Thread by @SaksithCNA

THREAD: Chulabhorn Royal Academy (CRA) will procure Sinopharm #COVID19 vaccines as a supplementary option to the govt’s vaccine rollout, which is more and more criticized for being chaotic. But even more chaotic was the news of a company claiming to supply to them…

https://twitter.com/ThaiPBSWorld/status/1397842241117319169

1) Background: CRA consists of medical research centers and is chaired by Princess Chulabhorn. Royal Gazette announced this week that it can procure #COIVD19 vaccines. It’s seen as a slight against the govt’s increasingly messy mass vaccine policy, set to start Jun 7.

https://twitter.com/saksithcna/status/1397758496225910791

2) Observers also wondered if the royal decree would cut through any red tape, but officials quickly pointed out that whoever is importing #COVID19 vaccines still have to stick the rules, incl. of the @fdathai.

https://twitter.com/saksithcna/status/1397778272121884672

3) On Thursday, a company called “ACAP Assets” claims that it’s a distributor of Sinopharm #COVID19 vaccines and offered the CRA 20m doses after they couldn’t reach anyone in the govt. This is where things start to get weird…

4) Naturally, people started looking up the company. Their DBD database entry shows that “ACAP Assets” is actually a real estate company with no apparent expertise in pharmaceutics or pharmaceutical logistics.

5) “Tellus Agrotech” was also named in ACAP Assets’ statement and is stated to be the company that has procured said Sinopharm #COVID19 vaccines. Their DBD database entry shows they’re actually a “Manufacturer of grain mill products”.

6) Then the @fdathai pointed out that while it has received the paperwork for the approval request for Sinopharm’s #COVID19 vaccine, it was NOT by “ACAP Assets” but by “Bio Gentech”, an actual pharmaceutical company.

7) Prof. Nithi Mahanonda, the CRA’s sec-gen, posted on Facebook essentially refuting ACAP Assets’ claim, saying that it’s not possible that this company would be eligible to import vaccines and has never contacted him either.

8) Govt spokesperson Anucha also come out with a statement, essentially blasting every claim by ACAP Assets. He says that neither is the company qualified to sell #COVID19 vaccines, nor has it ever contacted the govt.

https://twitter.com/anucha_bura/status/1398108618667413507

9) Conclusion: 2 companies, with no apparent links to the pharmaceutical world, claim they’re offering 20m doses of Sinopharm #COVID19 vaccines to the CRA after couldn’t reach the govt. But they didn’t request FDA approval. CRA, FDA, govt are all calling their claims nonsense.

10) This all just adds to an already confusing #COVID19 vaccine situation in #Thailand, beset by mixed messages about availability, timeline and logistics, adding further pressure on the govt. But the claim the govt passed on 20m doses of Sinopharm seems to be not true. (END)