Thailand, Tanzania, Vaccines

Today's three stories you should know

Barry Malone

Apr 24, 2026

Hello everyone,

Good to be back from vacation and thanks for your patience.

Lots to catch up on.

Barry.

Thailand

Forty-four current and former opposition lawmakers in Thailand will go on trial for attempting to amend a law that protects the monarchy from criticism, the Supreme Court said today. The 44 – who include ‌People's ⁠Party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut and former Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat, who is currently serving a 10-year ban from politics – face a lifetime ban from politics if convicted in what would be a major blow to Thailand’s progressive movement, which is hugely popular with young people and in urban areas. Hundreds of people have been prosecuted in recent ⁠years under the country’s lèse-majesté law, which is among the strictest in the world.

Tanzania

Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan has promised constitutional reform after a commission of investigation found that 518 people were killed in post-election violence last year. The commission’s chairman, Mohamed Chande Othman, said the true figure was likely higher because some families had buried their relatives without taking them to a morgue. The violence erupted on October 29 when crowds of people, mostly young, took to the streets to protest Hassan’s victory in a vote that took place with the country’s main opposition leader in prison and the candidate for the next-biggest party barred from running. The opposition called the commission’s report “an attempt to whitewash the regime’s crimes” and said that thousands of people had been killed.

Vaccines

We highlighted that there would be a big push to roll out vaccines across the world in our “Stories to watch in 2026” deep dive at the start of the year, and the U.N.’s World Health Organization (WHO) and vaccine alliance Gavi today published new figures that showed more than 100 million vaccines have been administered to 18.3 million children since 2023. WHO and Gavi launched "The Big Catch-Up" that year, which focused on 36 countries and concluded in March. New vaccines for malaria are expected to be implemented at a larger scale this year, the first new vaccines for tuberculosis in over a century may be imminent, and Brazil is rolling out a world-first single-dose vaccine against dengue.

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