AstraZeneca Pledges 11Mln Vaccine Doses To Thailand By End Of July

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th July, 2021) AstraZeneca promised to provide Thailand with 11.3 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of July.

"By the end of July, we will have delivered 11.3 million doses, as part of our overall commitment to deliver 61 million to Thailand," the company said in an open letter addressed to the people of Thailand.

So far, the company has delivered nine million doses. Another 2.3 million to be supplied to the Ministry of Public Health sometime next week.

AstraZeneca's message comes as Thailand is struggling with a rising number of confirmed COVID-19 Delta cases.

"We are also scouring the 20+ supply chains in our worldwide manufacturing network to find additional vaccines for Southeast Asia, including Thailand," the letter added.

On July 21, the director of Thailand's National Vaccine Institute, Nakorn Premsri, has publicly apologized for the COVID-19 vaccine shortage hindering the country's vaccination program.

Delays in the vaccination program have occurred mostly because the Thai AstraZeneca vaccine manufacturer has not managed to produce 60 million doses, which the government ordered in 2020, on time. Moreover, according to the protocol from AstraZeneca, only a third of the output can be used domestically, while the remaining part must be exported.

The Southeast Asian country was hit by a third wave of the coronavirus in April, driven by more transmissible Alpha and Delta variants. As of July 24, the country saw 14,260 new cases and 119 new deaths.