MHESI to support vaccination campaign

 

 

BANGKOK (NNT) - The Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI) has joined hands with the Ministry of Public Health to assist the national vaccination campaign in terms of safety and efficacy research and assessment.

 

At the announcement of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI) and the Ministry of Public Health’s (MOPH) cooperation on COVID-19 vaccine management, the MHESI Permanent Secretary Dr Sirirurg Songsivilai has revealed the quality assessment and follow up research planned after the beginning of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Thailand later this month.

 

According to Dr Sirirurg, more than 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have already been administered to people around the world, with 6 million people being vaccinated daily.

 

He said current vaccines available are shown to be very effective in triggering targeted antibodies and immune responses, while help preventing severe COVID-19 cases and deaths, with a significant drop in new hospitalized patients and death tolls now being reported in many countries.

 

Dr Sirirurg said vaccines from different manufacturers now available in the market are found to be very safe, with minor side effects reported such as pain at the injection site, headache, discomfort, or tiredness, all of which usually resolves in a few days, while severe reactions to the vaccine are scarcely reported, with no death linked to vaccination being reported.

 

On the number of doses, Dr Sirirurg said researchers are now looking at the possibility to extend the time between the first injection and the second injection of booster dose, in order to administer the first dose to as many people as possible, as data suggests people can develop quite a strong immune response after receiving only the first dose.

 

He said some vaccines initially requiring ultra low temperature for storage and transportation are now found to be suitable for storage and transportation at a higher temperature as well, enabling better distribution of the vaccine due to fewer special equipment required.

 

On concerns regarding lower vaccine efficacy against the new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19, particularly the South African variant, Dr Sirirurg said researchers and scientists around the world have continued to work on the development of new vaccine prototypes to cover the new virus strains, as well as to collect data on the efficacy and safety of the vaccine, the effectiveness of the vaccine in reducing new infections and deaths, as well as the vaccine’s effectiveness against new variants.

 

The MHESI Permanent Secretary has added the authorities around the world are also working on other aspects of the pandemic after vaccine rollout, from the vaccine passport model to restart international travels, as well as new quarantine requirements.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2021-02-22

 

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What a right MHESI of the non-existent rollout has been done so far. just carrying on trying to talk the virus to death as usual instead of jabbing ????

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Dr Sirirurg Songsivilai has revealed the quality assessment and follow up research planned after the beginning of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Thailand later this month.

Shouldn't the assessment be made before the the vaccine roll-out.. or am i reading it wrong??