A Thai woman gets COVID-19 vaccine shot (Photo: Xinhua/VNA)The British/Swedish company said Thailand, which ismanufacturing its vaccine locally, will receive its agreed quota of 6million doses within this month, while export to other Southeast Asiancountries will start in early July.
In a statement, AstraZeneca Thailand said that its partnerSiam Bioscience, owned by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, will produce 180 milliondoses this year, just over a third for Thailand and two thirds for others inSoutheast Asia.
Thailand’s mass vaccination drive relies heavily on theAstraZeneca vaccine. The country has also used Sinovac Biotech’s vaccine, with10.5 million doses received so far and 37 million on order.
Its health ministry on the same day said two doses of theSinovac vaccine was shown to be 95 percent effective in reducing instances ofmortality and severe symptoms, based on its real-world data study.
The same day, Indonesia’s COVID-19 task force also recommendedthe vaccine made by China’s Sinovac Biotech for children above 12, as thecountry seeks to extend inoculation amid a surge in infections.
Indonesia has reported a record daily rise of morethan 20,000 cases recently after the emergence of virus variants and travel after theMuslim fasting month has helped drive a new wave of infections.
The country has been using Sinovac as the main plank for itsvaccination programme after receiving about 94 million doses, while it hasreceived about 10 million made by AstraZeneca and Sinopharm.
Task force data shows children aged 0-18 account for 12.6percent of Indonesia's total COVID-19 infections./.
VNA
