Thailand to Launch Massive Vaccine Campaign as Covid Cases Rise

Thailand is contending with a surge in infections of about 2,000-4,000 reported new cases a day — the highest since the start of the pandemic.  Siam Bioscience will produce 200m doses of the coronavirus jab, including for export. 

Like its regional peers Vietnam and Taiwan, the kingdom brought reported Covid-19 infections down to zero in 2020. The spike in cases has been blamed on more contagious variants of the coronavirus that have spread quickly through markets, prisons and worker camps. The Thai Enquirer, an outspoken online publication, last week called Siam Bioscience an “international embarrassment”.

The Thai government last week received delivery of 1.8m doses of the jab from AstraZeneca, the first of 6m vaccines scheduled to arrive this month. It insists the rollout is on schedule but a government spokesman declined to respond to a question from the Financial Times…