A research director yesterday dismissed criticism over the costs and waiting time associated with the Covid-19 vaccine the government has ordered.
Somchai Jitsuchon, research director for inclusive development at the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), who is involved in the procurement, wrote on his Facebook page that the process has been handled with utmost care.
As to whether Thailand should produce a vaccine locally, Mr Somchai wrote that a full assessment of the country's production capability had informed the decision to initially buy it from foreign pharmaceutical companies.
Ultimately the government's strategic plan consists of both importing the vaccine and supporting local production, he said.
The government had been in contact with several developers of the vaccine in several countries during the experimental and trial stages, Mr Somchai said.
He said the vaccine could have been pre-ordered during this time but it would have risked losing its deposit if those efforts had come to nothing.
Also, infections in Thailand at the time were not as widespread as in many other countries and it was deemed sensible to wait for evidence of the safety and efficacy of the various candidates before making an order.
The downside of that decision is that the government has had to pay more now, after initial low quotes to secure funding skyrocketed once trial results looked promising.
Mr Somchai also said Thailand ended up paying more because the prices of raw materials for producing the vaccine had been driven up by big-lot buying by drug manufacturers.
The AstraZeneca vaccine which Thailand opted for was still far cheaper than that of other vaccines, although the price was still higher than what the company charged countries which pre-ordered its vaccine before Thailand did.
Nonetheless, that did not come as an enormous budgetary burden, especially when taking into consideration the risk of wasting state finances had domestic efforts to develop a vaccine proved fruitless.
"Those who argue that Thailand paid more than it should for the Covid-19 vaccine should also think about the risk of wasting the state budget in the case of a failed vaccine programme," he wrote.
Apparently referring to an accusation made by Progressive Movement leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, Mr Somchai said he had come came across no evidence of Thailand paying too much, although he admitted he was no expert in the subject.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul responded to Mr Thanathorn's call for the government to make public the contract signed between AstraZeneca and Siam Bioscience, the local vaccine-making factory, saying that was impossible as both parties were private companies, not organisations under the government.
Mr Anutin also denied the government had effectively granted itself a monopoly on the importation of Covid-19 vaccines, saying no other foreign companies had sought to register their own vaccines with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He also argued the FDA was prepared, with a recently augmented team, to verify the suitability of any new vaccines submitted for approval with all due haste.