|
 AstraZeneca said Thailand, which is manufacturing its vaccine
locally, will have received its agreed quota of 6 million doses
within this month, while export to other Southeast Asian countries
will start in early July.
In a statement AstraZeneca Thailand said partner Siam Bioscience,
owned by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, will produce 180 million doses
this year, just over a third for Thailand and two thirds for
elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
It did not provide details of the status and volume of the orders
for other countries. AstraZeneca and Siam Bioscience did not
immediately respond to requests for comment.
Thailand's mass vaccination drive relies heavily on the AstraZeneca
vaccine and it experienced initial production delays that also
affected Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.
Thailand has also used Sinovac Biotech's vaccine, with 10.5 million
doses received so far and 37 million on order.
[to top of second column] |
 Its health ministry on Monday
said two doses of the Sinovac vaccine was shown
to be 95% effective in reducing instances of
mortality and severe symptoms, based on its
real-world data study. The study
showed 71% to 91% efficacy in reducing infection against the Alpha
variant first identified in Britain, which has been detected in 80%
of Thailand's cases since April.
The ministry warned, however, that infections with the Delta variant
first identified in India have increased significantly in the past
week, up 30% in the outbreak epicentre Bangkok.
(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat and Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by
Martin Petty)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content |
