As Thailand puts the local Covid-19 pandemic into its history books, one of the final steps has been taken.
Thailand’s Public Health Ministry is cancelling any further procurement of Covid-19 vaccines, according to an announcement published in the Royal Gazette yesterday. The cancellation follows the ending of the October 9, 2020 decree that allowed the health ministry to embark on procuring Covid-19 vaccines to protect public health, control the virus outbreak, and protect national security.
On October 31, 2022, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul signed an announcement confirming that the pandemic situation continues to improve globally and the mortality rate is at its lowest since March 2020, according to the World Health Organisation.
On October 1, Thailand cancelled the emergency decree, which had granted the government extraordinary powers to control the pandemic. At the same time, the health ministry downgraded Covid-19 to a communicable disease under surveillance, from its previous status as a dangerous communicable disease.
Health officials say the country now has enough vaccines to handle the current Covid-19 situation and there is no need to continue the procurement process.
According to a Nation Thailand report, Thailand recorded 2,551 new cases of the virus between October 23 and 29. Since January 1, 2022, the kingdom has logged 2,469,013 infections and 11,257 deaths.
SOURCE: Nation Thailand
