Thailand’s COVID vaccine manufacturer confirms major production shortages and delays

According to the Associated Press, Thailand’s COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer has confirmed a major production shortage and has delayed its ability to fully deliver 61 million vaccines.

The original plan was to vaccinate at least 70% of the country’s 69 million people by the end of this year, but this goal has been postponed to May next year. Due to the rampant Delta variants, Thailand has recently been struggling to cope with the record daily increase in COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Sathit Pitutacha, Deputy Minister of Health, said in an interview with MCOT TV that AstraZeneca, which is responsible for the production of vaccines, requires delivery by May next year, and the government will still negotiate as much monthly supply as possible.

For more reports from the Associated Press, please see below.

According to Pitutacha, according to AstraZeneca, Siam Bioscience, a subsidiary of the King of Thailand, currently has a production capacity of 15 million doses per month, and AstraZeneca has agreed to provide 40% of it to Thailand. Sathit said that production may increase in the future.

The government has previously announced that the local production of AstraZeneca vaccine will supply 6 million doses to Thailand in June, 10 million doses per month from July to November, and 5 million doses in December, for a total of 61 million doses this year.

Siam Bioscience was licensed by AstraZeneca last year to become a regional production center for eight other countries, even though it has no experience in manufacturing vaccines.

Prime Minister Prayut’s government has been widely criticized for failing to obtain sufficient vaccine supplies in time. In addition to China’s Kexing, Sinopharm and locally-produced AstraZeneca, it is also scrambling to obtain vaccines.The government stated that it now also has an agreement to buy Pfizer And Johnson & Johnson.

Thai health authorities said on Wednesday that they will seek to limit the export of locally produced AstraZeneca vaccines because the country does not have enough vaccines to meet its own needs. They did not specify what the restriction might be.

Dr. Nakorn Premsri, director of the National Institute of Vaccines, said that its vaccine committee agreed in principle to issue a temporary export restriction order, but did not provide any details. The order will be issued by designating it as a national security issue.

India is the world’s largest vaccine producer. Earlier this year, it banned vaccine exports when it was hit by the devastating coronavirus outbreak.

Thailand has vaccinated 13.53 million doses of vaccine to 10.16 million people, accounting for 14.74% of the country’s population. Approximately 3.37 million people, or 4.89% of the total population, have been fully vaccinated.

Vaccination is slow, and the government plans to allow vaccinated travelers to enter the country without the need for them to quarantine on arrival from mid-October, threatening the government’s plan to initiate the recovery of Thailand’s main tourism industry.