BANGKOK – Thailand should not only wait for COVID-19 vaccines from the West but also buy from China and Russia, said Prof Dr Yong Poovorawan, head of the Center of Excellence in Clinical Virology at Chulalongkorn University.
Dr Yong wrote in his Facebook account that vaccination already showed widespread effects in the countries where many people were inoculated. In Britain and the United States where so many people were receiving vaccines, daily new COVID-19 cases noticeably dropped from their levels during the New Year, he said.
In Israel, vaccinated people and other people showed different rates of infection. Apparently vaccines reduced not only symptoms and deaths but also infection, Dr Yong said.
Thailand should not only wait for vaccines from the West. The government should use its connections to acquire the vaccines of China and Russia which already passed their phase 3 trial. Millions of doses of the vaccines had been used and many countries registered them for emergency use. The faster Thailand could get vaccines, the sooner it could rehabilitate its economy, Dr Yong said.
Thailand on Friday reported 586 new Covid-19 cases, consisting of 526 cases detected by active case testing. The total infections rose to 22,644. (TNA)
