Thread: Abundance of Sinopharm jabs available, says CRA

THAILAND: The Chulabhorn Royal Academy (CRA) has given assurances there will be enough Sinopharm vaccine to go around if no one exceeds their allocation or jumps the queue.

CRA secretary-general Dr Nithi Mahanonda said on his Facebook page that millions of doses of Sinopharm vaccine have been ordered for local distribution.


However, they cannot be delivered to Thailand all at once as the production process, quality control and inspection take some time to complete. Everyone needs to be patient, he said.


“Please wait your turn and do not try to call me or Line-chat with me and ask for a VIP pass to cut the [allocation] queue. I cannot do that for you,” Dr Nithi said. He is believed to be referring to companies or organisations at the bottom of the list hoping for a boost.


Many in vulnerable groups including monks, the elderly and those living in crowded communities have not received their first jabs - they need to be taken care of first, he said, adding more time is needed to inspect the vaccine after its delivery to Thailand.


Dr Nithi said companies and organisations which could not order the Sinopharm vaccine earlier, need to be patient until the current backlog of orders is cleared. Then, they can place orders.


“There are no shortcuts or special treatment whatsoever,” he said.


The supply of vaccine will be delivered gradually, and the inspection of its quality usually takes a few days.


He said the CRA should not be blamed for any delay in vaccinations at hospitals as the academy had sent supplies to them ahead of time. “If there has been any delay, it is an internal issue related to the hospitals,” Dr Nithi added.


In the current first phase of distribution of Sinopharm by the CRA, the vaccine is free. “If anyone has had to pay money for it, you have been duped,” he said.


The CRA said yesterday (July 3) a total 67,992 people were vaccinated with the Sinopharm formula between June 25-30. Of those, 16,823 were given jabs at the CRA which found, during post-appointment monitoring, that 48 had experienced undesirable side-effects following the vaccination.


GPO denies it caused delay in Moderna jab deal


Meanwhile, the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) said yesterday it is not at fault for leaving a contract to purchase the US-made Moderna vaccine unsigned, which led to claims it caused a delay in procuring the alternative vaccine.


GPO director Vitoon Danwiboon denied the organisation was to blame, insisting it cannot sign the contract until the Private Hospitals Association (PHA) comes up with the money to pay for the vaccine.


“If we go ahead and ink the deal without the budget being finalised first, the GPO cannot accept responsibility.


“The deal involves a large quantity of vaccine and is expensive. We have to wait until they [the PHA] gather the money to put down a deposit first before we proceed to sign the contract with Zuellig Pharma Co,” said Dr Vitoon, referring to the importer of the vaccine.


He expected the signing could take place early this month.


About 300 hospitals placed orders for the Moderna vaccine with the GPO which entered into a purchase contract with the manufacturer in the US.


The manufacturing company does not engage directly with private hospitals over vaccine purchases but sells through a state agency.


Speaking at press briefing broadcast via the Thai Kufah webpage yesterday, Dr Vitoon said the GPO contacted the Moderna company for the first time on Feb 25 to express its intention to buy the vaccine.


On Feb 28, Moderna replied that due to huge global demand for the vaccine, the first shipment would arrive in the kingdom in the first quarter of next year.


On April 2, the company said it was in talks with Zuellig Pharma which will be the sole importer of the Moderna vaccine.


Dr Vitoon said Zuellig said on May 15 the Moderna vaccine may only be secured through a government representative, referring to the GPO, given the company’s regulation on the use of vaccines in emergency situations.


“As a government representative agency, we contacted the company to buy the vaccine for resale to private hospitals,” he said.


After discussions with the company, it was agreed the first shipment would be brought forward from the first quarter of next year to the last quarter of this year. However, the GPO head said the company has kept the shipment timeline broad.


The private hospitals want to procure a total of nine million doses of the Moderna vaccine, he said.


On Friday, it was reported the GPO abruptly submitted a draft purchase contract for the Moderna vaccine to the Office of Attorney General (OAG) after the OAG said it never received the contract.


In a statement, the OAG dismissed media reports saying the draft procurement contract was still under review by the office.


Its remarks came after Dr Vitoon’s June 23 comments saying the GPO soon would submit the draft to the OAG.


“If all goes well, the first lot of five million doses of the Moderna vaccine will be sent between October and December, or between January and March next year,” he said.


Meanwhile, the government is also procuring 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine. The vaccine is expected to reach Thai shores in the last quarter of the year.


