In fact, Mr Thanathorn criticised the vaccine deal in a Facebook livestream talk, titled "Royally-sponsored vaccine: Who Gains, who loses", on Jan 19. Essentially, Thanathorn raised a few valid questions about the vaccine deal between Siam Bioscience and Oxford-AstraZeneca, from the perspective of someone unaware of the background of the deal. The questions asked include: Why was only Siam Bioscience allowed to procure the vaccine, and not the other pharmaceutical companies? And why was the government giving taxpayers' money, amounting to about 500 million baht, to Siam Bioscience under its vaccine development programme? Mr Thanathorn is complaining about being gagged by the lese majeste charge for speaking out about the vaccine deal.

Source: Bangkok Post January 24, 2021 23:48 UTC