Hundreds of Thai medical workers infected despite Sinovac vaccinations

[webfact]

FILE PHOTO: A health worker receives the Sinovac coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at the Samut Sakhon hospital in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand, February 28, 2021. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's health ministry said on Sunday more than 600 medical workers who received two doses of China's Sinovac vaccine have been infected with COVID-19, as authorities weigh giving booster doses to raise immunity.

 

Of the 677,348 medical personnel who received two doses of Sinovac, 618 became infected, health ministry data from April to July showed. A nurse has died and another medical worker is in critical condition.

 

An expert panel has recommended a third dose to trigger immunity for medical workers who are at risk, senior health official Sopon Iamsirithawon, told a news briefing on Sunday.

 

"This will be a different vaccine, either viral vector AstraZeneca or an mRNA vaccine, which Thailand will be receiving in the near term," he said, adding that the recommendation will be considered on Monday.

 

The announcement comes as the Southeast Asian country reported a record high of 9,418 community infections on Sunday. On Saturday authorities reported a record of 91 new daily coronavirus fatalities.

 

Thailand has reported a total of 336,371 confirmed infections and 2,711 fatalities since the pandemic began last year.

The majority of Thailand's medical and frontline workers were given Sinovac's shots after February with the viral vector vaccine from AstraZeneca arriving in June.

 

Thailand is expecting a donation of 1.5 million Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines from the United States later this month and has ordered 20 million doses that will be delivered after October.

 

Neighbouring Indonesia, which has also heavily relied on Sinovac, said on Friday it would give the Moderna vaccine as boosters to medical workers.

 

(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-07-12

 

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

- Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[meechai]

14 minutes ago, webfact said:

more than 600 medical workers who received two doses of China's Sinovac vaccine have been infected with COVID-19, as authorities weigh giving booster doses to raise immunity.

 

Of the 677,348 medical personnel who received two doses of Sinovac, 618 became infected, health ministry data from April to July showed.

 

Why is this so surprising & automatically attributed to Sinovac?  Has it not always been known that the vaccine...any vaccine...is not a bullet proof vest?  That you may still contract Covid but "hopefully symptoms will be lessened?

 

Truth is most if not all "regular" folks meaning non Medical workers

probably never get retested for Covid once vaccinated & assume all is well.

 

Even though they could have since caught Covid & were asymptomatic or have lessened symptoms to the point of going unnoticed.  Which in truth makes them Super Spreaders

 

Medical workers on the other hand are probably tested weekly at least so of course so this already known chink in the Armour of ANY vaccine against a constantly changing Covid Virus will be more often shown

[webfact]

880 medics infected with COVID-19 in the past three months, seven died

 

(Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)

 

880 medical personnel, about 54% of them nurses and assistant nurses, were infected with COVID-19 between April 1st and July 10th, and of these, seven have died, according to Dr. Sophon Iamsirsithavorn, deputy director-general of Disease Control Department.

 

He said, today (Sunday), that over 97% of Thailand’s 700,000 medics are fully inoculated, adding that of the seven deaths, five of them were not vaccinated, one had received just one Sinovac dose and the other had received two.

He noted that most of the infected medics were among those who were fully inoculated, with the exception of only 173 who are not vaccinated.

 

Dr. Sophon also disclosed that the National Communicable Committee will meet Monday to discuss the third booster jab for frontline medical personnel, as proposed by the technical committee.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/880-medics-infected-with-covid-19-in-the-past-three-months-seven-died/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-07-12

 

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

- Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[2 is 1]

Thank you for your service RIP!

Feel sorry for all familys, family members pass away when only try help and do they job.

[RichardColeman]

Don't believe these figures in the slightest. At a rate of say 0.3 error in testing of 700,000, there would be well over 2000 positive cases that were false/positives if they tested ALL medical personnel which I would assume they are doing on a regular basis  - or should be doing 

[jojothai]

38 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Don't believe these figures in the slightest. At a rate of say 0.3 error in testing of 700,000, there would be well over 2000 positive cases that were false/positives if they tested ALL medical personnel which I would assume they are doing on a regular basis  - or should be doing 

There is no information on how many they tested.
With some many fully vaccinated and many asymptomatic do you think they tested many?

Countries may not want to test the medical staff for fear of losing them.

I know that is the case in UK from cousins working in the NHS.

Do you think Thailand will be any different?

[misterjames]

No surprises here then

[Lemonltr]

1 hour ago, jojothai said:

There is no information on how many they tested.
With some many fully vaccinated and many asymptomatic do you think they tested many?

Countries may not want to test the medical staff for fear of losing them.

I know that is the case in UK from cousins working in the NHS.

Do you think Thailand will be any different?

Everybody in the UK can locally pick up two lateral flow test kits weekly free of charge and test themselves. 

[ourmanflint]

I think we are all very surprised Thailand stuck with Sinovac so long, but what do we know?

[ChipButty]

44 minutes ago, fusion58 said:

"Sinovac sucks."

 

 - A member of my immediate family who is also one of the U.S. Army's top infectious disease and virology specialists.

Got any more good news?

[morrobay]

10 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Got any more good news?

Calling spades spades is always good news.

[ChipButty]

So, basically we are back to square one?

