Government insists it can meet target of 10 million vaccine doses a month

The Thai government says it has enough doses of the AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines to meet its target of 10 million doses a month administered in Bangkok and neighbouring provinces. According to a Bangkok Post report, Opas Karnkawinpong from the Department of Disease Control says officials will ramp up the number of doses administered in high-risk areas, adding that nearly all healthcare workers have been fully inoculated.

Next up for vaccination are people with underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of serious illness or death from Covid-19. After that, the next priority group includes Bangkok residents and people living in neighbouring provinces and other high-risk areas of the country.

Opas has also confirmed that the government recently placed an order for the Pfizer vaccine, widely seen as more effective against the Delta variant first reported in India. Despite studies showing the Chinese Sinovac vaccine to be largely ineffective against the variant, Opas insists there is evidence it can reduce the risk of severe symptoms.

He adds that the practice of combining vaccines from different manufacturers has also been shown to provide greater immunity against variants. In addition, the government hopes that by implementing the policy, it can make the most of current resources by administering 5 million Sinovac doses a month and 6 million AstraZeneca doses.

Pressure is mounting on the government after a number of people became infected with the virus, 2 of whom have died, despite being fully vaccinated with Sinovac. Adding fuel to the fire is a recently leaked letter from AstraZeneca that shows the Public Health Ministry only ordered 3 million doses a month, far fewer than the government claimed.

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SOURCE: Bangkok Post