Budget Set Aside To Acquire AstraZeneca Vaccine
THE Cabinet today (Nov. 17) allotted a budget of 6.049 billion baht for the procurement of coronavirus vaccine from AstraZeneca (Thailand) Co., Ltd. and AstraZeneca UK, limited, Siam Rath newspaper reported.
Mr. Anucha Burapachaisri, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister's Office, said the National Vaccine Institute will establish an Advance Market Commitment (AMC) contract for the vaccine under the condition that there is a chance of not receiving it depending on research, development or other reasons for the amount of 2.379 billion baht.
Meanwhile the Department of Disease Control will work out a contract for the purchase and management of the vaccine from prior reservation for the amount of 3.670 billion baht.
While both contracts are being made at the same time, the vaccine purchase contract is only binding upon receiving the funds.
Anucha said reservation through AMC will lead to th supply of 26 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine for approximately 13 million people, or around 20 percent of the population.
The government wants to give the Thai people fair access to quality, safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine at the same time as the rest of the world.
AstraZeneca, which is developing its potential Covid-19 vaccine in collaboration with the University of Oxford, said earlier this month that there is a similar immune response in older and younger adults.
The World Health Organization has said that older people, in addition to people of all ages with preexisting medical conditions, appear to develop serious illness on contracting the coronavirus more often than others.
"It is encouraging to see immunogenicity responses were similar between older and younger adults and that reactogenicity was lower in older adults, where the Covid-19 disease severity is higher," an AstraZeneca spokesman told CNBC via email.
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