On Saturday, 122,400 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines came to Thailand from Singapore.
The doses were said to be loaners “borrowed” by Thailand as part of an agreement between the two nations, according to Tanee Sangrat, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson.
Thailand has been putting its hat out to friendly neighbors to backfill its slow and troubled vaccine rollout. Last month, it “borrowed” 150,000 AstraZeneca doses from Bhutan.
Under the terms, Thailand is obliged to return an equivalent number of fresh AstraZeneca doses at a later date.
The shipment from Singapore will also include 200,000 COVID antigen test kits and 500,000 specimen collection swabs.
The delivery is scheduled to arrive this Saturday at the Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Thailand’s confident assurances that it would have more than enough vaccines for its people fell apart earlier this year as its designated manufacturer, a royally owned and untested manufacturer, failed to get production lines spinning as planned.
Instead it turned to paying what are said to be premium rates for Chinese-made vaccines that have been derided as far less effective. That’s meant only 22% of the population is fully vaccinated compared to Singapore (80%), Malaysia (59%) and Cambodia (64%).
Thailand has also received donations of vaccine supplies from nations such as China, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom.
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