Half a million more Sinovac vaccines have arrived in Thailand, while tomorrow another 2 million Favipiravir antiviral pills arrive. Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has been pushing to increase Thailand’s supply of both vaccines and medicine to treat patients already infected with Covid-19.
This brings Thailand up to 2.5 million Sinovac jabs in the race to vaccinate the population amid a skyrocketing outbreak. An additional 1 million vaccines are expected from Sinovac Biotech in the middle of May.
All 77 provinces have begun the vaccination process with 834,000 people receiving their first injection already and 130,000 people fully vaccinated with their first and second jabs completed. Thailand will soon reach the million vaccinated mark. The new batch won’t be immediately administered to people as it first needs to pass inspection by the Department of Medical Sciences. Once cleared for safety, the Department of Disease Control will distribute the jabs across the country.
The new jabs are earmarked for distribution to people in the 18 to 29 year old age demographic in the first target groups in Thailand’s vaccination rollout plans. PM Prayut Chan-o-cha declared last week that Thailand will negotiate with 2 or 3 other vaccine producers to secure 35 million more doses, as the government intends to have 100 million jabs in total in order to vaccinate 50 million people by the end of 2021.
While the country currently has the Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has also been approved for use in Thailand. Siam Bioscience has also been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to produce the AstraZeneca vaccine domestically. Pfizer can’t be approved until 1 month after it is registered for use with the Food and Drug Administration.
After the Thai government announced they would allow the private sector to import and distribute Covid-19 vaccines, private companies are expected to purchase 10 million to 15 million jabs for their employees. The Board of Trade of Thailand and the Chamber of Commerce will most likely lead the push to obtain and administer vaccines privately.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
