FILE PHOTO: A woman receives Sinovac's CoronaVac coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine after hundreds of residents in the district tested positive for the coronavirus disease in Bangkok, Thailand, April 7, 2021. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's health ministry said on Thursday that its COVID-19 vaccine regimen of China's Sinovac followed by British-developed AstraZeneca was safe and successfully boosted immunity among its first 1.5 million recipients.

 

Thailand in July became the first country in the world https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thailand-starts-tighter-coronavirus-lockdown-around-capital-2021-07-12 to mix a Chinese vaccine and a Western-developed vaccine as cases and deaths in the country surged and the government struggled with vaccine supplies.

 

"The cross formula has been injected to over 1.5 million people and it is safe. Please don't say things that would create concern," senior health official Supakit Sirilak told a news conference.

 

He said Thailand, which has been manufacturing the AstraZeneca vaccine, would no longer be giving two doses of Sinovac's CoronaVac.

Just 13% of Thailand's population of over 66 million has been fully vaccinated.

 

The majority of its 1.2 million infections and 12,103 coronavirus deaths came after April this year, brought on by the highly transmissible Alpha and Delta variants.

 

The health ministry said the Sinovac-AstraZeneca combination boosted immunity to the same levels as two AstraZeneca shots and meant vaccinations could be completed faster due to the shorter dose gap.

 

The formula will be used for most of Thailand's vaccinations, Public Health Permanent Secretary Kiatiphum Wongrajit said.

 

Booster doses will be given to 3 million people who received two Sinovac shots, using a different type of vaccine, likely from this month, health minister Anutin Charnvirakul has said.

 

Sinovac's inactivated virus vaccine has caused concern in some countries about its resistance to the Delta variant.

 

Earlier this week during a censure debate on the coronavirus crisis, Anutin told lawmakers not to criticise Sinovac, to protect the Thai public and avoid harming ties with China.

 

"Tarnishing of the Sinovac vaccine by many (house) members may create panic, confusion and concern for the public," he said.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-09-02

 

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"and avoid harming ties with China"

10 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Please don't say things that would create concern,

aka please leave me alone it's all we have got and half of a AZ vaccine regime is better than none...

14 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Anutin told lawmakers not to criticise Sinovac, to protect the Thai public and avoid harming ties with China

Basically the health of the serf's is second fiddle to the Hi-So's lucrative relationship with the motherland...

14 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Booster doses will be given to 3 million people who received two Sinovac shots, using a different type of vaccine, likely from this month, health minister Anutin Charnvirakul has said.

An open admission that the Government believes Sinovac is no good.

So why exactly are they continuing to buy the stuff.

publish the results that prove it is as good as 2x AZ shots

 

lets have AZ comment on your findings

 

 

5 minutes ago, smedly said:

publish the results that prove it is as good as 2x AZ shots

 

lets have AZ comment on your findings

 

 

Sinovac not approved vaccine in UK, so probably not been tested by AZ.

i will be interested in what my booster shot will be after 2Pfizer shots.

If true this can only be good news for the people of Thailand.

There may still be some hesitation in receiving the first jab though.

Are there any scientific studies validating this position? I did read about some studies on an AZ/Pfizer combo., but Pfizer is a RNA (mRNA) vaccine, so not really applicable to a Sinopharm (whole virus vaccine)/AZ (non-replicating viral vector) mix.

11 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Thailand's health ministry said on Thursday that its COVID-19 vaccine regimen of China's Sinovac followed by British-developed AstraZeneca was safe and successfully boosted immunity among its first 1.5 million recipients.

Of course they say! Anything else would make them lose face, which is far more important than the welfare of ordinary people.

11 hours ago, grain said:

"and avoid harming ties with China"

Funny... Without even reading the article, anyone clued up knows this is an attempt to save face for their Cousins in China. 

 

Of course the cocktail works. It's the AZ that is doing all the work. 

It seems they are getting the jabs and are mixing the jabs where  other countries did not.It may work mixing them only time will tell.

Anutin's Education is there any information of what school he attended in Bangkok and University did he ever go abroad for a Masters. Please share if you find any link. I am just curious. 

