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The Thai Prime Minister received praise for his successful leadership of the country in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. But as cases have risen and vaccines have spread, large companies and ordinary Thais have sparked anger and frustration with the government.
Criticism has led to a sharp rise in infections in the kingdom by medical experts bound to the fastest spreading variant of the virus first identified in the UK.
Thailand vaccination plan up to 50 percent with a population of 70 million this year, and 70 percent by 2022, has so far been based almost entirely on a single vaccine: Oxford / AstraZeneca jab.
The kingdom has ordered 63m doses of vaccine, most of which is produced by the local company Siam Bioscience, owned by billionaire King. Maha Vajiralongkorn. However, locally made AstraZeneca jabs will only be available from June.
Thailand has also imported 2m doses of the Sinovac vaccine. As of Wednesday, Thailand had only about 600,000 people, less than 1 percent of the population, and a lower rate than most residents in Southeast Asia.
Thaksin Shinawatra, a former exiled prime minister, has made an offer this week to help secure Russian Sputnik V vaccines in an online chat. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha refused the overture.
As anger over the delay grows, so does the prime minister he said Thailand hoped to secure more 35m vaccine doses from other “two or three” producers, without specifying which one.
Defending government procurement decisions, Prayuth they told reporters this week “we did it according to the situation at the time, when we were successful when we held the show.”
Powerful Thai business groups, which usually show a flaw in their public statements, have called for stronger government action this week and offered support.
Forty companies in the Thai Chamber of Commerce signed a statement saying the spread of vaccines was slow planned reopening to the country’s international visitors this year, and that they were ready to help the government “tie the knots”.
Dhanin Chearavanont, the richest businessman in Thailand and the honorary chair of the Charoen Pokphand conglomerate, said Prayuth should allow the private sector to import vaccines.
In a statement Wednesday, Prayuth said the company had offered to “alleviate the government’s financial burden” by funding 10 to 15 million new doses.
Tourism contributes nearly 20% to Thailand’s economy, but foreign visitors are expected to reopen in July © Jorge Silva / Reuters
“Our immunization program has been tremendous,” said Cod Satrusayang, editor of the Thai Enquirer, an independent news website that has been critical of the government’s vaccination efforts.
“Compared to Thailand with any other country with a similar GDP in our region, we are getting half the rate of this vaccine.”
Satrusayang said the initial public health response to the pandemic in Thailand last year was good, thanks to a strong public health system ahead of the pandemic. But the government has “removed the pedal in the last three months.”
Any criticism of the Thai vaccination program is politically sensitive because it is owned by King Siam Bioscience, whose powers and wealth have been a rare public challenge historically. youth-led democracy protests in the first year.
Thanathorn has been Juangroongruangkit, the main opposition person in Thailand charged according to the kingdom’s serious legal law, to question the government’s vaccination strategy and what it called a “royal vaccine”.
The law, which was also used to charge several leaders According to last year’s protests in prison and awaiting trial, there is a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
The pandemic has worsened Thailand’s economy, falling 6% of GDP in 2020, and emptying the crowded beaches and hotels of a country where tourism generates nearly a fifth of economic output.
The Thai government planned to start reopening of six tourist sites embedded foreign visitors from July 1, led by the tourist island of Phuket as part of a pilot program called “Sandbox”.
However, the timeline of the region, which is based on the mass vaccination of its residents, is questionable in cases of sudden rise and tightened vaccine supply.
Thailand has 46,643 coronavirus cases and 110 deaths from the disease, a smaller number than most countries of its size.
However, for the first time every day, more than 1,000 cases a month were reported and caused a stir after a series of infections, including Saksayam Chidchob, the transport minister, at two nightclubs in a luxury suburb of Bangkok, Thonglor.
Follow John Reed on Twitter: @JohnReedwrites
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