The Public Health Ministry must have known there is heightened sensitivity about its allocation of Pfizer vaccines donated by the US.
It should have taken every step to make the rollout as transparent and effective as possible.
That many complaints and questions erupted right after the first batch was sent out suggests the agencies concerned may not have put in enough effort to address the concerns which, after all, were a known risk.
The failure could reinforce the growing distrust in the ministry's Covid-19 agencies. The dissatisfaction, this time centred around the ministry's own medical personnel who are the targeted recipients of the donated mRNA vaccines, is an unnecessary distraction at a time when the country needs to focus its efforts on fighting the still escalating Covid-19 outbreak.
Earlier this week, Khon Kaen Hospital and Thammasat University Field Hospital revealed that they were allocated only about 50% of the vaccines they had requested for their frontline medical workers.
An executive at Maharaj Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital also said that the whole province, which has over 150,000 medical personnel, was given only about 15,000 doses. The amount was not even enough to cover the number of medical personnel at Maharaj Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital alone, which stands at over 4,000.
The hospitals pleaded with the authorities to understand the need to protect frontline medical staff who have tirelessly held the ground even though the health infrastructure is stretched beyond its limit.
Thammasat University Field Hospital also asked how it could justify the allocation to its staff when the supply is inadequate. Why should one medical worker be granted the Pfizer vaccine while another is excluded when both are involved in frontline work?
The grievances are understandable although truth be told there should not have been any.
The Public Health Ministry set aside 700,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines for medical personnel. The amount should have been enough to cover all who were qualified as the ministry had told hospitals and health outlets to survey their needs and send in their required number of jabs beforehand.
Following the outcry, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) clarified that the amount of vaccines that the hospitals received is not all due to them. The CCSA said the Department of Disease Control initially had sent about 50-60% of the amount of vaccines requested by the hospitals.
Since the mRNA jabs must be stored in ultra-cold freezers which could pose problems in logistics, the CCSA would rather see the rollout capacity of the vaccination units first. The centre vowed that it would send more vaccines to the hospitals to meet their quotas.
The point is why didn't they discuss the matter first? If logistics and rollout capacity were the issues, the DDC or CCSA should have talked about the limits and what they planned to do regarding the Pfizer distribution with the designated recipients.
The distrust about the handling of the donated Pfizer shots was evident from the start when a public uproar marked every single step of their handling. How many would be allocated to medical personnel? Would VIPs be able to take some of the quota? Was anybody receiving the jab who was not entitled to it?
The Public Health Ministry must be aware of this. So must the CCSA. They should know public distrust and, more importantly, resentment among their fellow medical personnel will set back the battle against Covid-19.
The authorities should have learnt from their past experience.
