Exasperated Thais demand vaccine actions from their government

The Thai prime minister won praise for successfully leading the country during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. But as vaccine cases and hesitation increase, big business and ordinary Thais have unleashed their anger and frustration at the government.

Criticism has been sparked by the sharpest increase in infections in the kingdom to date, which medical experts have linked to the fastest spreading variant of the virus first identified in the UK.

Thailand’s plan to get vaccinated up to 50 percent of its population of 70 million this year, and 70% in 2022, had so far been based almost entirely on a single vaccine: the Oxford / AstraZeneca jab.

The kingdom has ordered 63 million doses of the vaccine, most of which are produced by local company Siam Bioscience, owned by billionaire King Maha Vajiralongkorn. However, locally made AstraZeneca strokes will only be available from June.

Thailand has also imported two million doses of the Sinovac vaccine. As of Wednesday, Thailand had only vaccinated about 600,000 people, less than 1% of its population, and a lower rate than most of its Southeast Asian neighbors.

Our vaccine acquisition program has been abysmal

Thaksin Shinawatra, the former exiled prime minister, made an offer this week in an online chat to help secure Russian vaccines against Sputnik V. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha turned down the opening.

But in the face of growing anger over the delay, the prime minister dit that Thailand hoped to secure an additional vaccine dose of 35 million from other “two or three” producers, without specifying which one.

Defending government hiring decisions, Prayuth they told reporters this week they had been made “depending on the situation at the time, when we were successful in containing the outbreak.”

Powerful business groups in Thailand, who are usually wary of a breach in their public statements, demanded stronger government action this week and offered to help.

Forty companies in the Thai Chamber of Commerce signed a statement saying vaccination was being implemented too slowly. planned reopening from the country to international visitors this year and who were willing to help the government “connect the dots”.

Dhanin Chearavanont, Thailand’s richest businessman and honorary chairman of Charoen Pokphand conglomerate, said Prayuth should allow the private sector to import vaccines.

In Wednesday’s announcement, Prayuth said businesses had offered to “lighten the government’s financial burden” by funding new doses of 10 to 15 million.

“Our vaccine acquisition program has been abysmal,” said Cod Satrusayang, editor of Thai Enquirer, an independent news website that has been critical of the government’s vaccination efforts.

“If you compare Thailand to any other country with a similar GDP in our region, we will vaccinate at half that rate.”

Thailand’s initial public health response to the pandemic last year had been good, Satrusayang said, thanks to a strong pre-pandemic public health system. But the government had “taken its foot off the pedal in the last three months.”

Any criticism of Thailand’s vaccination program is politically sensitive because Siam Bioscience is owned by the king, whose powers and wealth faced a rare public challenge during historical periods. democratic protests led by young people last year.

Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the main opposition figure in Thailand, has been loaded according to the kingdom’s strict law of lèse majesty to question the government’s vaccination strategy and what he called the “royal vaccine”.

The law, which was also used to collect several leaders of last year’s protests that are in jail and awaiting trial, carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

The pandemic has hit the Thai economy, causing a 6% drop in 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 had planned to start reopening of six tourist areas to foreign visitors vaccinated from July 1, led by the tourist island of Phuket as part of a pilot program called “Sandbox”.

However, the timing of the program, which is based on mass vaccination of local residents, is in doubt due to the sudden increase in cases and supply of tense vaccines.

Thailand has reported 46,643 cases of coronavirus and 110 deaths from the disease, a smaller number than most countries of its size.

However, the number of daily cases exceeded 1,000 for the first time this month and caused a stir after groups of infections, including Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob, at two nightclubs in Thonglor, a neighborhood exclusive to Bangkok.

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