Thailand ends emergency Covid vaccine procurement

The winding down of the Covid-19 pandemic has hit a new milestone as the emergency use procurement of vaccines has now ended. The Ministry of Public Health announced that it has officially cancelled its plans to obtain more vaccines against the coronavirus.

The end of the programme was officially published in the Royal Gazette on Thursday and was put into effect immediately. It was not an unexpected event, as Minister of Public Health Anutin Charnvirakul had announced previously that he was pushing for the vaccine emergency procurement programs to end in a statement he made on October 31.

What seems like an eternity ago, the Ministry of Public Health issued the original orders in 2020 to approve the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines to battle the surging pandemic. The order approved emergency procurement, distribution, and administering of the jabs while Thailand struggled with a national vaccine shortage.

Now, by invoking the National Vaccine Security Act, Sections 4 and 18, the ministry has ended the emergency use procurement programme after officially publishing the move in the Royal Gazette. Officials say, with a majority of people vaccinated, and declining Covid infections worldwide and in Thailand, the stockpile of vaccines in Thailand’s reserve is sufficient for the current needs.

Thailand last month downgraded coronavirus from a dangerous communicable disease to just a communicable disease under surveillance. The announcement marked the end of Thailand’s Emergency Decree that created the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration and gave government leaders broader powers to take action to fight the spread of infections, including the dreaded lockdowns.

The World Health Organisation also reported a similar status in the rest of the world, saying that there has been significant subsiding globally of infections and restrictions can be safely relaxed.