Leaked memo casts doubts on Sinovac jab

Aleaked health ministry document has prompted calls in Thailand for medical staff inoculated against Covid-19 to be given a booster of an mRNA vaccine, after it included a comment that such a move could dent public confidence in Sinovac Biotech’s vaccine.

The internal memo, which included various opinions, was reported by local media and shared widely on social media.

It was confirmed by Thai Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul as being authentic.

It included a comment from an unnamed official who recommended authorities do not give a booster shot of PfizerBioNTech’s vaccine to frontline health workers, because such a move would be “admitting that the Sinovac vaccine is not effective”.

Thailand has administered Sinovac’s inactivated virus vaccine to most health workers and its real-world study showed two doses were 95% effective in reducing mortality and severe symptoms.

The study showed it was 7191% effective in stopping infection with the Alpha variant.

Sinovac in China did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the vaccine’s efficacy.

The comment in the leaked document prompted calls from prominent Thai health experts, including a top medical council official, to give health workers a Pfizer-BioNTech booster shot.

The hashtag “Give Pfizer to medical personnel” was trending on Thai Twitter with more than 624,000 tweets yesterday.

Senior health official Opas Karnkawinpong told reporters the document was not real, however, contradicting health minister Anutin.

Anutin said the comment on the booster shot was “just an opinion” and there was an expert panel to set vaccine policy.