BANGKOK – A COVID-19 vaccine, a key weapon in subduing the virus COVID-19 by Rungruang Kitphati, M.D.
A “knockout punch” is one of the five “strategies” against COVID-19 and we are on the right track.
“A Vaccine is one of the said “knockout punches”.
Compliments to the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), the Department of Medical Sciences, the Department of Disease Control, the National Vaccine Institute, the Thai Red Cross Society, Mahidol University, Chulalongkorn University and many other agencies (respectfully apologize for not naming all) for striving to speed up the process.
There are three proposals which should be put into practice simultaneously for a very important reason, and they will establish national health security.
1) A COVID-19 vaccine must be successfully produced, but when that time comes, despite having money, some people “might not be able to pay for the vaccine” according to the demand and supply rule because the demand is very high.
2) At the beginning, a vaccine will be very expensive according to my experience working with vaccines (from working at the Department of Science, the Department of Disease Control as the Director of the Bureau of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the Director of the Bureau of General Communicable Diseases and the Director of Division of Vaccine Preventable Diseases).
– At the start of the influenza outbreak, the influenza vaccine was very expensive. Despite having money, people couldn’t buy it. The price is now around one thousand baht per single dose. I was very proud of myself when I was able to buy it for 99 baht per dose after striking a bargain.
– If a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine costs about 2,000 baht, how much will we have to spend
– Normally, a vaccination must cover at least 80 percent of the population and the focus should be on risk groups first, especially the “extreme risk group”.
– When we calculate (2,000 baht/one dose of vaccine X) about 70 million people in Thailand need treatment to cover 80 percent of the people), so we have to spend about 112 billion baht.
- Questions
Do we have the budget. If not, only the extreme risk group which accounts for five percent of the population will get it.
Even if we have the budget, we might not be able to buy the vaccine because countries around the world would be scrambling to buy it.
I would like to submit three proposals which should be put into practice simultaneously (to the MOPH and the Secretary-General of the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration) and be forwarded to the Prime Minister and all sectors.
The proposals regarding policies and things that need to be accelerated and done seriously are as follows:
1) Accelerate coordination with countries that produce vaccines to reserve the COVID-19 vaccines.
2) Cooperate with reliable vaccine companies with the potential to conduct clinical research in Thailand.
– the current vaccine development in a vial has been proven efficient and safe for humans.
– Coordinate with various companies to cooperate with Thailand on vaccination testing in Thailand
– Thailand will get the COVID-19 vaccine first as a co-researcher
– Thailand will get an inexpensive vaccine (maybe free)
3) According to the sufficiency economy principle, Thailand must be self-reliant. We have doctors, medical scientists and people who are no less knowledgeable about vaccines than those of any nation in this world. My suggestions are as follows:
3.1) Accelerate investment in the establishment of a “vaccine plant in Thailand” (currently, we can produce only a very small volume of vaccine and not many types of vaccines) to cope with COVID-19 (this time, we are competing in a marathon, not a 100-meter race).
His Majesty the late King always taught us to seek self-reliance, to be knowledgeable, careful and reasonable, and follow the middle way.
3.2) Even if a vaccine can’t be produced in time to cope with COVID-19, you should remember that every 10 years a situation like this will occur (You can study it. It is true). At least, we will be able to handle the situation in the next 10 years and we will be “self-reliant”.
3.3) We could export the vaccines and become a regional vaccine export leader. Finally, Thailand would earn income from the vaccine industry.
The three suggestions that should be put into practice simultaneously are aimed at protecting the nation and the people and establishing health security for Thailand in accordance with the “sufficiency economy” philosophy.
I wish to express my gratitude to everyone who is contributing to successful control of diseases with vaccines, such as the polio vaccine and diphtheria vaccine (ChaloemPhrakiat Project offered 22 million doses of diphtheria vaccine to people nationwide). Today, diphtheria has almost been eradicated. There is also a project offering free human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines. In the future, a very small number of Thai people will have cervical cancer. Most importantly, Thai people have accepted and understood and “are longer afraid of vaccines”. Today, a large number of people submit their request for “vaccines”.
Respectfully yours,
Rungruang Kitphati, M.D.
– Chairman of the Health Based on the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy Foundation
– Member of the “Vaccine for People Foundation” Committee
– Ministerial advisor (Level 10)
(Advisory Level Chief) and Spokesman of the Ministry of Public Health operating at the Secretariat of the Prime Minister, Government House (NNT)
