Thailand has contingency plans to secure COVID-19 vaccines

Suwit Rattiwan

 

   

BANGKOK (NNT) - Thailand has contingency plans to secure COVID-19 vaccines from other producers if AstraZeneca cannot deliver the doses it promised in time.

 

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said the government is not relying on a sole candidate to meet its COVID-19 vaccine needs, adding it is still looking to seal deals with other vaccine manufacturers.

 

He said Thailand’s vaccine rollout is not late, considering the current problems surrounding production and deliveries.

 

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2021-02-08

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

10 minutes ago, webfact said:

He said Thailand’s vaccine rollout is not late

That's right, it's VERY late. 

8 minutes ago, webfact said:

AstraZeneca

This vaccine has been rendered pretty much useless against the new variants especially the South African one where its only helpful against very mild cases . If this gets into Thailand then they should maybe forget about their order 

17 minutes ago, keith101 said:

This vaccine has been rendered pretty much useless against the new variants especially the South African one where its only helpful against very mild cases . If this gets into Thailand then they should maybe forget about their order 

It's actually pretty much the opposite of what you said. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine still provides good efficacy against all the variants other than the South African one and even for the SA variant where its efficacy is lower it still provides protection against severe illness, hospitalisation or death. It's only against mild cases that it is not so effective.

 

See report below where it is stated, in relation to the AstraZeneca vaccine (and others):

 

"What that is looking like is that we may not be reducing the total number of cases but there's still protection in that case against deaths, hospitalisations and severe disease."

 

BBC News

Looks like he's relied on a sole supplier and it fell through so now he's not relying on a sole supplier.

I heard AZ are going to modify the vaccine to take into account any new mutations, in fact the woman who runs the show (Sarah Gilbert) at the Jenner Institute said they've been working on this slightly altered strain for some time already.

 

There will be many new strains over the coming years and the vaccines will likely all fail to be as efficient as they were against the original form of the virus at some point. Adaptation is the key here, I'm sure Pfizer and all the others are also busy working on this as well.

 

 

7 minutes ago, ukrules said:

I heard AZ are going to modify the vaccine to take into account any new mutations, in fact the woman who runs the show (Sarah Gilbert) at the Jenner Institute said they've been working on this slightly altered strain for some time already.

 

There will be many new strains over the coming years and the vaccines will likely all fail to be as efficient as they were against the original form of the virus at some point. Adaptation is the key here, I'm sure Pfizer and all the others are also busy working on this as well.

 

 

Modifying any vaccine means they have to start all the phases of clinical trials again which may take another one year.

 

It's not like Windows update when you can just download without any human trials. What may work in the past may not work now and vice versa.

 

4 minutes ago, ukrules said:

I heard AZ are going to modify the vaccine to take into account any new mutations, in fact the woman who runs the show (Sarah Gilbert) at the Jenner Institute said they've been working on this slightly altered strain for some time already.

 

There will be many new strains over the coming years and the vaccines will likely all fail to be as efficient as they were against the original form of the virus at some point. Adaptation is the key here, I'm sure Pfizer and all the others are also busy working on this as well.

That's the beauty of the newer types of vaccines like the mRNA and viral vector ones - they're easily adjustable for any new variant.

 

All they need is the new genome sequence for the spike protein (which is already known) and they can just plug it in to their basic vaccine construct in place of the genetic sequence for the original spike protein.

 

It's the same way the Oxford group created their CoVid-19 vaccine in the first place. They already had a vaccine for MERS which included the genetic code for the MERS spike protein, they just replaced that sequence with the sequence from the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and they were ready to go.

11 minutes ago, ukrules said:

heard AZ are going to modify the vaccine to take into account any new mutations

"To be ready by November" according to a report I saw yesterday (Sky News). The Pfizer vaccine's the only one (I've heard of?) that's supposed to work well against the SA variant.

21 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Looks like he's relied on a sole supplier and it fell through so now he's not relying on a sole supplier.

And the Sole Supplier would be ????

Any guess,s?

25 minutes ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

It's actually pretty much the opposite of what you said. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine still provides good efficacy against all the variants other than the South African one and even for the SA variant where its efficacy is lower it still provides protection against severe illness, hospitalisation or death. It's only against mild cases that it is not so effective.

 

See report below where it is stated, in relation to the AstraZeneca vaccine (and others):

 

"What that is looking like is that we may not be reducing the total number of cases but there's still protection in that case against deaths, hospitalisations and severe disease."

 

BBC News

 

Keith 101 is right. You are wrong. That is why South Africa has stopped with the AZ rollout.  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/south-africa-covid-variant-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine-b1798952.html

4 minutes ago, onebir said:

"To be ready by November" according to a report I saw yesterday (Sky News). The Pfizer vaccine's the only one (I've heard of?) that's supposed to work well against the SA variant.

 

Right, that's why they're launching a hotel based quarantine scheme for those entering the UK from 'red zones'.

 

Eventually the virus will mutate the other way and become harmless, it is inevitable - at that point it needs to be identified and allowed to flourish.

 

12 minutes ago, EricTh said:

Modifying any vaccine means they have to start all the phases of clinical trials again which may take another one year.

 

That's not quite the case with these new vaccines, the payload can be slightly altered, it's mostly the same vaccine.

 

6 minutes ago, EricTh said:

 

Modifying any vaccine means they have to start all the phases of clinical trials again which may take another one year.

 

It's not like Windows update when you can just download without any human trials. What may work in the past may not work now and vice versa.

 

That not necessarily the case and I've seen quotes from various sources saying a complete new set of trials will not necessarily be required.

