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Thailand signs deal with AstraZeneca for 26 mil. COVID-19 dose supply
It marks the Southeast Asian country's first such procurement deal for treatment of the virus. Under the deal, Thailand will pre-order the doses, worth about 6 billion baht ($198 million), to be approved for use by the middle of next year.
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FILE PHOTO: A test tube labelled with the Vaccine is seen in front of AstraZeneca logo in this illustration taken, September 9, 2020. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo)
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hailand signed on Friday an agreement with British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc to receive a supply of 26 million doses of its potential COVID-19 vaccine being developed with the University of Oxford.
It marks the Southeast Asian country's first such procurement deal for treatment of the virus. Under the deal, Thailand will pre-order the doses, worth about 6 billion baht ($198 million), to be approved for use by the middle of next year.
"Thailand must be able to have a sufficient supply of vaccine doses both during normal times and emergencies," Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said during a signing ceremony for the accord struck between his country's National Vaccine Institute and AstraZeneca.
Last month, the Thai government signed with AstraZeneca and the university to produce the vaccine in the country, after the university and drugmaker had announced that data showed their vaccine was 70 to 90 percent effective.
Read also: Vaccine is no shot in the arm yet for emerging markets
In a statement issued Thursday, Prayut said the vaccine is "much cheaper to produce in mass quantities than some of the other advanced vaccine candidates" and can be stored in regular refrigeration temperatures of 2 to 8 C, making distribution nationwide easier.
Thailand is hoping to put its virus-hit tourism industry back on track.
"The sooner we can advance this timetable, the sooner we can open our doors to a large number of visitors and begin the task of rebuilding our economy," Prayut said in the statement.
Read also: Indonesia aims to secure more vaccines from UK
Currently, the majority of tourists can stay in Thailand for a total of 30 days. Under a newly created Special Tourist Visa, tourists from China come to Thailand and undergo 14 days of quarantine at facilities in the capital before setting off for their destinations.
The Ministry of Public Health is considering reducing the length of quarantine to 10 days for tourists, according to officials.
Earlier in the week, Thailand's Cabinet again extended a nationwide state of emergency declared over the pandemic for another 45 days from Dec. 1 through Jan. 15.
Thailand has had 3,961 cumulative cases of infection with 60 deaths.
