Is the government again repeating the mistake of putting all of its eggs into one basket as it embarks on the next stage of the Covid-19 fight?
Earlier in the pandemic, the government was accused of overly relying on a single brand of Covid-19 vaccine, AstraZeneca. It was to be produced here but deliveries proved to be intermittent and delayed.
It took the administration several months during the third and most severe wave of the pandemic before it managed to secure more vaccines from various sources.
Criticism has been severe but it hasn't just been about vaccines.
There have been other forms of bungling, with an example being ineffective patient admission and transfer procedures which resulted in many infected people being left to fend for themselves. Many, especially the elderly, were left to die at home while waiting for treatment.
While it remains debatable whether damage from the government's seemingly inept management of Covid-19 is permanent, the government has tried to redeem itself and declared it has finally overcome the Covid-19 vaccine shortage and it will now step ahead with the next mission of addressing economic concerns and people's livelihoods.
During his recent announcement heralding an imminent end of the lockdown and plans to reboot the economy, Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha did not mention other strategies except to continue mass vaccinations. He said the government has ordered more than 170 million Covid-19 vaccine doses for next year, which should be more than enough for the country's 70 million population.
The situation on the ground at present seems to have improved with the number of new infections and fatalities gradually declining. Medical workers now have some breathing space as Covid-19 wards are no longer jam-packed and some field hospitals have been shut.
Meanwhile, spas, gyms, theatres as well as bars have been reopened, signalling that life will soon return to normal.
The bad news is that mass vaccine coverage may not be enough to reopen the country as international public health experts have argued, fighting Covid-19 requires a multi-pronged strategy.
Mass vaccination is undeniably the most effective, widely available and safe means to save lives, to shield people from severe sickness and hospitalisation. It's a medical and public health tool but it may not fully address the concerns regarding the reopening of the economy or the government's goal of "living smartly with Covid-19".
Transmissibility is the key to reopening.
The highly contagious Delta variant is not dubbed a game-changer for no reason. Delta not only spreads faster and causes more severe illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but it could also cause breakthrough infections among vaccinated people who can transmit the virus onwards.
Delta makes the previous milestone of achieving herd immunity, either when a majority of people becomes infected or fully vaccinated, futile.
The variant which has become predominant in most countries makes reopening even trickier. Singapore, for example, recently returned to lockdown after Covid-19 cases surged despite having achieved a high percentage of vaccination.
To address the challenges faced we need to diversify our approach.
Rapid tests are an answer to the reopening of businesses, for children going back to school and overall society living with Covid-19. If people can test themselves at home -- at low or no cost at all and get the result in minutes -- we are able to address the transmissibility aspect of the Covid-19 problem.
If the government can create a system that allows people to provide their data, it could be another tool to help control the spread of the disease. But maybe in the real world, only a small percentage of people report the results of their at-home antigen tests. Still, the kits would still have real benefits, among them that they are a quicker diagnosis tool than the standard RT-PCR test.
Now the question for Thailand is whether we're again behind the curve again. Although the government pledged to find rapid tests at lower costs for the public, they are retailing for 200-300 baht at present. At this price, they will be a burden and, realistically, not a solution.
The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation has promised it will sell antigen kits at 40 baht per set next week. But only two million kits will be available. One does not need to be an epidemiologist to know that this is just a token amount, a cosmetic show that will not address the problem. As we are though, the government is doing well after a late and problematic start on the vaccines front. But the game could be changing again.
Atiya Achakulwisut is a Bangkok Post columnist.
