A number of pre-registered vaccine recipients received phone calls late this morning (Monday), notifying them of the cancellation of their vaccination appointments, with no new appointment being made.
All those called had registered days in advance, and the lists of recipients on given days were sent to inoculation sites around Bangkok prior to the first day of the mass vaccination of its residents.
The number of doses provided was reportedly fewer than expected. One of the vaccination sites, which had planned to inoculate 800-1,000 people on its first day, will only be able to vaccinate 500.
This morning, prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told the reporters, during his visit to the inoculation site at Bang Sue central station, that there will be enough vaccines for everyone in Thailand, but that the timeframe has not been specified, while admitting that, for the time being, the demand for inoculations exceeds the doses available.
Thailand kicked off its inoculation campaign on February 28th, with the Public Health Minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, being the first person in the country to be vaccinated with SinoVac’s CoronaVac. Several days later, the prime minister became the first Thai to be inoculated with the AstraZeneca version.
Over the past 3 months, Thailand has inoculated less than 10% of its population, while news about the vaccine supply shortages and delays keep emerging.
Notably, the page on the department of disease control’s website, which usually shows the number of people inoculated in Thailand, has been taken down.
Last week, the first lots of the Thai-made AstraZeneca vaccine were delivered to the Public Health Ministry. The supplies are supposed to meet the amount of vaccine Thailand requires to cover 70% of the population.
