Health Minister Anutin confirms Sinovac vaccines to arrive on Wednesday

[WaveHunter]

1 minute ago, Shocked farang said:

I totally agree but at the same time I am worried that governments and media are not showing the true nature of ALL THE VACCINES: They are experimental. It usually takes between 5 to 10 years to develop a new vaccine. These were developed in about 1 year! So, what's missing? The insight into the long term side effects. Nobody, I mean nobody knows if an self immune disease could develop in the future for people who received any of the vaccines. Fact. I will get vaccinated though. 

I totally agree that the potential long term effects of the vaccines are largely unknown and that is a huge concern for everyone, but that's the case with all vaccines throughout history; there's just no way to know until time passes.

 

It's true that until now, vaccines have taken years, not months to develop and test for efficacy and safety, but the Covid vaccines were a remarkable achievement that took advantage of cutting technology and billions of dollars in development costs.  

 

I think that transparency of the makers has been excellent with the possible exception of the Chinese.  Personally I think it all boils down to potential risks vs potential benefits, and the current state of affairs with regard to not just health but the economy (which probably will take a bigger hit than health in the long-term) make the benefits of the vaccines far outweigh the risks.

[Janner1]

I have closely followed the published data regarding reactions and or side effects of those of us who have had the Covid vaccine and nowhere Have I read about any deaths from it anywhere in the world, To my certain knowledge there has only been two recorded serious reactions to it requiring hospital treatment and both were in the form of anaphylactic shock known as anaphylaxis, other side effects have been little more than tiredness and an itchy injection site for a few days.

Of the current 18,000,000 + vaccinated in England not one person has died and vaccinations continue at a pace daily with a projected 70% or more of the population completed by June of this year, and I can assure everybody out there that had there been any adverse reaction vaccinations would have stopped immediately.

A report published today states that Pfizer and Oxford Astra Z vaccines reduce hospital admissions by 85% and 94% respectively.

We should all be very thankful for the hard work scientists around the world have carried out to give us the protection from Covid that the vaccine provides.

[bluedoc]

15 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

I hope Thailand plans on vaccinating more than 3.3% of its population.... 

2 million Sinovac vaccines is a better number than the 150,000 AstraZeneca vaccines ordered. 

 

Importantly, better information beyond the ‘Brazil report’ on the efficacy of the Sinovac vaccine is also important, while better than nothing, 50% is not yet good enough. 

 

Hopefully the promised 26 million vaccines promised by May by the AstraZeneca-Siam Bioscience bilateral production will come through, things have gone very quiet on that front. 

 

The Sinovac vaccine is a lot more important than many of us have given credit for. 

Vaccines in wealthy countries are useless if the virus elsewhere is not controlled and antigenic drift results in such evolution of the virus that existing vaccines have limited efficacy. 

 

The Sinovac vaccine fills a gap, it can be distributed more readily, doesn’t need refrigeration.

Thailand is apparently also developing its own vaccine. 

 

Interesting times, ultimately times where the whole world needs to come together to ensure that primarily those in high risk groups are vaccinated, as soon as they are, we can surely all get back to normal. 

 

Astra Zeneca has just been announced it stops 94% Covid transmission.

 

[DogNo1]

Vaccines for the elderly?  When we elderly can get vaccinated is a matter of concern.  It may be much later rather than sooner.  Just yesterday, an article was published in the Japan Times quoting a government spokesperson who said that the vaccination of a small number of the elderly will begin in several months and proceed slowly after that.  Other groups will have priority over the elderly.   Thailand appears ready to vaccinate the elderly in phase 3 whenever that begins.  Both countries appear to want to vaccinate people important to their healthcare systems and economies first.  

Since I am over 75, going out for shopping and coffee everyday feels like playing Russian Roulette but I don't want to stay isolated in my room despite the risk.

Regarding the vaccine in Thailand, if I wanted to spend the smallest amount of money possible outside of the country, I would do what the government is doing now.  

What both countries are doing makes sense to preserve the nations and their economies but a lot of elderly people are going to die as a result.

In my case, if the Chinese vaccine becomes available first, I will take it unless I become aware of any bad side effects.  Some protection is better than no protection and there doesn't seem to be any bad effect from getting the AstraZeneca vaccine later.

Regarding getting the vaccine from a private hospital, I think that the government has forbidden them from buying their own supplies  so I assume that the only shots that they will be able supply will need to be bought from Siam Bioscience.

[cncltd1973]

9 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Well, let us hope their vaccine is not as vapid as their wine. Not sure this is something they should be taking a chance with, to save some cash, when a multi trillion baht tourism industry is at stake. 

I don't think it's about saving cash, I assumed it's about kick-backs

[EricTh]

18 hours ago, meechai said:

the one made by Pfizer — needs to be kept extremely cold: minus 70 degrees Celsius, which is colder than winter in Antarctica!  Moderna has said that its vaccine needs to be frozen too, but  only at -20 Celsius more like a regular freezer.

 

But these Sinovac vaccines from China ?? No problem...throw on a pallet & saran wrap leave in sun on the dock then float over to Thailand no problemo ????

 

I don't have much confidence that Thai medical staff can ensure it is stored at very low temperature after it has arrived considering the super hot temperature starting during March-May.

 

It is not regular freezer, it must be stored in a special freezer or else it will be just useless liquid once injected.

