China makes a donation of 200,000 Sinopharm vaccines

China has made many donations of Covid-19 vaccines to Thailand throughout the year as the kingdom battled the pandemic and rolled out its vaccination programmes. Now, the Chinese Embassy announced that their government has made another donation of 200,000 Sinopharm vaccines.

The Chinese Embassy in Bangkok made the announcement yesterday and the first of the shipments of the 200,000 vaccines arrived yesterday morning. The embassy posted photos on their social media yesterday showing that thousands of Sinopharm vaccines had already arrived in Bangkok. The post stated that the donation of vaccines was an offering to Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn and Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

The Chinese government has supplied Thailand with Sinopharm vaccines as well as the Sinovac vaccine that was for months the main vaccine available in the country. Many criticised the government’s reliance on the Chinese vaccine, especially after the Delta variant swept in the third wave of Covid-19 and Sinovac was shown to be only marginally effective battling it. Now Sinovac is testing its vaccine with the Omicron variant to determine its efficacy against the new Covid-19 strain.

To date, the government of China has exported 50.35 million vaccines to Thailand. The first round of the newest donation of Sinopharm vaccines has been announced as having arrived in Bangkok, but no details were given about when they would be distributed to be administered. Officials also didn’t state if the vaccines were earmarked for any particular group of people or location.

SOURCE: The Pattaya News