June 18, 2021 – College of Local Administration, Khon Kaen University, as an administrative institute of ASEAN countries for public operations, co-hosted with the Faculty of Social and Political Science and the Faculty of Economic and Business, University of Muhammadiyah Malang, Indonesia, to hold the International Conference on Humanities and Social Science. On this occasion, Assoc. Prof. Peerasit Khamnuansin, Ph.D., Dean of COLA, was the Keynote Speaker, on the topic: “Social and Political Issues on Sustainable Development in Post Covid-19 Crisis,” which was conveyed via Zoom Meeting. In his talk, Assoc. Prof. Peerasit Khamnuansin, Ph.D., discussed the following issues: 1) the importance of decentralization of responsibilities and decision-making to local administrative organizations and the public; 2) Opening up a chance and building collaboration among all sectors; and 3) Not centralizing the power and problem solution in the Covid-19 pandemic situation under any individual or any one organization alone.
Under the first Covid-19 pandemic in Thailand, the country went through it with the above principles, until we were appreciated as a successful country in the prevention and solution of the problem. During the third spreading of the disease, however, our operations were opposite to the above principles, leading to inability of all sectors to take their respective roles in solving and preventing Covid-19 pandemic. This can be seen in the inability of private hospitals and public health service providers to procure vaccines for the people in the severe disease spreading zones. Provision of vaccines in Thailand was under the Ministry of Public Health through the Director of Covid-19 Administrative Center alone. As a result, Thailand ranks number 6 in all of the 10 countries of ASEAN that is still facing vaccination problem. That is to say, the vaccination coverage is very low, i.e., at 2.6% of the population. The incidence rate of Covid-19 also tends to increase every day. The efficacy of the vaccine types used in Thailand, in addition, is lower than the vaccines used in the neighbor countries. There are worries, therefore, that the vaccine might not resist the new virus, Delta Plus, which is severe and is spreading rapidly in the country.
News / Photos: COLA KKU