13 hours ago, grain said:

"and avoid harming ties with China"

It’s  very concerning that politicians worldwide have become experts on vaccines that are being used without long term trials, they are being used under emergency use. There are now law suites popping up in the USA about the use of Remidisver.

Don’t know if I spelt that right, the USA had the highest death toll and lawyers are saying that that drug shouldn’t have been used and was causing kydney failure, and more that I can not say, we’re going to have to watch that space , 

13 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

An open admission that the Government believes Sinovac is no good.

So why exactly are they continuing to buy the stuff.

An open admission it is no good on it's own yes!

If it had potency why not simply 2 doses of it?

Is the Sino/AZ combination better or worse than 2xAZ? Personally it just appears to be some attempt to justify the purchase of the SInovax and get it used, at the expense of the Thai population. 

13 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

An open admission that the Government believes Sinovac is no good.

So why exactly are they continuing to buy the stuff.

Availability 

Just line up for your 6 monthly boosters to maintain your vaccination status. 

It's a pharmaceutical treadmill.

Good luck!

23 minutes ago, bristolgeoff said:

It seems they are getting the jabs and are mixing the jabs where  other countries did not.It may work mixing them only time will tell.

There are a number of countries using Sinovac and Astra Zenica together . 

7 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

An open admission it is no good on it's own yes!

If it had potency why not simply 2 doses of it?

Is the Sino/AZ combination better or worse than 2xAZ? Personally it just appears to be some attempt to justify the purchase of the SInovax and get it used, at the expense of the Thai population. 

Two doses of misinformation from you . 

13 minutes ago, arick said:

Anutin's Education is there any information of what school he attended in Bangkok and University did he ever go abroad for a Masters. Please share if you find any link. I am just curious. 

Mr. Anutin Charnvirakul graduated from Hofstra University, United States with Bachelor Degree in Industrial Engineering

3 minutes ago, itsari said:

There are a number of countries using Sinovac and Astra Zenica together . 

Those are?

3 minutes ago, itsari said:

Two doses of misinformation from you . 

And an unsubstantiated throwaway comment from you.... so what?

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

And an unsubstantiated throwaway comment from you.... so what?

When is the booster shot coming on your knowledge of the mixing of vaccines ?

I take the trouble to read about a subject before i post .

 

14 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

An open admission that the Government believes Sinovac is no good.

So why exactly are they continuing to buy the stuff.

1. It’s expedient because it is available now and there aren’t enough of any other vaccine to meet demand

 

2. By using it for the first dose, the second dose can be administered within 3 weeks, compared to 3 months for AZ. This enables the government to claim fully vaccinated people at higher levels, more quickly.

 

I don’t think the issue is one of safety or whether the mix dosage boosts protection compared to 2 sinovac. The issue is whether the mix is as good as two doses of other vaccines or one jansson. So the claim in this article is fine as far as it goes because changing from 2 sinovac to the mix seems to get the protection off the bottom rung of the ladder and up to the next rung. Some would argue the government should have aimed for a few rungs higher than next to last.

 

but it is what it is and that’s better than nothing. Unless wanting to travel. Then the mix is the same as nothing because no other country recognizes this particular mix.

 

13 minutes ago, itsari said:

There are a number of countries using Sinovac and Astra Zenica together . 

Can you pass on the information of which countries? I hadn’t realized that.

12 hours ago, rodknock said:

i will be interested in what my booster shot will be after 2Pfizer shots.

For me I'm thinking AZ.

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Earlier this week during a censure debate on the coronavirus crisis, Anutin told lawmakers not to criticise Sinovac, to protect the Thai public and avoid harming ties with China

And there you have it.

14 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

An open admission that the Government believes Sinovac is no good.

So why exactly are they continuing to buy the stuff.

Here's a clue, hidden in the next quote:

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Earlier this week during a censure debate on the coronavirus crisis, Anutin told lawmakers not to criticise Sinovac, to protect the Thai public and avoid harming ties with China.

 

43 minutes ago, arick said:

Anutin's Education is there any information of what school he attended in Bangkok and University did he ever go abroad for a Masters. Please share if you find any link. I am just curious. 

Billy smarts circus degree in juggling