PM satisfied country ranks 18th in vaccination rate

The Public Health Ministry is also expediting negotiations for the purchase of Paxlovid and Molnupiravir, he said.

Prayut is additionally satisfied with the current Covid-19 situation, which has continued to show signs of improvement, Thanakorn said.

The spokesman said that the latest information on the Bloomberg website as of Saturday indicates Thailand is ranked 18th in the world and 3rd in Asean, while countries with the highest vaccination rates are China, India, the US, Brazil and Indonesia.

Health data on Sunday shows 80,484,427 doses have been administered in Thailand, representing 65.4 per cent of the population.

According to Thanakorn, Bloomberg predicts that if Thailand continues with its current inoculation rate of about 600,000-800,000 doses per day, within a month more than 75 per cent of the population would have received their first jabs, which is in line with the country's reopening under the "smart entry" policy.

"The prime minister has also ordered the Public Health Ministry to expedite negotiations to purchase anti-Covid-19 medicines – Pfizer's Paxlovid and Merck's Molnupiravir.

The accelerated purchase of these drugs is to reduce hospitalisation and reduce fatalities in high-risk patients as quickly as possible," Thanakorn added.

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