Health Ministry Panel Suggests Private Sector to Import Covid-19 Vaccines

[rooster59]

Health Ministry Panel Suggests Private Sector to Import Covid-19 Vaccines

Paphamon Arayasukawat

 

 

BANGKOK (NNT) -A panel of advisers at the Public Health Ministry has suggested private companies be allowed to import another 15-20 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine by the end of this year.

 

Vice-minister Dr Sopon Mekthon said the panel agreed that Thailand still needed more doses of Covid-19 vaccines, in addition to the planned 63 million doses.

 

He said Thailand has a population of about 65 million. If about 15 million teenagers were subtracted from the sum, the number of those eligible for vaccines would be about 50 million, plus another five million foreign migrants. With a calculation based on 80% of the 55 million people, about 40 million would receive two jabs of vaccines each which would require about 80 million doses.

 

Dr Sopon said apart from the planned 63 million doses, about 15-20 million more should be procured, though details regarding the prices had yet to be discussed.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2021-03-06

 

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[RotBenz8888]

7 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

by the end of this year.

Why this stalling? 

[AlfHuy]

Can't they get enough vaccines and  now need the help from private hospitals?

[stubuzz]

The government does not want to foot the vaccination bill, so they want people to purchase their own shots from private hospitals.

[canopus1969]

Is there any reason Vice-minister Dr Sopon Mekthon cannot get off his fat ar5e and order another 20m ?

[Bkk Brian]

Thailand's vaccination plan, when we said we would vaccinate everyone in Thailand including foreigners, we never said it would be free.

 

We'll dish out some Chinese Sinovac, we can get plenty of that coz CP owns 15%. We'll also dish out some AZ coz we've got an amazing factory that can copy the recipe and you are unable to criticize it.

 

The rest is up to you to pay for.

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

BANGKOK (NNT) -A panel of advisers at the Public Health Ministry has suggested private companies be allowed to import another 15-20 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine by the end of this year.

Wasn't the private sector told by the government they couldn't buy vaccines?

[DLock]

3 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

Thailand's vaccination plan, when we said we would vaccinate everyone in Thailand including foreigners, we never said it would be free.

 

We'll dish out some Chinese Sinovac, we can get plenty of that coz CP owns 15%. We'll also dish out some AZ coz we've got an amazing factory that can copy the recipe and you are unable to criticize it.

 

The rest is up to you to pay for.

 

...actually, they did say it would be free.

 

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30399048

[Tropicalevo]

5 hours ago, canopus1969 said:

Is there any reason Vice-minister Dr Sopon Mekthon cannot get off his fat ar5e and order another 20m ?

Because the money to pay for it is already in private bank accounts.

[GroveHillWanderer]

3 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Wasn't the private sector told by the government they couldn't buy vaccines?

No, they were told they couldn't start buying them until they were approved for use.

[internationalism]

when the PM just 2 weeks ago stated, that private hospitals and local authorities are allowed to import, the next day minister of health contradicted him and said, that they are forbidden from doing so. Warning letters were send to provinces, which already allocated money to buy their own vax.

So almost every day there is a twist in policies.

Why they are not buying now, why to wait to the end of year?

It would be loss of face, and corruption money, for the minister of health 

 

[Thaiophil]

Letting people with money buy the vaccine privately is win win. Takes some load and cost from the public system.

 

i guess they will wait till late 2021 to avoid accusations of letting the elite jump the q.

 

I hope we can buy J and J - effective and single shot only

[alant]

10 hours ago, Thaiophil said:

Letting people with money buy the vaccine privately is win win. Takes some load and cost from the public system.

 

i guess they will wait till late 2021 to avoid accusations of letting the elite jump the q.

 

I hope we can buy J and J - effective and single shot only

I never expected to be able to get vaccinated in anything like a reasonable timeframe (?) without paying for the privilege. The problem is the lack of approval, I think so far only the sinovac and the Astra are approved and whilst I have no doubt the sinovac is an effective product I am not sure how accepted it will be globally for travel. Quite important for me.

[sandyf]

11 hours ago, internationalism said:

when the PM just 2 weeks ago stated, that private hospitals and local authorities are allowed to import, the next day minister of health contradicted him and said, that they are forbidden from doing so. Warning letters were send to provinces, which already allocated money to buy their own vax.

So almost every day there is a twist in policies.

No twist in policy. 

Like many on here, some do not seem to realise that FDA approval must come first.

[foreverlomsak]

21 hours ago, rooster59 said:

about 15-20 million more should be procured, though details regarding the prices had yet to be discussed.

Yes, private hospitals and local authorities should be allowed to import their own supplies, however we haven't decided on the government mark-up, e.g. import duties.

The alternative is to but them from government sources, but again we haven't decided on the handling charges.