Bangkok, Covid-19: fears for the vaccination campaign

Yesterday the country launched mass administration. The opposition criticizes the government's choice to rely on a single producer, fearing that the doses will not be sufficient for the entire population. More than 3 thousand new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. To contain the infections in factories, employees are quarantined in the workplace for 28 days.

Bangkok (AsiaNews / Agencies) - After a series of delays, yesterday Thailand finally launched its mass vaccination campaign, accompanied by criticism of the government and concerns about the doses that will be used, produced by a company owned by the crown.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha last month planned to administer 100 million doses by the end of the year. Of these, approximately 61 million are expected to be AstraZeneca doses produced locally by the company Siam BioScience.

Exclusively owned by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, the company was founded in 2009 and has never produced vaccines. However, according to a press release, it will be able to export doses throughout Southeast Asia as early as July.

Opposition leaders have harshly criticized the government for being too dependent on one supplier and voiced their concerns that Siam BioScience will fail to meet the needs of the entire country.

So far only 4% of the population has received the first dose of the vaccine and, according to Reuters, hospitals were forced to postpone their vaccination appointments last week due to lack of doses. Although the mass vaccination campaign began yesterday, the country had begun to administer the first doses to medical personnel and certain categories of workers since the end of February.

Thailand has one of the strictest treason laws in the world – criticism of the king, queen or designated heir can result in up to 15 years in prison.

In January, an opposition politician, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, was charged with defamation of the monarchy for criticizing the government on social media. A Thai court has dismissed the lawsuit against Thanathorn, but another legal case against him is still pending.

Thailand had managed to keep overall Covid-19 cases low until early April, when what is considered the third wave began. A first outbreak emerged in a well-known neighbourhood of Bangkok and then the infections spread to prisons, factories, migrant workers' dormitories and slums.

According to reports from the Bangkok Post, in the last 24 hours the government has registered 3 thousand new cases, of which 640 among prisoners.

For fear that the country's industrial sector (essential after the collapse of tourism) would be hit hard by the pandemic due to outbreaks in factories, the government has decided to contain the infections with a "bubble and closure" policy: if 10% of workers in a factory test positive, the sick can leave the plant to receive treatment, while the rest, even if not affected by the coronavirus, are quarantined in the workplace for 28 days.