Thailand’s Health Ministry Stops Using China’s Sinovac Vaccine

Thailand’s Health Ministry said Monday it will stop using China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine once current stock has been used. The Prayut government has used the inferior Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine extensively in Thailand.

After doctors in China and other nations revealed that the Sinova vaccine was ineffective against the delta variant, health officials combined the Sinovac vaccine with Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines.

Thailand’s Health Ministry has used over 31.5 million Sinovac vaccine doses since February. The Ministry gave two doses to frontline workers, high-risk groups prior to the delta variant of covid-19 which immerged in March.

In July, Thailand’s Health Ministry started inoculating people with Sinovac as a first dose followed by the AstraZeneca vaccine, then later the Pfizer vaccine.

Thailand was the first country to combine the Chian made vaccine and Western vaccines, a strategy Thailand’s Health Ministry said has proved effective.

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The Department of Disease Control director-general, Dr. Opas Karnkawinpong said “health officials expect to have distributed all Sinovac doses this week and were switching to combining the AstraZeneca vaccine with Pfizer.

The Government of Thailand next year plans to buy 120 million Covid-19 vaccine doses in total. Thailand’s Health Ministry has already booked 60 million doses of AstraZeneca, which is manufactured in Thailand.

Thailand has said it will only procure Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines that are effective against new variants of the coronavirus.

Thailand’s Health Ministry has so far vaccinated 36% of the population and hopes to reach 70% by December 31st.

Meanwhile, Thailand is forging ahead with a quarantine-free reopening plan to vaccinated visitors starting next month. Seventeen provinces will allow vaccinated arrivals from low-risk countries without quarantine.

Thailand has recorded nearly 1.8 million covid-19 cases and 18,336 fatalities since the first case arrived into the kingdom in 2019.

Source: Bangkok Post

 

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