Jab memo sows mistrust

Following a public uproar, the Public Health Ministry yesterday decided to provide booster vaccines for frontline health personnel as soon as possible. At a press conference yesterday, the health authorities vowed to distribute 80% of vaccines due to arrive this month to medical workers, elderly and people with underlying diseases.

The latest move could calm down the resentment among frontline medical staff and the public anger that exploded after a memo from a meeting was leaked which contained a comment by an attendee opposing the use of Pfizer vaccines to be donated by the US as a third shot for medical personnel who have been vaccinated with Sinovac.

In the memo, a participant at the meeting which apparently took place on June 30 to discuss the distribution of Pfizer vaccines was recorded as disagreeing with giving the Pfizer vaccine to medical personnel as it would be “an admission that Sinovac can’t give protection and it will make it harder to find an excuse”.

The comment sparked widespread outrage not just because the attendee apparently opposed giving supposedly better protection to doctors and nurses battling the virus but because of the reason cited which seems to concern the merits of the Sinovac vaccine instead of the safety of health personnel.

Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Disease Control Department Director-General Opas Karnkawinpong gave conflicting answers about the leaked memo. Mr Anutin said the document was genuine while Dr Opas said it was false.

Both officials insisted the controversial opinion was not the conclusion of the meeting. They also made it clear that it was not turned into policy. However, neither Mr Anutin nor Dr Opas denied the comment was made.

That the booster shot will now be given to frontline medical staff does not mean the issue should be dismissed.

Both the public health minister and disease control chief refrained from taking a stance regarding the merits of the opinion. If anything, they seemed to try to gloss over it and attributed the controversy as being a result of an inappropriate leak of an “unofficial” record of the meeting and the possibility that the particular comment was taken out of context.

Whatever the reason, the leaked memo has shaken public trust in the health authority’s decision-making process. This erosion could have enormous implications on the government’s attempt to curb Covid19 outbreaks.

Instead of dismissing the comment as nothing serious, the public health minister and disease control chief should put everything on the table, the contents of the meeting itself and the entire context of all the comments that were made that day, and let the public be the judge.

It is undeniable that the opinion was extremely hurtful to medical personnel battling the disease on the front lines, many of them have contracted the virus even though they have been given two doses of Sinovac.

If the reason not to give them the Pfizer mRNA vaccine concerned the safety of mixing two vaccines, or even the need to prioritise the elderly, the anger may not have been this intense.

What the public needs to know is the entire context of the meeting — why such a comment was made in the first place and whether the mindset reflected in the opinion was sanctioned by the health authorities.

The health authorities must take a clear stance on this issue as it will determine whether the public can still put their trust in the ministry.