Ministry asked to secure more AZ for Thais

Medical workers prepare Covid-19 vaccinations in Nonthaburi province on Wednesday. (Photo: Chanat Katanyu)
Medical workers prepare Covid-19 vaccinations in Nonthaburi province on Wednesday. (Photo: Chanat Katanyu)

The government has been urged to secure more supplies of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine made by Siam Bioscence Co, the local manufacturer of the vaccine, for Thais while the country is facing a grave outbreak crisis.

The National Vaccine Committee (NVC) and the Department of Disease Control (DDC) were asked to negotiate with the AstraZeneca maker to seek a higher proportion of the vaccine for Thailand, said Dr Nakorn Premsri, director of the National Vaccine Institute.

"Prohibiting the export of all vaccines produced in the country is possible; but I think that would hurt neighbouring countries and other trade partners of AstraZeneca," said Dr Nakorn.

Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul says Thailand needs to have some empathy for its neighbours that are facing a similar Covid-19 crisis.

"Thailand isn't barring any exports of the vaccine produced by AstraZeneca. Any decisions on the management of the vaccine supply lie with the vaccine maker," he said.

He was responding to recent calls by groups, including the Pharmacy Council of Thailand, for a ban on exporting the AstraZeneca vaccine to other countries.

Dr Nakorn said earlier that Thailand has been trying to negotiate for 10 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine a month, the amount required to achieve its plan to reach herd immunity against Covid-19 through a mass vaccination programme.

Most recently, a letter was received from AstraZeneca with a commitment to supply Thailand with 5-6 million doses a month, which means the country has to try to find more supplies from other sources.

Asked how much of the AstraZeneca vaccine was actually supplied to Thailand in recent months under the contract, Dr Nakorn said the vaccine maker sticks to its one-third rule, in which Thailand gets a third of its output, and the rest is exported. The company has entered supply contracts with various other countries in the region.

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Vocabulary

  • bar: to officially not allow someone to do something or go somewhere - ห้าม
  • commitment: willing to give your time and energy to something that you believe in; a promise or firm decision to do something - การให้คำมั่นสัญญา, การให้คำมั่น, การมอบความไว้วางใจ
  • crisis: a situation that has reached and extremely difficult or dangerous point - ช่วงวิกฤต
  • empathy: the ability to share someone else's feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in their situation - ความสามารถในการเข้าใจความรู้สึกของผู้อื่น
  • export: the selling and transporting of goods to another country - สินค้าออก, การส่งสินค้าออกไปต่างประเทศ
  • grave: very serious; very dangerous - วิกฤติ, ร้ายแรง
  • herd immunity: when most of a population is immune to an infectious disease -
  • negotiate: to try to reach an agreement by discussing something in a formal way - เจรจาต่อรอง
  • prohibit: to not allow; to ban - ห้าม
  • secure (verb): to get or achieve something - ได้มา
  • supply: to provide somebody/something with something that they need or want, especially in large quantities - จัดหาให้, จัดส่งให้
  • third (noun): one third; 1/3 - เศษหนึ่งส่วนสาม, 1/3
  • trade partner: another country that your country exports to and imports from a lot -
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