Thailand to get Moderna vaccine by this October
Thailand is expecting to get the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine by this October as an alternative to AstraZeneca and Sinovac. The secretary-general of the Private Hospital Association, says 5 to 6 million doses will be shipped to Thailand in the second half of this year.
Last week, the Moderna vaccine was approved for emergency use in Thailand by the Food and Drug Administration. It is the fourth vaccine approved by the FDA, after the AstraZeneca, Sinovac and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The price of the vaccine will be set by the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation, but private hospitals allegedly won’t seek profits from administering the vaccine. Officials say private hospitals will offer the 2 shots of the vaccine for a maximum of 3,000 baht total.
The chairman of Ramkhamhaeng Hospital, says private hospitals are monitoring the demand for an alternative vaccine and will inform the GPO. The chairman says, so far, demand ranges from 10,000 doses to 1 million doses, but advises people to get vaccinated regardless of the brand in order to achieve a herd immunity. He also said research has found that after people are fully vaccinated, the booster shot or 3rd jab can be from any brand of vaccine, comparing it to the yearly influenza jabs.
Meanwhile, GPO deputy director Sirinuch Cheewanpisalnukul, recently said that a total of 4.5 million doses of Sinovac’s vaccine have been delivered to Thailand, including 500,000 doses donated by China that arrived last Friday. She says the GPO received another 500,000 doses of the Chinese-made vaccine last Saturday, with another 1.5 million doses to be delivered later this month.
The first batch of 200,000 doses of Sinovac’s vaccine was delivered in February, with 800,000 more doses arriving in March, and 1.5 million more doses arriving in April, and 2 million doses arriving this month so far. As of last Friday, a total of 2,218,420 doses of Covid vaccines have been administered to people nationwide.
SOURCE: The Phuket News
