A Pattaya city councilman said he doubts the government can meet its Covid-19 vaccination targets alone and is urging officials to allow the private sector to purchase vaccines directly, and quickly.
Sinchai Wattanasartsathorn, a former president of the Pattaya Business & Tourism Association and an executive with Flipper Pattaya Group, said April 28 that he doesn’t see how the government, at its current pace, can vaccinate 70 percent of the population by the end of the year.
There is lots of news about vaccines being negotiated or ordered, but little progress on actually administering those jabs, Sinchai said. Likewise, the government has given lip service to allowing the private sector to purchase vaccines, but no action to make it happen.
Sinchai said he wants to see the government give companies formal approval to order vaccines overseas and inoculate their employees and do it quickly. If that happens, Sinchai said he doesn’t see any reason why 75 percent of the country can’t be inoculated by the end of the year.
However, he thinks the government should still have a role in private-sector purchases to regulate quality and prices.
