A PRIVATE hospital chain in cooperation with a large government organisation has placed a direct order to import mRNA vaccine with a shipment arriving this month, Sanook.com said today (July 12).
Dr. Amnat Kuslanan, a member of the Medical Council of Thailand and former president of the Medical Council, revealed the good news in a Facebook post.
“Breaking news, good news, a private hospital network together with a large state organisation has succeeded in ordering mRNA vaccine as an alternative and it’s coming this month,” he wrote.
However it was not mentioned whether one or both mRNA vaccines produced by Moderna and Pfizer/Biontech will be arriving this month and if just one which one it is.
This good news came amid a heavy coronavirus outbreak in Thailand, especially the Delta variant. This has led to widespread concern over the effectiveness of other vaccines, especially Sinovac, which may lead to those inoculated seeing their immunity decline over time.
As a result, there is currently a demand for mRNA vaccines with people urging the government to import and distribute these doses as soon as possible.
Earlier the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) revealed that there were 8,656 new Covid cases in the 24 hours to this morning and 80 fatalities with Bangkok still the worst hit with 2,399 cases and 44 fatalities, Siam Rath newspaper said.
This takes the cumulative confirmed total since the start of the pandemic to 345,027 and in the current wave that began in April 316,164.
The additional fatalities increased the death toll since the start of the pandemic to 2,791 and in the current wave 2,697.
Of the new batch of cases 6,044 emerged in the surveillance and health systems, 2,515 found through proactive search in communities, 73 fell sick in prisons and detention centres while 24 people arriving from abroad were found to be infected.
Another 3,687 patients were cured, taking total recoveries since the onset of the pandemic to 251,658 and in the ongoing wave 224,232.
Altogether 90,578 patients are undergoing treatment with 51,288 being in hospitals and 39,290 in field hospitals. Among them 2,895 are in serious condition with 747 requiring ventilators.
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Top: An older couple with syringe and mRNA vaccines text.
Home Page: Empty paper with a stethoscope and Covid vaccine. Both photo: Marco Verch, a professional photographer and Twitch streamer from Cologne (CC BY 2.0)
