Over a month after vaccinations began in neighboring nations from Indonesia to Myanmar, Thailand may perform its first inoculation 11 days from now, officials announced yesterday.
After 200,000 doses of Chinese-made CoronaVac scheduled to arrive next week, the first inoculation will be administered three days later on Feb. 27 – if everything goes smoothly, according to Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and a government spokesperson.
That requires Sinovac Biotech’s Beijing factory finishing production of the doses by Saturday and immediately shipping them to reach Bangkok by Feb. 24, and the FDA issuing emergency use authorization.
Anutin insisted that promises the slow vaccination process would begin this month would not be broken, as the FDA has all the necessary documents to approve CoronaVac’s use pending evaluation of it upon arrival.
The government has been criticized for botching the vaccine rollout and politicizing it by awarding manufacture of its primary supply of AstraZeneca-developed vaccines to a firm linked to the palace. Its doses aren’t expected until June.
Health officials have prioritized frontline medical personnel and people with underlying conditions. In January, CoronaVac was found to be only 50.38% effective in a final-stage trial in Brazil, but Sinovac insists that underestimated its efficacy.
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