25 million doses of Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are being sought by the Thai government, with deliveries expected in the second half of the year, according to Gen Nataphol Nakpanich, Secretary-General of the National Security Council (NSC) and Chairman of the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) sub-committee.
20 million Pfizer and 5 million Johnson & Johnson doses are being sought, along with 8 million more Sinovac doses, to reach the goal of 100 million acquired this year, said Gen Nataphol today (Tuesday). 61 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been already ordered by the Thai government.
Gen Nataphol’s remarks are in line with Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s statement yesterday.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, however, said yesterday, during a press briefing, that he had signed a contract for 25 million doses of Johnson & Johnson.
There has been no explanation from the government, so far, as to why the prime minister’s statement differed from those of the two officials.
Monday June 7th marked the first day of mass inoculations across Thailand, with a number of people reporting that their appointments had been postponed due to insufficient supplies of vaccines. According to the Disease Control Department, 3.54 million doses have been allocated nationwide for inoculations this month, with the aim of administering 10 million doses by the end of this month.
Over 4.5 million doses have been administered nationwide to date, more than 306,000 of which were administered yesterday alone.
