Thammasat University is seeking to import Covid-19 vaccines mainly for internal use as its hospital is finding itself overwhelmed by the pandemic.
A source at Thammasat disclosed that the university council on Monday reached an unanimous decision to invoke a regulation that permits the university to perform public health and medical services in response to the Covid-19 emergency.
The invocation allows the university to source vaccines and necessary medical equipment, both domestically and from overseas, the source said.
Surapon Nitikraipot, former university rector and chairman of Thammasat University Hospital's executive board, told the meeting that more Covid-19 patients are being admitted than the hospital has capacity for. Several of the university's medical workers have also contracted the virus which has further compounded manpower shortages. Resources at the hospital are likewise being stretched thin.
Mr Surapon insisted the hospital could not wait for the government's allocations of vaccines which have been few and far between and slow to arrive.
The university council has moved to avail itself of the power to acquire vaccine, similar to how Chulabhorn Royal Academy was authorised to import the Sinopharm vaccine from China. The council meeting debated the issue at length before going ahead with the regulatory invocation.
Mr Surapon, a law expert, assured the meeting that the university would face no legal problems with the vaccine acquisition. The vaccines are slated for the treatment of patients at the Thammasat University Hospital and the university would not double as a broker in the acquisition deal.
The source said that now the university has given the green light, it is expected the council president, Noranit Setabutr, will sign the invocation document and forward it to the cabinet secretariat office.
The invocation may be published in the Royal Gazette as early as today with immediate effect.
It is unclear at this stage from what manufacturers the university plans to buy the vaccine from and whether the vaccine will be resold to any agencies.
Meanwhile, a doctor has requested to resign from a hospital in Nakhon Si Thammarat after she was alleged to have brought her ineligible family members to receive the Pfizer vaccine at the hospital. A source close to the matter said the doctor gave jabs to her sister and mother.