2 million doses of government-bought Pfizer have arrived, 28 million to follow

The long-awaited first lot of Pfizer vaccine doses purchased by the Thai government have arrived in the country. 2 million doses touched down at Suvarnabhumi airport yesterday and were received by the Public Health Minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, according to a Bangkok Post report. In total, the government has ordered 30 million doses of the mRNA-based vaccine, with the other 28 million arriving before the end of the year.

Yesterday’s delivery will first need to undergo quality checks with the Food and Drug Administration and the Medical Sciences Department. According to Anutin, the doses will then be distributed across the country, with most of them going to children between the ages of 12 and 18. The remainder will go to the general public, in accordance with guidelines from the Disease Control Department. Administration of the doses is expected to get underway next week.

In other news, China says it will donate another 1.5 million Sinovac doses to Thailand, on top of the 1 million already donated. The last batch of 500,000 donated Sinovac doses arrived in the kingdom in June. To government has also purchased between 6 and 7 million Sinovac doses expected to arrive next month. The Bangkok Post reports that the government will also procure another 10 million AstraZeneca doses next month.

Anutin says that around 3 to 4 million people who have received 2 doses of Sinovac since March are now being given booster doses.

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SOURCE: Bangkok Post