Re: "CCSA shake-up looms", (BP, Sept 8).
In "CCSA shake-up looms", Dr Rewat Wisutwet, a list MP, said, "the Ministry of Public Health should be allowed to lead the enforcement of the law and work independently from any political interference".
This statement illustrates just how divorced from the slightest taint of democracy Thailand's government really is. Everyone should be made aware that the so-called pandemic is just seen as a means of expediency for competing ministries and bureaucrats to grab more power unchecked by the Thai people.
MICHAEL SETTER
Amazing Pattaya?
Re: "Reopening jitters strike in Pattaya", (BP, Sept 8).
I applaud Pattaya's amazing success in vaccinating its population -- 80% according to the Chon Buri provincial governor. That's double the figure reported last week in an article on Pattaya's reopening. Vaccination centres must have been working overtime in the last week. I would expect figures for a relatively compact city to be higher than the national average, but seven times the national average vaccination rate?
Sorry to be a sceptic, but I do not believe either of those figures.
ANDREW STEWERT
Boosters needed
Re: "Mixed up priorities", (PostBag, Sept 9).
I disagree that the government has got its priorities mixed up. From all the reports I have read, the government's priority is to get the whole country vaccinated as soon as possible.
However, it would be madness to stick our heads in the sand and pretend that booster shots will not be required. Current scientific opinion worldwide, such as the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), have confirmed the need for booster shots as the virus has mutated since the early stages of the vaccine rollout.
In Thailand Sinovac is now only administered as a first dose with a second dose of AstraZeneca to tackle the predominant Delta variant. A booster shot of AstraZeneca will therefore also be needed for those who received two shots of Sinovac in order to avoid a ticking time bomb.
As to the question posed as to whose lives the government considers so important that they should receive a third vaccination, as has already been reported in the Bangkok Post, frontline health workers who are at high risk through treating Covid-19 patients every day would of course be prioritised.
Once sufficient supplies of AstraZeneca become available the elderly and those suffering from underlying illnesses will need a booster shot as soon as possible as they are the ones most at risk from serious illness and death from Covid-19.
ROBERT DARLOW
A True failure
Re: "Is this moving forward?", (BP, Sept 12).
Fred Prager (PostBag, Sept 12) is right on point regarding TrueVisions and their utter failure to provide premium content to subscribers. They have had six months' notice to replace the Fox Sports and Fox movie content. In a little more than two weeks I movie from my Platinum Package to something resembling a new Lead Package.
Mr Prager notes premium sports and movies are being replaced with Asian cartoons and dramas. The cable/satellite monopoly has once again reared its ugly head. True Visions representatives suggested I get a VPN to subscribe to foreign app services for Western content. Is that even legal here?
DAVID BARKDULL
Lengthy apologia
Re: "Thailand takes action", (PostBag, Sept 11).
If the Guinness Book of Records conferred any such title as "longest letter to the editor", Saturday's sole contribution from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would win by a mile. All very interesting, I'm sure, for anyone with the patience to plough through it, but is the PostBag space really the appropriate platform for what amounts to a rather lengthy ministerial apologia?
CHRIS JEFFERY
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