Sometimes giving credit where it’s due is about denying it where it isn’t.
After a placard praising Thailand’s unpopular public health minister for vaccines donated by the United States went viral to bitter gasps, people responded by going out of their way to thank the man they felt deserved props: U.S. President Joseph Biden.
“Mr. Joe Biden, president of the United States of America, gave Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines to health workers Aug. 9, 2021,” read one sign held in an inoculation-selfie.
In images popping up across social media, health workers and others eligible for the mRNA vaccine cradled thank-you messages while they got stuck; at least one person made their own Biden gratitude meme on an iPad to hold.
Some images were quickly laundered by online memesmiths, who had fun putting Biden in the kind of traditional suits worn by Thai officials when they want to look regional.
Some were motivated by resentment after seeing the original placard crediting Anutin “Nu” Charnvirakul, who’s become widely reviled for his handling of the pandemic.
The sign, meant as a photo backdrop for Anutin’s visit to central Thailand, thanked him for “giving Pfizer vaccines to health workers in Nakhon Sawan.”
The vaccines were actually part of more than 1.5 million doses donated by the United States late last month.
A local health official in Nakhon Sawan dispelled doubts about the sign’s authenticity.
Provincial health official Adisorn Wattanasak said that though the cut-out was authentic and meant to thank Anutin when he visited Saturday, they decided not to display it publicly for fear that it would become “political.”
“I and my team reconsidered it and concluded that it would be inappropriate as it might be linked with a political purpose,” Adisorn said yesterday. “So in the end, the cut-out was not put up.”
Nonetheless, there has been a lot of domestic politics in play over the donation, which underscored Thailand’s failure to deliver on its vaccine promises.
After the U.S.-donated vaccines arrived July 30, questions immediately surfaced about whether medical front-liners would receive the half they were promised. Even deeper doubts were raised about some portion being siphoned away to VVIPs or the military.
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