 

[scorecard]

10 hours ago, DefaultName said:

Flight time from China 4-5 hours, this is taking over 2 days.

 

Urgency, what urgency?  ????

Easy, flight has to go via ....... to pick up somtam supplies. 

[scorecard]

7 hours ago, Shocked farang said:

They have no choice as they are not letting anyone out of the country soon. All these tourists, asylum seekers, lost souls are now locked in Australia... 

Not quite true, yes Australia is controlling who can leave and who can enter:

 

Oz citizens who can prove they have family in another country get automatic exemption and can come and go. And there's several other categories of exemptions.

 

Arrivals into Australian is mostly Australian citizens and families returning from abroad on repat. flights. Tourists not allowed in at the moment.

 

Overall sensible policies. 

 

 

[dcnx]

14 hours ago, ericdiam said:

Zero trust this vaccine. Just over 50% in Brasil. Turkey over 90. And Indonesia in the 70. It the worst result (50%) from any vaccine now available in the world. And thats what this stupid government talks about for weeks.  Pure corruption is going on here in the total vaccine program. That why it takes so so long to start mass vaccination! Also why Siam bioscience not allow any visitor. 

Now they say end June. Before it was begin May. And in few weeks it might be September 

I'm just waiting private hospitals to order get approval and import. Don't care to pay. Just want one of the top vaccines 

Did you expect anything different from this government?  You’re dealing with incompetence and corruption at every level here, it was always going to be a disaster.

[thailand49]

O.K.  Lets get all the government leaders in line for the first shot no pushing.

[Moonlover]

22 hours ago, DLock said:

On 2/22/2021 at 9:04 AM, Moonlover said:

It actually took 10 months for the University of Oxford to develop the AZ vaccine, not 6. And just how quickly could YOU build, or adapt a production plant to produce millions of doses per month?

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55041371

 

 

22 hours ago, DLock said:

 

 

"how quickly could YOU build, or adapt a production plant to produce millions of doses per month?"

 

Really, you asked that and expect to be taken seriously?

 

The point  is that Siam Bioscience are taking 8 months from signing an agreement to producing vaccines...supposedly.

 

Given the absolute urgency, you think they were the best choice?

 

Astra Zeneca reviewed a number of potential candidates for local production before settling on Siam Bioscience. I think it was something like 5. None of the companies, to my knowledge, had produced vaccines before, so whomever AZ chose, it was going to be a 'cold startup'.

 

So you ask 'Given the absolute urgency, you think they were the best choice?'

 

My answer to that is that AZ is a major international player in the pharmaceutical industry, who know a heck of a lot more about producing vaccines than any of us do. I'd rather put my faith in their judgement than anyone on this forum.

 

Surely, when it come to producing vaccines, the most important aspect is to get it right.

[DirtyHarry55]

7 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

 

Astra Zeneca reviewed a number of potential candidates for local production before settling on Siam Bioscience. I think it was something like 5. None of the companies, to my knowledge, had produced vaccines before, so whomever AZ chose, it was going to be a 'cold startup'.

 

So you ask 'Given the absolute urgency, you think they were the best choice?'

 

My answer to that is that AZ is a major international player in the pharmaceutical industry, who know a heck of a lot more about producing vaccines than any of us do. I'd rather put my faith in their judgement than anyone on this forum.

 

Surely, when it come to producing vaccines, the most important aspect is to get it right.

So do you know who the other potential candidates were and perhaps a link?

[Moonlover]

21 minutes ago, DirtyHarry55 said:

So do you know who the other potential candidates were and perhaps a link?

No I don't. That would very likely be  'commercial in confidence', so I very much doubt whether such information would be in the public domain. I read about it in the TF, but it's behind a paywall now so I can't go back to it.

 

There are other references to it in local news outlets, but as usual you'll hve to hunt them down for yourself.

 

[Bkk Brian]

24 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

 

Astra Zeneca reviewed a number of potential candidates for local production before settling on Siam Bioscience. I think it was something like 5. None of the companies, to my knowledge, had produced vaccines before, so whomever AZ chose, it was going to be a 'cold startup'.

 

So you ask 'Given the absolute urgency, you think they were the best choice?'

 

My answer to that is that AZ is a major international player in the pharmaceutical industry, who know a heck of a lot more about producing vaccines than any of us do. I'd rather put my faith in their judgement than anyone on this forum.

 

Surely, when it come to producing vaccines, the most important aspect is to get it right.

You can't make claims with no link to prove them, you really mean AZ looked at around five companies in Thailand all of which had no experience in vaccine production? Thats pure rubbish!

 

Yes to get it right is important so getting a company that has produced and developed vaccines before would have been the priority one would have thought, plenty here in Thailand including this one, a Thai French owned company that is currently developing the covid vaccines with Chulalongkorn University https://bionet-asia.com/

 

You may want to take a look at their vaccine portfolio, pretty impressive what they've produced. https://bionet-asia.com/product-portfolio/

 

Of course the other choice is a company with no vaccine production facility, in fact never produced a vaccine in their lives before, build one from scatch and transfer all the technology so they can learn how to do it...............

[schvonsky1]

On 2/21/2021 at 10:07 PM, RichardColeman said:

I think until ALL nations start publishing infections AFTER vaccination by each maker then its pot luck, though I would trust western vaccines more - and if the chinese data is anything like their covid infection data most information will be withheld

Chinese vaccine which will be a load of ds ???????????????????????? they must be brain deed