Government urged to get mRNA vaccines over Sinovac

The Thai government is being urged to get mRNA vaccines in preference to the CoronaVac vaccines from Sinovac in China.

The Infectious Disease Association of Thailand points to reported efficacy concerns of the Sinovac vaccine, especially toward new variants like the Delta one.

Today, the IDAT sent a letter to Thailand’s PM, Prayut Chan-o-cha. They stated that Sinovac is a “whole virus vaccine” and thus may possibly not be effective at combatting the Delta strain or other, newer variants. They say there is a dearth of formal research into this vaccine. Further, they say previous assessments were performed when the Alpha variant was dominant.

The whole virus vaccine employs inactivated pathogens to ignite an immune response.

Currently, Sinovac’s CoronaVac has been the most used vaccine. Thailand is now waiting for more doses of AstraZeneca – from sources in Japan and from the local manufacturer.

Thus, the IDAT is asking the government to obtain more mRNA vaccines, including Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna ASAP for this year and the next as these vaccines have been shown to have higher efficacities.

The association is also anxious that more Sinovac vaccines are being produced in 2021-2022. They say it will compose over half of the intended 50 million doses to be obtained next years. They add that the quicker the mRNA vaccines are obtained the faster Thailand will be able to curb the pandemic.

At the moment, Thailand has ordered 20 million doses of Pfizer. They are expected to arrive in the final quarter of this year. Private hospitals are ordering millions of doses of Moderna via the Government Pharmaceutical Organization. They expect deliveries to start coming in “around” October.

SOURCE: Thai PBS