Local administrations get green light to buy flu vaccines, PCVs

The National Vaccine Institute has approved a move to allow Provincial Administrative Organisations (PAOs) to buy influenza and pneumococcal conjugate (PCV) vaccines using procedures outlined in the Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Act, in a bid to expand public access to vaccines.

PCVs protect against serious infections caused by streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria, including pneumonia, meningitis, and blood infections in children.

Institute director Dr Nakorn Premsri said on Friday that last year two PAOs, in Pathum Thani and Chonburi provinces, participated in a pilot project to procure flu vaccines at 200,000 and 12,000 doses respectively. He expected that the procurement of PCVs would start this year by PAOs that are financially ready.

Nakorn said the pilot project was initiated after the National Health Security Office (NHSO) reported that it could procure only 4.5 million doses of flu vaccine because of budget limitation, while the government set a goal of vaccinating 10 million people in risky and target groups in 2024.

The institute proposed that PAOs should use its budget to procure vaccines for its population to fill the difference of about 5.5 million doses. However, he added, this will result in each PAO having to pay slightly higher price for the vaccines than NHSO did, as the office has been buying vaccines in high volume and therefore received a bulk rate.

“While the NHSO has yet to receive an additional budget, PAOs that are in need of vaccines and are financially ready should be able to get started on the procurement, so the vaccination can start as soon as possible,” Nakorn said.

He explained that infants should be inoculated with PCVs as soon as possible to prevent pneumonia, which has a high fatality rate. PCVs should be given three times during the infant's first year, at two months, four months and 12 months, he added.

Nakorn said the institute is also conducting research with Chulalongkorn University to develop mRNA vaccine for the bird flu of H5N1 type, although there is no report of an outbreak in Thailand yet.