A healthcare worker holds a vial of the AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine (Photo: Reuters) Inoculations will begin with 50,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, he said,giving no timeline for the first phase.
Of the 19 million to be vaccinated, 11 million will be people aged over 60, and6.1 million are those with underlying diseases, he said.
Another 1.7 million doses will be for medical professionals, and 15,000 forgovernment workers involved in managing the virus. Meanwhile, those under 18and pregnant women will not be vaccinated this time.
The Thai Prime Minister apologised for not solving COVID-19 related problems asfast as the public had demanded.
The timeframe of vaccination will depend on the capacity of hospitalsadministering the vaccines and number of doses they receive, according to headof the government’s vaccine management committee Sophon Mekthon.
Thailand has altogether secured 26 milliondoses from AstraZeneca to be produced by local firm Siam Biosience and 2million doses from China’s Sinovac. It has also reserved 35 million doses fromAstraZeneca.
Thailand will initially import the vaccinesbut is expected by June to be producing it locally, Sophon added.
On January 27, Thailand documented 819 new COVID-19 infections. The country hadreported 15,465 COVID-19 cases and 76 deaths.
Authorities say they will vaccinate 31.5 million people./.
VNA
