AstraZeneca delivers 1.8 million locally made jabs to Health Ministry

Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the vaccines will now be delivered to provinces nationwide as planned ahead of the mass jab rollout, which begins on Monday.

Responding to criticism of Thailand’s delayed vaccine rollout, Anutin said: "I would like to emphasise that the government did not bet on AstraZeneca alone, because the Thai Food and Drug Administration [FDA] has also approved the Sinovac, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Sinopharm vaccines.”

He added that FDA would grant emergency approval to more brands in the future.

Public Health Ministry permanent secretary Kiattiphum Wongrajit said 6 million doses of AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccine will be distributed to provinces in June. He also insisted that the mass vaccination rollout from Monday (June 7) would not be postponed.

AstraZeneca (Thailand) president James Teague said the company will supply vaccine doses until its contract with the Thai government is met. The government has reserved 61 million AstraZeneca doses.

Teague said AstraZeneca would also conduct strict quality checks on each batch to ensure the efficacy of vaccines.

"The company will cooperate with the Department of Disease Control weekly to ensure that the delivery of vaccines goes as planned," he said.