[Pattaya Spotter]

So what this article is reporting is the Sinovac vaccine is .999 percent effective at preventing infection (in people most likely to be exposed to the virus). And .997 effective in preventing death if infected. Good to know because I'm scheduled for my first SV jab on Wednesday. 

[JonnyF]

You mean the Chinese junk doesn't work? Quelle surprise.

 

Looks like Thailand might need to restart the vaccine program. Fortunately, it's barely started anyway. Another good example of why Generals should stay in the barracks.

[jacko45k]

5 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

So, basically we are back to square one?

One step back might sound more positive..... I expect only 1 jab of a booster will be needed to add to the 2 prior Sinovac jabs. But sorry Mr Expat or Elderly Thai hoi polloi, that jab we had you down for, has been redirected.

[4MyEgo]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand is expecting a donation of 1.5 million Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines from the United States later this month

I hope that they have their heads screwed on right this time and give them all to the frontline workers, which doesn't include ANUTIN.

[utalkin2me]

Start listening to what people have been saying all along, the number of infections and death stats are gonna look fairly identical no matter what you do. The sad pasty is we’re gonna start finding out many of these efforts we made actually made things worse. 

[4MyEgo]

28 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

I'm scheduled for my first SV jab on Wednesday.

Good for you, just make sure to get a booster when available and keep masking up, social distancing and keeping hands clean as if nothing has changed until then.

[jerrymahoney]

1 hour ago, fusion58 said:

"Sinovac sucks."

 

 - A member of my immediate family who is also one of the U.S. Army's top infectious disease and virology specialists.

... and as Marie Antoinette reportedly said when told that then peasants had no bread:

 

"Let them eat cake."

[Destiny1990]

Ask these Chinese for a refund ????

[arick]

I bet they Wont share their results with the CCP

[clivebaxter]

There is a reason why no developed western country used Sinovac, why would anyone when there are better alternatives?

[Crash999]

4 hours ago, meechai said:

 

Why is this so surprising & automatically attributed to Sinovac?  Has it not always been known that the vaccine...any vaccine...is not a bullet proof vest?  That you may still contract Covid but "hopefully symptoms will be lessened?

Some people seem to think that getting a vaccine means you can never catch or carry the virus. 
 

It’s like using seatbelts in a car crash. Helps a lot but isn’t an invincibility pill. 

[kingstonkid]

4 hours ago, meechai said:

 

Why is this so surprising & automatically attributed to Sinovac?  Has it not always been known that the vaccine...any vaccine...is not a bullet proof vest?  That you may still contract Covid but "hopefully symptoms will be lessened?

 

Truth is most if not all "regular" folks meaning non Medical workers

probably never get retested for Covid once vaccinated & assume all is well.

 

Even though they could have since caught Covid & were asymptomatic or have lessened symptoms to the point of going unnoticed.  Which in truth makes them Super Spreaders

 

Medical workers on the other hand are probably tested weekly at least so of course so this already known chink in the Armour of ANY vaccine against a constantly changing Covid Virus will be more often shown

The problem is that these people are in contact with many others including family.

 

THEY ARE NOT TESTED at all.

 

GF works in a lab at one of the government hospitals and has not been tested as they do not have enough tests for the people coming into be tested.

She is dealing with covid everyday.

At the end of her day she gets on the BTS comes home buys dinner at the market and spends time away from me as much as possible.

We are lucky.  Now take into an account the number of Thai staff that have thai families that are not as careful as Farangs.

They also take the BTS or MRT or city buses.  They come into contact with hundreds of people.

 

It should also be noted that some of these people also partied at Thonglor and got the virus.

 

No offence to anyone here and yes I wnt to get vaccinated BUT IMNSHO the government should be vaccinating the medical staff with moderna or establishing a system of boosters of sinovac and testing of med staff  until they can and even after they have had moderna people working in labs or ER should be vaccinated weekly.

 

 

 

 

 

[wasabi]

The only good thing to come out of this pandemic from our paranoid and xenophobic friends in Thailand is that it started in China. Can you imagine the racism, and hatred they would have for "Farang" if it started in any Western country?

[Bundooman]

3 hours ago, jojothai said:

There is no information on how many they tested.
With some many fully vaccinated and many asymptomatic do you think they tested many?

Countries may not want to test the medical staff for fear of losing them.

I know that is the case in UK from cousins working in the NHS.

Do you think Thailand will be any different?

Sounds more like your cousins have an axe to grind.

That is not the case in the UK.

you can, free of charge test yourself. The kits are readily available nationwide.

Maybe Scotland is the exception under the current 'misadministration' of the SDP

[10baht]

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

I hope that they have their heads screwed on right this time and give them all to the frontline workers, which doesn't include ANUTIN.

Funny how he used to palaver almost every day! But I guess he fell off his surfboard when the 3rd big wave hit. 

[Bundooman]

46 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

... and as Marie Antoinette reportedly said when told that then peasants had no bread:

 

"Let them eat cake."

Except that there is no historical evidence that she actually said that. Right?

[mtls2005]

Leave it to the regime to shoot themselves in the foot (again) rather than the arm.

 

Hub of boosters.

 

 

 

 

 

[jerrymahoney]

2 minutes ago, Bundooman said:

Except that there is no historical evidence that she actually said that. Right?

 I said 'reportedly'