Thailand’s prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha laid out on his Facebook page a long-term plan to ensure Thais will have access to affordable and locally-made vaccines. This year, at least, half of the population will be vaccinated for free, VietnamPlus news agency reports.
Thai PM has recently reiterated that half of Thais will get free COVID-19 vaccinations as soon as possible. The locally-made vaccines will soon follow imported drugs against the COVID-19.
Thailand prepares to launch the first COVID-19 vaccinations next month, the PM assured and added that the country will receive the first 200,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine next month. That bunch of vaccines have been already reserved for frontline medical staff and the groups of risk like elderly people.
The first part of two million doses ordered from Sinovac, another 800,000 and one million doses will arrive later in March and April. Earlier, the Thai government has pre-ordered 26 million doses from AstraZeneca in addition to recently sought another 35 million doses.
Thailand is ready to produce vaccine inside the country
Thai pharma plant, Siam Bioscience, received a concession from Oxford University/AstraZeneca to produce the COVID-19 vaccines. According to the preliminary plans, 200 million doses will be produced annually.
The Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Chulalongkorn University also are ready to make their own vaccine formula, the PM stressed.
