with a card. No more, no less. CM has a wonderful flower market. 

"The first batch of AstraZeneca vaccine for Thailand is being made in Italy. If the European Commission decided to block the export, the vaccine may arrive by June since the contract with AstraZeneca stated that the vaccines would be completely delivered by June, Anutin said"

 

So what if the European Commission decide to block the delivery in June? 

 

Anutin really does have a way with words doesn't he!

 

 

Start using the covid dog vaccine, been around for many years. 

2 hours ago, natway09 said:

50,000, just tell em to stick em Nothing

What happened to the wonderful local Company that was supposed to be ahead of the curve ?

Or was that all hot air ?

The local company (Siam Bioscience) was only ever supposed to start producing vaccines by around June 2021.

 

As mentioned in the article below, from October 2020:

 

Quote

"With transferred technology, [our] company is aiming to have the first batch of vaccines available in the middle of next year," said Satitpong Sukvimol, chairman of Siam Bioscience.

 

Siam Bioscience to produce Oxford vaccine