Thailand finally saw the first shot of the controversial AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine being administered to Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha last week along with members of the cabinet.
The busy Prof Dr Yong Poovorawan, chief of the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at Chulalongkorn University, was assigned to give the first AstraZeneca jab to Gen Prayut. This event was held to help boost people’s confidence about Thailand’s national vaccination programme and to provide hope that the Covid-19 crisis can be put to an end soon.
However, when it comes to winning the public’s confidence about the country’s mass inoculation programme and the fast-tracked Covid-19 vaccines themselves, getting the prime minister to receive the shot publicly after delays might not be enough.
Vaccine hesitancy is nothing new…
