On Tuesday, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha apologized to the public for the postponed vaccination appointments, saying there were many reasons behind the delays in COVID-19 inoculations.
According to Gen Prayut, the government was receiving small batches of ordered vaccines rather than large lots at a time. Also, vaccinations were stopped at jab stations with high injection capacities that used up all their vaccine stocks.
He also explained that vaccine deliveries were delayed because they had to undergo time-consuming quality and production controls.
Many countries face the same problem, Gen Prayut stated. Besides, the prime minister said that vaccinations for at-risk people in Bangkok and other outbreak areas were accelerated to control COVID-19 and maintain factory operations.
Consequently, some previous vaccine registrants were affected, he commented.
Gen Prayut also said that vaccines involved many organizations and misunderstandings could occur in their vaccination coordination. However, he ensured that vaccine registrants whose appointments were postponed did not have to re-register as their places in the queues would be kept.
“As the prime minister and director of CCSA [Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration], I am the top executive in this war against COVID. I must apologize for the problems that happened and I take all the responsibility,” he said.
The prime minister said that health officials had distributed 7 million vaccine doses to provinces across the kingdom, of which 6.5 million had been administered so far.
“We will find a way to solve the problems to ensure maximum benefit for people, and alleviate their worries,” Gen Prayut added. Later, he claimed that the government ordered 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for its plan to inoculate 50 million people or 70% of the population this year.
Furthermore, authorities have been seeking more doses to expand vaccines and cover 80-90% of the population by 2022, the prime minister stated.
Meanwhile, vice minister of public health Dr. Sophon Mekthon said at the Public Health Ministry in Nonthaburi that people whose inoculation appointments had been postponed by their hospitals could register to get jabs at the Bang Sue Grand Station in Bangkok through the number phone 02-7922333.
But he stated that the number of people with postponed vaccination appointments should not be high.
