The misunderstanding between the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), over the allocation of COVID-19 vaccines, appears to have be resolved, at least for now.
Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told the media today (Monday) that he called Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwanmuang this morning to clear up any misunderstandings between his ministry and the BMA about the allocation of vaccines, after several city-run hospitals postponed vaccination appointments today due to vaccine shortages.
He said the misunderstandings have been settled, adding that whenever new lots of vaccine, be they Chinese-made Sinovac or locally-produced AstraZeneca, are received by the MoPH, they will be immediately passed to the BMA and other provinces as planned.
The minister assured that there are sufficient vaccines, but the provinces which have received their vaccines must manage them properly, so vaccinations can proceed without hitches, citing the vaccination services at Bang Sue Grand Station and Bamrasnaradura Institute of Infectious Diseases (BIID), where vaccinations are proceeding as planned.
The facility at Bang Sue Grand Station is run by the Ministry of Transport, in cooperation with the State Railway of Thailand while the BIID is under the supervision of MoPH.
According to Mr. Anutin, another lot of 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine is expected this week, on a date yet to be fixed, and that he hopes that there won’t be another problem resulting in appointment postponements.
