By Chayut Setboonsarng
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand announced plans on Thursday to inoculate 1 million of its most vulnerable people against COVID-19 by May and to start mass vaccination in June, with the aim of administering 10 doses per month.
The announcement was the first clear timetable for its plan to vaccinate about half of its 70 million population and comes amid criticism of the government’s vaccine procurement strategy.
“We are planning two phases: February to May and the second, June to December,” said senior health officer Sopon Iamsirithaworn in an interview.
The first four months will be used to administer 2 million doses of the Sinovac Biotech vaccine, due to arrive this month, aimed at frontline health professionals in high-risk areas.
Sopon made no mention of the 50,000 vaccines imported from AstraZeneca that Thailand said it would receive.
In the second phase, between June and December, the authorities plan to administer 10 million doses monthly until December, using 61 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which will be produced locally from June by Siam Bioscience.
“About 1,000 hospitals are being prepared. Each capable of making 500 doses per day, which in 20 days results in 10 million doses per month,” said Sopon, adding that in the early stages only hospitals with resuscitation areas and equipment would be used.
Thailand plans to vaccinate about 60% of the adult population by the end of 2021, to approach “collective immunity”.
Critics accused the government of being opaque in its vaccine strategy and too slow to guarantee supplies, although it relies almost entirely on an agreement with AstraZeneca. The government defended its approach.
Thailand has relatively few infections for the size of its population compared to most countries, with only 80 deaths and 24,104 infections so far. About 80% of cases were detected in the past two months.
(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Martin Petty)