PM Prayut pushes vaccine priority for the national agenda

PM Prayut Chan-o-cha asked the Thai cabinet to make the Covid-19 vaccine part of the national agenda in order to make it Thailand’s top priority. He urged Thai people through a Facebook post to get vaccinated and not hesitate. The PM reminded people that getting everyone vaccinated to the point of herd immunity is the only way to end the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting economic crisis. He also reassured people that all vaccines administered in Thailand are tested and approved by the Ministry of Public Health, and are safe.

Thailand is set to receive 100 million vaccines by the end of 2021 and plans are on the agenda to secure another 50 million jabs. The goal is to develop herd immunity to cripple Covid-19’s rapid spread by vaccinating 50 million Thai people. Domestic vaccine production is scheduled to manufacture a minimum of 61 million AstraZeneca vaccines with Siam Bioscience authorised to produce the jabs in Thailand. The company has a technological transfer agreement with AstraZeneca and hopes that it can ramp up production to be the hub of AstraZeneca’s distribution within Southeast Asia.

PM Prayut stressed the safety of the jabs after a few high-profile negative side effects have spread fear throughout the Thai population, slowing down his vaccine agenda. He asserted that all cabinet ministers had already received Covid-19 jabs and didn’t experience any side effects, with the PM himself having been filmed and photographed receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.

He reassured that side effects are generally minor and safer than Covid-19 itself and that severe or fatal side effects are exceedingly rare. Health systems are in place as part of the vaccine agenda to observe and treat anyone that experiences negative reactions after being vaccinated. Millions of people worldwide have been vaccinated already with very few negative effects. And even the vaccines that are less effective against Covid-19 completely have been proven to be extremely effective in reducing the severity of the virus, thus preventing hospitalisation and saving lives.

SOURCE: Thai PBS World