Health Minister confident AstraZeneca doses will arrive on time

Thailand’s Public Health Minister says the delivery of 6 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine is on schedule. Anutin Charnvirakul says the doses are expected to arrive in batches, throughout the month of June, and he’s confident the first lot will be here by June 7, when the national rollout begins.

“I’m confident the first lot will be put out on June 7.”

Anutin says the number of doses in each batch is decided through negotiation between the Department of Disease Control and the manufacturer. Upon arrival, the vaccine will need to undergo quality checks before doses can be distributed. The Health Minister says the question of how many doses will go to each province is a decision for the DDC.

Meanwhile, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has also insisted there will be no shortage of vaccines in the Kingdom, reiterating that orders will arrive on time. He says the government is also ordering supplies of the Pfizer vaccine, which it plans to use in the younger population, between the ages of 12 and 18.

According to Anutin, talks are also ongoing with Johnson & Johnson, whose single-dose vaccine has already been approved by Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration. The government plans to order around 5 million doses, which it’s hoped will arrive in the last quarter of 2021.

The government says it expects 70% of the population to have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by the end of September, in accordance with the plan outlined by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post