Thai Cabinet Committee agrees upon additional 30 million doses of Pfizer and an in-principle medical amnesty bill. The Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Cha-O’Cha, has approved a 9.37 billion baht loan to procure a total of 20,001,150 doses of Pfizer vaccines. Another additional 10 million shots of mRNA vaccine procurement doses have also been approved. The cabinet has authorized the Department of Disease Control to proceed with official talks and an agreement contract with Pfizer manufacturers by the end of the fourth quarter. Pattaya News

Thai Cabinet Committee agrees upon additional 30 million doses of Pfizer and an in-principle medical amnesty bill

The Thai Cabinet Committee has approved the additional procurement of 30 million doses of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines and the in-principle approval of an amnesty bill of medical personnel during the Covid-19 situation, government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri announced this afternoon, August 17th.

Tuesday, 17 August 2021, 20:08

Bangkok –

The Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Cha-O'Cha, has approved a 9.37 billion baht loan to procure a total of 20,001,150 doses of Pfizer vaccines.

Another additional 10 million shots of mRNA vaccine procurement doses have also been approved. The cabinet has authorized the Department of Disease Control to proceed with official talks and an agreement contract with Pfizer manufacturers by the end of the fourth quarter.

"So, in total, there would be 30 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine coming in the fourth quarter of this year," Anucha said.

TPN media notes, however, that an exact "set-in-stone" date was not given.

According to the government's plan, the Pfizer vaccine would be distributed to medical frontliners (as a booster dose), Thai and foreign elderly, and people with seven underlying health conditions, and those who must be vaccinated before traveling abroad, such as students/students, athletes, diplomats, etc.

Moreover, the Cabinet Committee has also approved, in principle, the amendment of the Communicable Diseases Act, including adding medical amnesty to manage the Covid-19 pandemic.

The amnesty bill, initially proposed by Public Health Ministry last Monday, would grant medical personnel and related Covid-19 officials legal protection from criminal charges in order to fully allow operations among government officials to cope with the Covid-19 situation.

The bill has become a major concern and critique among opposition parties and anti-government activists as it was not clarified if top-level officials like the Public Health Minister or the Prime Minister would also be granted by this amnesty bill. That was still not clarified as of press time despite repeated questions from the press.

More details of the bill can be found in the article below:

Thai Government reportedly considering an amnesty bill, granting relevant officials legal protection from criminal charges around Covid-19 situation