He posted on his Facebook page that shortage of personnel, not money, was an obstacle in developing vaccines. He cited an instance in 2009 when the Thai government was subsidised by the World Health Organisation and Brazil to develop a vaccine during an influenza outbreak.

However, influenza is not a complex disease but vaccines for Covid-19 require more medical personnel to develop in various fields. In Thailand, we have limited personnel and they work separately, he said.

The development of vaccines requires laboratories with good laboratory practices that follow good manufacturing practices regulations, and every section has to collaborate to reach the goal since there are several recipes to create.

At present, Thailand has developed three strains of vaccines, unlike four globally, due to the outdated method, Yong said.

Lack of medical personnel in Thailand 'an obstacle in developing vaccines'

Vaccine development in Thailand is hampered by lack of adequate medical personnel, Yong Poovorawan, head of the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, said.