The nation's healthcare situation shows critical mistakes are being made in the government's vaccine policy. These need to be rectified as soon as possible before the situation gets out of control. The outlook for the state's jab drive is grim, as the director of the National Vaccine Institute (NVI), Nakorn Premsri, admitted on Friday. He said Thailand won't receive 10 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine per month as previously announced. Bangkok Post

Fix vaccine blunders now

The nation's healthcare situation shows critical mistakes are being made in the government's vaccine policy. These need to be rectified as soon as possible before the situation gets out of control.

The outlook for the state's jab drive is grim, as the director of the National Vaccine Institute (NVI), Nakorn Premsri, admitted on Friday. He said Thailand won't receive 10 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine per month as previously announced.

According to the vaccine roadmap, from July onwards, AstraZeneca was said to be shipping 10 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine each month to Thailand, which would bring total doses delivered to the country to 61 million doses by the end of this month.

This plan was a major part of the state's plan to achieve herd immunity, which would ease the country's plan to reopen in 120 days, as revealed by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha recently.

This plan, however, instantly became a piece of "fake news" after Dr Nakorn revealed the agreement with British-Swedish pharmaceutical company actually does not set out the minimum number of doses which need to be delivered to Thailand each month. In fact, he said, it only stipulates the company has to deliver 61 million doses by the year's end.

Siam Bioscience, Dr Nakorn said, can produce 15 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine per month, of which only about one-third is intended for use in Thailand, while the rest will be exported. To plug the gap, the government has placed an order for 11 million rounds of jabs from Sinovac.

It is safe to say that the government has committed a faux pas by betting on a local company to meet its needs, but it is so hellbent on pursuing this strategy that it is reluctant to seek out other options.

Boon Vanasin, chairman of Thonburi Healthcare Group, last week criticised government for blocking the private sector from buying alternative vaccines.

He said his group had been prepared to buy about 50 million doses of 4-5 alternative vaccines -- including from Moderna and Pfizer -- since October last year, and the vaccines could have been shipped to Thailand much earlier if the government's policy allowed it.

Yet the government is being far from supportive, saying vaccines must be bought only under government-to-government schemes, and the private sector is not allowed to buy the same vaccines the government has bought or is planning to buy.

Most health personnel received their second shot of Sinovac vaccine between May and June. According to experts, they should receive a booster in the next 3-4 months. Dr Prapaporn Pisitkun, an immunologist from Ramathibodi Hospital who found herself infected despite having received two shots of the Sinovac vaccine, also said her antibody levels have dropped by about 30% in just two months.

Unfortunately, many more people may have to get the Sinovac vaccine as a booster jab, despite doubts about its efficacy against new variants of Covid-19, and amid warnings that the Delta strain might overrun the country in the next few months.

Instead of focusing on the planned reopening schemes, the government should look at ways to save people's lives, especially frontline medical personnel.

Thailand needs a far-sighted vaccine policy. The government must help the private sector purchase alternative vaccines. It must rush to buy alternative vaccines, build herd immunity and provide a much-needed third shot to ward off newer variants.