Medical workers must get first jabs: Chuan

Parliament president Chuan Leekpai said he himself would not receive Covid-19 jabs until until all medical personnel fighting the pandemic are inoculated.

Mr Chuan said he expects the kingdom to receive additional vaccines to inoculate all medical staff and frontline workers in one or two weeks.

He said he was informed after making an inquiry that medical workers in some rural areas are not vaccinated.

A vaccine rollout for politicians was originally scheduled to take place from Friday to April 30. Mr Chuan said about 200 MPs had already received jabs administered at the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Disease Institute before the programme was paused.

“I [empathise] with the MPs because they have people to meet and places to go,” he said. “But there is a group of people whose at greater risk [of contracting the virus] — frontline medical personnel.”

Mr Chuan then urged the public to not solely rely on vaccinations alone to curb the spread of Coivd-19, adding people should minimise the transmission risk by avoiding crowded places. He insisted that measures will be put in place to prevent a spread of the virus and make sure that the work of the House of Representatives is not disrupted by the new outbreak.

When parliament adjourns next month, meetings will proceed, he said.

“I’ve spoken with the parliament’s [secretariat] and it’s agreed that Covid19 is unlikely to go away,” he said. “So we have to do our work as usual [while] implementing preventive measures.”

Mr Chuan said a charter amendment motion submitted by the ruling-Palang Pracharath Party will be put on parliament’s agenda after its members reconvene and the bill’s legality is reviewed.

When asked about the budget bill for the 2020 fiscal year, he said the Budget Bureau has yet to submit the document to the House but promises to hand it over before a deadline.