Thailand’s private, administrative organisations allowed to buy COVID-19 vaccines

Hanoi (VNA) - The Thai Government will allow private and local administrative organisations to buy COVID-19 vaccines, but only through government channels.

Gen. Natthapon Nakpanich, Secretary-General of the Thai National Security Council and Operations Director of the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), on June 9 said that private organisations and local administrative organisations could purchase vaccines from the Department of Disease Control, the National Vaccine Institute, the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation, the Thai Red Cross Society, the Chulabhorn Royal Academy and other government agencies to be announced later.

The procurement could not be done directly because vaccine supplies are still limited and each producer will only make one supply contract in each country, he said.

Vaccine procurement will also need approval from each provincial communicable disease committee, chaired by provincial governors, and then from the CCSA.

Thailand logged 2,680 new infections and 35 deaths on June 9, raising the national tallies to 185,288 and 1,332, respectively. 

More than 156,360 cases were detected during the third COVID-19 wave starting from April.

On the same day, Indonesian President Joko Widodo voiced his hope that 1 million doses of vaccines will be administered per day in July under the national inoculation drive.

Jakarta authorities opened up the drive for those aged over 18, in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the capital.

At least 11.43 million people in Indonesia have been fully vaccinated so far.

The country is set to inoculate 181.5 million people by the end of this year./.