Thai soldier who bragged about getting Pfizer vaccine says he’s a nurse

A Thai army sergeant who announced he’d received a dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine has sparked temporary outrage on social media. Noppadon Maneechan, who is based in the north-eastern province of Loei, has had to defend his reputation and refute claims that Pfizer doses have been secretly administered to the military ahead of healthcare workers and high-risk members of the public.

Noppadon has responded to netizens’ outrage, posting on social media to explain that he works as a nurse and is therefore eligible for a dose of the Pfizer vaccine, as per government policy. Thailand recently took delivery of its first batch of Pfizer doses, with the arrival of 1.5 million doses donated by the US government.

“I’d like to clarify to people on social media that I work at the Khai Si Song Rak Hospital, and I’m prone to risk of Covid as I’m in contact with Covid patients. I had asked my sister to reserve a Moderna vaccine appointment for October but it will take too long.”

In the sergeant’s original post, he announced that he’d given up waiting for the Moderna vaccine and received a dose of Pfizer instead.

“Dear Moderna, I can’t wait for you any longer. Today I turned to Pfizer instead.”

With no further explanation, the post outraged social media users. Netizens demanded to know how the soldier had obtained the vaccine, with the hashtag #WhereHavePfizerVaccinesGone trending on Twitter, according to a Coconuts report.

However, Preeda Woraharn, a provincial health official, has confirmed that Noppadon is a healthcare worker at a hospital in Loei and entitled to a dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

Suspicions have been aroused about how the government would allocate the donated Pfizer doses, with many criticising the announcement that only healthcare workers who’d received 2 doses of Sinovac would qualify for a booster dose of Pfizer. The backlash has since forced the government to extend eligibility to healthcare workers fully vaccinated with Sinopharm, while healthcare workers who’ve only received 1 dose of any vaccine can choose Pfizer as their second dose.

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SOURCE: Coconuts