Thai Government's Bungled Vaccine Rollout Unites Historically Divided Public in Anger
Voice of America
BANGKOK - Anger is building at the administration of Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-O-Cha for a slow COVID-19 vaccine rollout, which has left just 5% of Thais inoculated amid the deadliest wave of the coronavirus pandemic to hit the country, and as health officials warn the worst is yet to come.
Thailand reached a record caseload of 11,305 Tuesday, adding scores to the grim death toll — 3,408 since April — in a kingdom that had won praise for snuffing out the pandemic in earlier rounds. The resurgence since April has revived the political challenge to Prayuth, who seized power in a 2014 coup, and who last year survived months of raucous pro-democracy protests, smothering the movement with legal charges and a heavy police response. Even senior medical experts now concede the kingdom was caught flat-footed by the latest wave of infections and has overseen a sluggish vaccine rollout, with only an estimated 3.5 million of its 70 million population fully vaccinated so far.FILE - Male students arrive at the Herat University after the universities were reopened in Herat, Afghanistan, March 6, 2023. FILE - Afghan women students stand outside the Kabul University in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 21, 2022. Taliban security forces are upholding a higher education ban for women by blocking access to university campuses.
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