By Thai Newsroom Reporters
AN ARMY COLONEL attached to the Thai Armed Forces headquarters will be disciplinarily punished for trying to obtain Moderna vaccine for purported use among military personnel and their family members.
Deputy Thai Armed Forces headquarters spokesman Maj. Gen. Thirapong Pattamasing said today (July 23) the colonel in question, who is currently in charge of the Protocol Section of the Adjutant General Department of the Thai Armed Forces headquarters, will be subject to disciplinary penalty but stopped short of elaborating.
The colonel was found to have written an official letter with his name undersigning the note which would be otherwise sent to the Thai Red Cross Society in pursuit of an unspecified volume of the Moderna vaccine for use among the Thai Armed Forces headquarters’ personnel and dependents, Maj. Gen. Thirapong said.Â
But the colonel’s letter has not reached its destination and already been scrapped, the deputy spokesman said.
The unidentified colonel had taken this ”unauthorized” action without the knowledge of Supreme Commander Gen. Chalermpol Srisawat, who heads the Thai Armed Forces headquarters, he said.
The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation today signed a purchase order for five million doses of Moderna vaccine, some of which will be distributed to the Thai Red Cross Society.
According to Centre for the Covid-19 Situation Administration spokeswoman Apisamai Srirangsan, four groups of people will be the first to be given a Moderna shot, including medical personnel, persons aged 60 years or older, those with seven types of chronic illnesses, women pregnant for 12 weeks or longer, elderly foreign residents in Thailand and the Thais going abroad for studies or diplomatic reasons.Â
CAPTIONS:
Top: A bottle of coronavirus vaccine and syringe with Moderna logo on white background. Photo: Jernej Furman (CC BY 2.0)
Home Page: Moderna mRNA vaccine for coronavirus. Photo: Marco Verch, professional photographer, (CC BY 2.0)
