By Chayut Setboonsarng
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand on Thursday announced plans to vaccinate 1 million of the most vulnerable people against COVID-19 by May and begin mass vaccinations in June, with the aim of administering ten doses per month.
The announcement was the first clear timeline for his plan to vaccinate about half of its 70 million residents, and comes amid criticism over the government’s strategy for procuring vaccines.
“We are planning two phases; February to May and the second, June to December,” senior health official Sopon Iamsirithaworn said at a briefing.
The first four months will be used to administer 2 million doses of the Sinovac Biotech vaccine, which will arrive this month, earmarked for frontline medical workers in high-risk areas.
Sopon made no mention of the 50,000 imported AstraZeneca vaccines that Thailand said it was going to receive.
The second phase, between June and December, authorities plan to administer ten million doses monthly through December using 61 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, which will be manufactured locally by Siam Bioscience from June.
“About 1,000 hospitals are being prepared. Each can do 500 doses a day, which is more than 20 days a month,” Sopon said, adding that in the early stages only hospitals with resuscitation areas and equipment would be used. .
Thailand plans to vaccinate around 60% of the adult population by the end of 2021 to get closer to ‘herd immunity’.
Critics have accused the government of being opaque in its vaccine strategy and being too slow to secure supplies, while relying almost entirely on an agreement with AstraZeneca. The government defended its approach.
Thailand has relatively few infections due to its population size compared to most countries, with so far only 80 deaths and 24,104 infections. About 80% of the cases have been detected in the past two months.
(Reported by Chayut Setboonsarng; edited by Martin Petty)