According to the Department of Disease Control, in charge of the Pfizer procurement, the OAG is likely to finish vetting the vaccine purchase contract tomorrow before forwarding it to the cabinet for endorsement. Some major Bangkok-based private hospitals have stopped taking pre-orders for the Moderna vaccine, saying they are booked.


Abundance of Sinopharm jabs available, says CRA

Where is OhDoh?

Just because you steal stuff does not mean you can use it.

That's Good to hear Ohoh enjoying life in Trat

Shame the days of people, sharing there daily life here are gone, because of the usual loons that are free to spread there manure all around the board.

Keep enjoying life in Thailand......

Originally Posted by OhOh

My youngest son will get married next year.

Time flies

Congrats

Originally Posted by misskit

We have to wait until they [the PHA] gather the money to put down a deposit

Took me by surprise too, that vaccines cost money

Originally Posted by OhOh

^
As I have been for many years, very happy in Trat province. Thanks for asking.

Another harvest is in, FIL has enough cash for the coming year. Drains improved, trees happy, dogs welcoming and wife adorable, mostly.

My youngest son will get married next year.



Hope you are likewise enjoying yourself.

Best to ya Oh...

You've gotta be pretty desperate to take one of those Chinese jabs.

Like all Thai, the CRA spokesperson is lying through their teeth.

An acquaintance of mine working for an international company based in Thailand with over a thousand personnel, bought doses off the CRA which were promised in early June. So far, the hospital designated to administer the vaccine has postponed the operation twice, most recently last Friday and deferred it yet again for another month.

If it's Thai, it's shit.

Originally Posted by Seekingasylum

If it's Thai, it's shit.

Perhaps you could have this as your sig and save everyone some time?

If it bears repeating, then let it be so.

In what sense do you think this ghastly society isn't a pile of hypocritical shite?

And why would you resent being told it is so?

You insipid Thaiphiles with your fingers up the Thai fundament regurgitating your fatuous banality on matters Siamese are really quite ridiculous.

Siam bioscience seem to be exporting Astra zeneca, must be part of their license providing to others before their own country

Originally Posted by hallelujah

You've gotta be pretty desperate to take one of those Chinese jabs.

What we think about Astra Zeneca

Probably about supply

Good job they have an abundance since they need at least three doses per person.

You've gotta be pretty desperate to take one of those Chinese jabs.

Why? It's been found to have an efficacy rate of +90%, up there with Pfizer and probably better than AZ- and without the blood clotting issue.
Of course the inept Thai junta will stuff up the logistics, and corruption will abound as usual- but they should be getting their citizens jabbed in a big hurry.

Originally Posted by sabang

Why? It's been found to have an efficacy rate of +90%, up there with Pfizer and probably better than AZ- and without the blood clotting issue.
.

Look at the likes of Chile and the Seychelles that mostly relied on Chinese jabs. Their numbers actually went up recently!

Furthermore, we've had very little data about them, and didn't one of the Chinese ministers himself also say that the efficacy was pretty poor (I know in Brazil it was only about 50% in trials)?

It would be a pass from me fo shu and I don't personally know anyone who would say yes to it because of trust issues (I had AZ, but I would have happily accepted any of the others apart from the Chinese ones 'cos the information has been published for us to see).

I know you're a Sinophile, but would you really trust something made in China?

Bloody ell, Sabang. Chinese peasants just put the pieces of plastic together like they do in Bangladesh when they're "making" things.

It's a shithole country renowned for tat and rip offs while government policies are the epitome of cover ups. Not to be trusted by any human being with a brain.

Rather you than me.

Originally Posted by sabang

Why? It's been found to have an efficacy rate of +90%

86% then. Compares well to AZ (which I'm half way through) at 76-80%. In most of the world, we (not just 'Them') are gonna need a vaccine that can be stored & transported at normal fridge temperatures- effectively ruling out Pfizer & Moderna. Both Sputnik and Sinopharm stack up well, and lets face it nobody has the manufacturing & distribution capabilities of China.

Pull your head out Sabang...


BEIJING (AP) — China’s top disease control official, in a rare acknowledgement, said current vaccines offer low protection against the coronavirus and mixing them is among strategies being considered to boost their effectiveness.

China has distributed hundreds of millions of doses of domestically made vaccines abroad and is relying on them for its own mass immunization campaign.

But the director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fu, said at a conference Saturday their efficacy rates needed improving.

“We will solve the issue that current vaccines don’t have very high protection rates,” Gao said in a presentation on Chinese COVID-19 vaccines and immunization strategies at a conference in the southwestern city of Chengdu. “It’s now under consideration whether we should use different vaccines from different technical lines for the immunization process.”