 

Dont forget, what they're doing is taking a vaccine with a genetic sequence of 38,000 characters at its core and replacing just a handful of those characters (17 in the case of the SA variant, IIRC). The outer part of the vaccine (the lipid membrane) for instance, will be totally unaltered.

 

They will obviously have to run some new trials but I think only phase 3 studies should suffice, mainly to show efficacy. They're making such tiny changes to the spike protein sequence that the overall safety profile will hardly change, as far as I can tell.

9 minutes ago, John Drake said:

 

Keith 101 is right. You are wrong. That is why South Africa has stopped with the AZ rollout.  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/south-africa-covid-variant-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine-b1798952.html

Did you read that article you've linked to? It talks about a figure of only 22% efficacy but then mentions that, "researchers said the figure was not statistically significant, due to trial design ..."

 

Which is exactly what the Oxford scientists have pointed out - the study numbers were too small to be relied on.

 

As mentioned in the BBC article, they believe that the AstraZeneca vaccine will still protect from severe illness or death even with the SA variant.

21 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

And the Sole Supplier would be ????

Any guess,s?

You can guess, just don't mention him.

34 minutes ago, EricTh said:

 

Modifying any vaccine means they have to start all the phases of clinical trials again which may take another one year.

 

It's not like Windows update when you can just download without any human trials. What may work in the past may not work now and vice versa.

 

How do they manage with the seasonal flu shots?

38 minutes ago, EricTh said:

Modifying any vaccine means they have to start all the phases of clinical trials again

Thus does not always apply to the type of mods needed for such variants.  It is often much like the flu vaccines. 

1 hour ago, webfact said:

He said Thailand’s vaccine rollout is not late, considering the current problems surrounding production and deliveries.

????????????????????????, No they are not late at all, just like a woman who finds out she is pregnant after missing her period, not late at all.  Maybe they can seal the deal with the Russians, and the Chinese, to get the Cyborg CCP vaccine.  They could then take them to the Siam BioScience lab and mix the two to make their own and claim 100% protection.

1 hour ago, webfact said:

He said Thailand’s vaccine rollout is not late,

Correct. It isn't late, it's non existent.

Israel has already given an initial shot to over 60% of its population in comparison.

Thailand still has no idea when or where theirs is coming from.

1 hour ago, keith101 said:

This vaccine has been rendered pretty much useless against the new variants especially the South African one where its only helpful against very mild cases . If this gets into Thailand then they should maybe forget about their order 

It’s not useless, why say that.? It’s very effective for most people under 68/65. After that age it’s a bit less effective but still protects the person getting very ill/ hospitalized. As for the African strain ALL vaccins are less effective but still protects. There will be boosters taking in mutations every year, exactly like the flu vaccin. Well live with it !!!

Thank God we have good news, and I thought this was going to last forever. 

 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand has contingency plans to secure COVID-19 vaccines from other producers if AstraZeneca cannot deliver the doses it promised in time.

 

So, the contingency plan if AZ fails to deliver is to secure other vaccines from other producers.

 

That's you plan?

 

You can actually keep a straight face while you are explaining that you in fact don't have a contingency plan?

Listening to Anutin on the MONO 29 news right now is just laughable.  I really honestly do not know how he can tell the porkies he is telling with a straight face.  He must be stoned is all I can say.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

He said Thailand’s vaccine rollout is not late, considering the current problems surrounding production and deliveries.

He said Thailand’s vaccine rollout is not late, considering the current problems surrounding brown envelope shortages.

Fixed it for you

1 hour ago, sungod said:

How do they manage with the seasonal flu shots?

It looks like this virus has seasonal tendencies so they should be able cope, but then the two hemispheres will surely keep them busy and in the money. 

28 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

He said Thailand’s vaccine rollout is not late, considering the current problems surrounding brown envelope shortages.

Fixed it for you

If it's not late I wonder what word he has to describe what it is? The plan?Maybe even the ever changing plan.

54 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Listening to Anutin on the MONO 29 news right now is just laughable.  I really honestly do not know how he can tell the porkies he is telling with a straight face.  He must be stoned is all I can say.

If he was high on his own supply not only would he not be able to keep a straight face but he would be breaking that drug dealers golden rule.

1 hour ago, darksidedog said:

Correct. It isn't late, it's non existent.

Israel has already given an initial shot to over 60% of its population in comparison.

Thailand still has no idea when or where theirs is coming from.

Israel was extremely lucky, with a smallish population and a rather good health system (notably the IT) & the initiative (&/ chutzpah) to try jump the queue. Most countries lack at least one of those factors (developing countries in particular).

 

But despite getting so many vaccinations done, the case count hasn't come down that much (~20% reduction from peak in 7dma as of 8th Feb) and had a worrying upward blip in the last few days. That may be due to lags in development of immunity + some superspreader events (huge religious funerals) about a week ago. I hope that's the case, because another possibility is that the spread's being driven by a variant (possibly even an undocumented one) that the vaccines they're using (mostly Pfizer) doesn't confer resistance to.

 

(I'd like to see if the hospitalizations in Israel are coming down better, if anyone has a handy link to a graph of that.)

39 minutes ago, onebir said:

 

 

(I'd like to see if the hospitalizations in Israel are coming down better, if anyone has a handy link to a graph of that.)

Close to 90% of people aged 60 and older in the country have received their first dose of Pfizer’s 2-dose vaccine so far. Now, data collected by Israel’s Ministry of Health show that there was a 41% drop in confirmed COVID-19 infections in that age group, and a 31% drop in hospitalizations from mid-January to early February. 

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00316-4

 

One reason there may be blips or spikes is due to the younger population not vaccinated yet?