Inoculation of PM and cabinet ministers postponed - Thai PBS World Tonight [12th March 2021]

The COVID-19 vaccination of Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha and 36 cabinet ministers, which was scheduled for today at Bamrasnaradura Infectious Disease Institute, has been postponed.

This came after reports that a number of countries in the EU postponed their inoculation programs, after 30 people, who had been inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, experienced blood clotting.

Advisor to the CCSA, Professor Dr. Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn explained that, if there are any negative side effects from a vaccine, then there is no need to rush to get inoculated, although the AstraZeneca vaccine has high efficacy. Currently an investigation is underway in Europe to find out whether the blood clotting is related to the COVID-19 vaccine.

It is, however, unclear whether the blood clotting is related to COVID-19 vaccines, but to ensure safety, the cabinet’s inoculations have been postponed by two weeks for investigation.

Meanwhile, Thai virologist Dr. Yong Poovorawan explained that Caucasians are more prone to blood clots than Asians, due to different genetic traits, with the incidence among Caucasians being three times higher than among Asians.

He cited the case of the UK, where 11 million people have already been inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine and the incidence of blood clots among them is no higher than normal.

Blood clot incidence increases as people age and the incidence among Caucasians over 60 is between 5 and 13 per 1,000 people.