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As Covid-19 surges in Thailand, Prayuth faces crisis of confidence stoked by Thaksin, Clubhouse and ‘fed-up doctors’
- A delay in procuring vaccine supplies threatens Thailand’s plan to reopen its important tourism sector, prompting criticism of the government from the private sector
- Adding to the headache for PM Prayuth are ‘fed-up’ social media groups and a former leader who claims he could source Sputnik shots from Vladimir Putin
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Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha is to meet industry and tourism leaders on Wednesday to discuss how the country, in the thick of a coronavirus flare-up and a month-long lockdown of Bangkok, can ramp up its vaccination drive as it seeks to welcome foreign travellers to Phuket by July 1.
Vaccinations are key to Thailand’s reopening to boost its decimated tourism sector, which contributed close to 15 per cent of its GDP before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. But a delay in procuring vaccine supplies has put its plans at risk and sparked a crisis of confidence among the public.
Thailand has received 2.5 million Sinovac doses and expects a further one million in May. Sixty-one million locally produced AstraZeneca doses are set to be delivered between June and December. Prayuth said last week that Russia and Pfizer had each promised between five and 10 million doses but offered no delivery timeline.
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With only about one per cent of the 66 million population – mostly health workers and those at higher risk of infection – inoculated so far, the private sector has ramped up pressure on the government to procure more vaccines. The Thai Chamber of Commerce on Monday began taking vaccine orders from members, at their own expense, as a step toward speeding the recovery, Bloomberg reported.
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Cardboard beds set up in Thai hospital ahead of third wave of Covid-19 cases involving new variant
Cardboard beds set up in Thai hospital ahead of third wave of Covid-19 cases involving new variant
Russ Jalichandra, a retired Thai diplomat, said the government had focused too much on producing the AstraZeneca vaccine locally as a means of securing a supply of doses, pointing out that trials of domestically-produced vaccines were now under way. Russ said Thailand should have joined the global vaccine scheme Covax and focused on domestic production at the same time.
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