Thailand to launch mass vaccine drive as Covid cases surge

• Thailand will launch its Covid-19 immunisation programme on 7 Jun 21, focused mostly on the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab produced at Siam Bioscience, a company owned by King Maha Vajiralongkorn that has never previously produced a vaccine.
• But there have been signs of delays in production at Siam Bioscience. The Philippines said last week a first batch of 17m doses it was expecting from Thailand had been delayed and reduced in size.
• Separately, Thailand’s Rural Doctors Society has alleged the government was importing 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from South Korea to make up for a production shortfall. Some Thais have reported being told they could expect vaccination appointments in Jun 21 only to be advised later that they had been postponed.
• The Thai government last week received delivery of 1.8m doses of the jab from AstraZeneca, the first of 6m vaccines scheduled to arrive in May 21. It insists the rollout is on schedule but a government spokesman declined to respond to a question from the Financial Times about whether it would be using imported jabs from South Korea alongside locally made ones. Siam Bioscience declined to comment and AstraZeneca’s Thai office did not respond to a request for comment.
• “Even the Serum Institute in India is having problems, so it would be wrong to expect everything with first-time producer Siam Bioscience to go as smooth as silk,” said Pavida Pananond, professor of international business at Thammasat Business School, referring to the Indian vaccine manufacturer. “But AstraZeneca could do a lot by being more upfront.”

External Link : https://www.ft.com/content/9e85b179-8e31-4549-b0be-e349c1d0e273