Thailand will launch a massive vaccination against coronavirus as the number of cases increases

Thailand will launch a Covid-19 vaccine program on Monday, mainly focused on the Oxford / AstraZeneca jab produced at Siam Bioscience, a company that has never produced the vaccine owned by King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

The spread is a big bet for Prayuth Chan-ocha’s government, as anger against the public and business is growing due to delays in getting vaccines, and AstraZeneca, Thailand has been chosen as the production center for Southeast Asia.

Siam Bioscience will generate a 200m dose of coronavirus strain, including for export.

Thailand is fighting rise in infections about 2,000-4,000 new cases a day were reported – the highest since the pandemic began.

Like peers in the region Vietnam and Taiwan, the kingdom brought Covid-19 infections to zero by 2020. The rise in cases has been blamed on the more contagious variants of coronavirus that have spread rapidly in markets, prisons and staff settings.

But there have been signs of delays in production at Siam Bioscience. Philippines he said a first batch of 17m doses expected from Thailand last week was delayed and reduced in size.

The Thai Association of Rural Physicians also complained that the government was importing 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from South Korea to make up for the lack of production. Some Thais have reportedly delayed their anticipation of vaccination appointments in June.

The Thai government last week delivery received The 1.8m dose from the owner of AstraZeneca, the first of the 6m vaccines scheduled to arrive this month. He stressed that it is expected to be sustainable, but the government spokesman did not want to answer the question posed by the Financial Times as to whether it will use South Korean imported owners along with those made locally. Siam Bioscience does not want to comment and the Thai office of AstraZeneca has not responded to a request.

The Thai Enquirer, an extensive online publication, said last week that Siam Bioscience is an “international embarrassment”.

“As well Serum Institute Indian it has problems, so it would be wrong to expect Siam Bioscience to be as smooth as silk with the producer for the first time, “said Pavida Pananond, a professor of international business at Thammasat Business School, referring to the Indian vaccine maker.

When infections spread earlier this year, the Thai government was accused of over-relying on a single vaccine produced by a first vaccine producer. Recently, Sinovac, a Chinese pharmaceutical company, BioNTech / Pfizer, and U.S. physicians Johnson & Johnson have promoted the supply of alternative care providers.

The freedom of Thais to criticize Siam Bioscience has been curtailed he owns the billionaire king, and making notes that are considered an insult to the royal family is a criminal offense.

Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, Thailand’s most prominent opposition figure, was accused of injury majesty and “computer crimes” in January after making online comments about what he called a “royal vaccine”.

The power and wealth of the 69-year-old king of Thailand were met with unusual criticism from last year’s youth-led participants protests of democracy.

Additional report by Ryn Jirenuwat in Bangkok

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