Local jabs yet to join Covid fight
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Firms eye regional hub push
published : 6 Jun 2021 at 06:22
2 Medical workers take nasal swabs from people who arrive for a Covid-19 test at the Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat Institute in Bangkok.
Thais are expected to get locally developed Covid-19 vaccines as a third booster jab next year.
None of the three Thai-made vaccines have yet passed clinical trials. So, they cannot be used to tackle the current wave of Covid-19 outbreak or ease the vaccine shortage problem.
However, researchers behind the domestic vaccine efforts insist their vaccine research and development work can still help long-term efforts to stop Covid-19 and enhance the country s ability to fight such diseases in the future.
With Thailand's Covid-19 mass vaccination programme expected to kick off next month, many people are pondering which vaccine is best for them. So far, the country has given over 2.2 million doses of the Sinovac and AstraZeneca shots to priority groups, such as frontline medical and healthcare workers.
Disappearing lifeline
Disappearing lifeline
The Thai Red Cross Society is urging the public to donate blood as supplies run low due to fear and Covid-19 restrictions
published : 11 May 2021 at 04:00
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Blood is a liquid tissue that transports oxygen, important materials and heat around the body. However, when it was given to Pha Sutha, it brought her back to life. Like other elderly people, she suffers from fatigue and loss of appetite and when she went to the doctor, it was revealed that she had a low red blood cell count.
Two days later, she vomited blood and an emergency van rushed to pick her up. She was sent to a provincial hospital where it was found she had massive bleeding due to gastric varices. Since the doctor had to find donated blood to help her, he asked his patient s niece Pachayanun Somkaew to look for donors because blood supplies are critically low.
Expert warns of jabs limits
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published : 12 Apr 2021 at 07:22
61 A resident of Watthana district in Bangkok is on April 7, 2021, injected with vaccine against Covid-19 at the Sang Thip sports complex on Soi Pridi Banomyong 2. (Photo by Somchai Poomlard)
An expert is warning that the African and Brazilian variants of the Covid-19 virus must be prevented from spreading in the country, as several reports suggest that currently available vaccines aren t fully effective against the mutated strains of the coronavirus.
The head of Chulalongkorn University s Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology, Yong Poovorawan, said the mutated variants surfaces are covered by protein spikes which differ to the ones that coat the surface of strains discovered earlier on in the pandemic.