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 Since April, Thailand has been tackling a surge in infections driven
by the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, pushing
hospitals in the capital Bangkok to the brink. The country's
COVID-19 task force reported 17,345 new cases and 117 new deaths on
Friday,
"Our government noticed how quickly the Delta variant has been
spreading in this country and the severe conditions that are being
faced right now by your health workers," U.S. Charge d'Affaires in
Thailand Michael Heath told a news conference.
The United States will send another one million doses of COVID-19
vaccine in addition to the batch that was received on Friday, he
added.
Thailand's vaccine drive has so far depended on Sinovac and
AstraZeneca vaccines and faced delays since it began last month.
Just 5.6% of the country's 66 million population been fully
vaccinated so far.
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 Thailand manufacturers the
AstraZeneca vaccine under license locally, but
production has been much smaller than government
expectations, contributing to a delay in the
domestic inoculation rollout.
The country has received a donation of one
million doses of the Sinovac vaccine from China
and one million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine
from Japan. Britain has also pledged 415,000
doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, due to arrive
next month.
The first batch of vaccines donated by the
United States will be used to inoculate high
risk groups or as a "booster" third shot for
frontline medical workers, deputy Thai
government spokeswoman Traisulee Traisaranakul
said in a statement.
(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat
Thepgumpanat; Editing by James Pearson)
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