PRIME Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said today (Jan. 13) that local bodies may import Covid-19 vaccines out of their own funds but they have to pass the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards with many people having pinned their hopes on these vaccines, Siam Rath newspaper reported.
The government has searched many channels in many countries for these vaccines but they have to pass the FDA standards and side effects monitored, he said.
Gen. Prayut added that it is gratifying the vaccine produced by Siam Bioscience Co., Ltd. is of acceptable standard but further examination is still needed.
More such vaccines will now be produced and certification in the country of origin has to be checked, with this being the important point, and even after being introduced here certification has to be expedited while health officials have to be careful of the side effects that may occur among the public, he said.
Regarding the overall situation of the Covid-19 outbreak, Gen. Prayut said the daily totals are now over a hundred and during this period the figures will be moving up and down because people are cooperating in screening for this infection.
Refraining from unessential travel is important because it helps bring the outbreak under control faster, he added.
Earlier in the day the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration’s (CCSA’s) spokesman Dr. Taweesilp Visanuyothin said that over the past 24 hours there were 157 new coronavirus cases with 132 being domestic infection while proactive screening found 42 more cases with this leading to a total 3,006 migrant workers found to be infected so far.
However there were no additional deaths with the toll remaining at 67.
There were 25 people who were infected overseas and travelled here with 21 coming from Myanmar and one each from Iceland, the US, Germany and Qatar.
This adds up to a total of 10,991 cases with 211 more patients discharged from hospital, taking a total of 6,943 cured so far, while 3,981 are still hospitalized.
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Top: Gen. Prayut talking to the press today. Photo: Siam Rath