He also praised the benefits of mRNA vaccines, the technology behind the two vaccines seen as the most effective, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, months after questioning whether the then-unproven method was safe.

In a message to The Associated Press, Gao said late Sunday night he was speaking about the effectiveness rates for “vaccines in the world, not particularly for China.” He did not respond to further questions about which vaccines he was referring to.

He directed the AP to an interview he did with the state-owned Global Times, which has published several articles raising doubts about the safety of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine. Gao was quoted by the outlet Sunday as saying he was misunderstood and merely talking in general terms about improving vaccine efficacy.

Beijing earlier tried to promote doubt about the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which uses genetic code called messenger RNA, or mRNA, to prime the immune system.

Health officials at a news conference Sunday didn’t respond directly to questions about Gao’s comment or about possible changes in official plans. But another CDC official said Chinese developers are working on mRNA-based vaccines.

“The mRNA vaccines developed in our country have also entered the clinical trial stage,” said the official, Wang Huaqing. He gave no timeline for possible use.

Experts say mixing vaccines, or sequential immunization, might boost effectiveness. Researchers in Britain are studying a possible combination of Pfizer-BioNTech and the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Gao concluded his presentation Saturday with praise for mRNA vaccines and called for innovation in research.

“Everyone should consider the benefits mRNA vaccines can bring for humanity,” Gao said. “We must follow it carefully and not ignore it just because we already have several types of vaccines already.”

Gao previously questioned the safety of mRNA vaccines. He was quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency as saying in December he couldn’t rule out negative side effects because they were being used for the first time on healthy people, saying “there is a safety concern.”

Chinese state media and popular health and science blogs also questioned the safety and effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, though large-scale trials and the rollout of the vaccines in the U.S. have established its safety.

China currently has five vaccines in use in its mass immunization campaign, three inactivated-virus vaccines from Sinovac and Sinopharm, a one-shot vaccine from CanSino, and the last from Gao’s team in partnership with Anhui Zhifei Longcom.

The effectiveness of the vaccines range from just over 50% to 79%, based on what the companies have said.

The shot from Gao’s team, was given emergency use approval a month ago, and has not publicly disclosed data yet about its efficacy.

Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines, which are primarily being used in developed countries, have both been shown to be about 95% in protecting against COVID-19 in studies.

As of April 2, some 34 million people in China have received the full two doses of Chinese vaccines and about 65 million received one, according to Gao.

Globally, public health experts have said that any vaccine that is 50% effective would be useful, and many governments have been eager to use Chinese vaccines as rich countries around the world have snapped up shots from Pfizer and Moderna.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus said Friday that while one in four people in rich countries had received a vaccine, only one in 500 people in poorer countries had gotten a dose.

The coronavirus pandemic, which was first detected in central China in late 2019, marks the first time the Chinese drug industry has played a role in responding to a global health emergency.
Vaccines made by Sinovac, a private company, and Sinopharm, a state-owned firm, have made up the majority of Chinese vaccines distributed to several dozen countries including Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia, Hungary, Brazil and Turkey.

However, the companies have not publicly published peer-reviewed data on the final stage clinical trial research and been criticized for a lack of transparency.

Sinovac’s vaccine, for example, raised concerns when it was found to have different efficacy rates from each of the trials it conducted in different countries, ranging from around 50% to over 83%.

A Sinovac spokesman, Liu Peicheng, acknowledged varying levels of effectiveness have been found but said that can be due to the age of people in a study, the strain of virus and other factors.
Beijing has yet to approve any foreign vaccines for use in mainland China.

The Sinovac spokesman, Liu, said studies find protection “may be better” if time between vaccinations is longer than the current 14 days but gave no indication that might be made standard practice.

Top Chinese official admits vaccines have low effectiveness

China's COVID vaccine fail

https://www.axios.com/china-covid-vaccine-fail-spread-d2a4e465-ef82-4225-9cc0-4fc9b57f8501.html

Bahrain, Facing a Covid Surge, Starts Giving Pfizer Boosters to Recipients of Chinese Vaccine

https://www.wsj.com/articles/bahrain-facing-a-covid-surge-starts-giving-pfizer-boosters-to-recipients-of-chinese-vaccine-11622648737

Originally Posted by hallelujah

from a country that is famous for producing tat, fakes and with a government that never ever tells the truth

I agree 100%. China will never be transparent...ever. This behavior goes back long before Covid. Any data that comes from any of those companies is likely heavily tainted to always show everything is great. They have no watch dog agencies keeping them honest. Anyone who speaks up..... mysteriously disappears.

Awesome.

Can't wait to get my Sinopharm shot next week then...