AstraZeneca commits to 1.8 mln Thai vaccine doses

Hanoi (VNA) – Drugmaker AstraZeneca on June 2 said that it would soon provide Thailand with 1.8 million doses of locally manufactured COVID-19 vaccine, the first of multiple batches this month, just days away from the launch of the country's vaccination drive.

The joint announcement by AstraZeneca and Siam Bioscience, a firm owned by Thailand's king, comes amid public anxiety about vaccine supplies, as the country suffers its most severe outbreak so far, Reuters reported.

It did not say whether the Thai plant would make all 6 million doses that Thailand's government has promised would be available this month, Reuters added.

The government's mass immunisation drive begins on June 7 and relies almost entirely on its reserved 61 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, most of which it said would come from Siam Bioscience, which is making vaccines for the first time.

The first delivery to the Philippines, which was promised 17 million doses, was cut from 1.3 to 1.17 million doses and delayed from late June to mid-July, a Philippine presidential advisor told Reuters on June 1, citing Thai production delays./.