Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health has revealed that the main COVID-19 vaccine regimen for Thailand from now on will be the combination of Sinovac and AstraZeneca.
Department of Disease Control (DDC) Director-General Dr. Opas Karnkawinpong said the change for Sinovac as the first shot and AstraZeneca as the second is to speed up vaccinations. The AstraZeneca-AstraZeneca formula requires triple the waiting time between shots, at 12 weeks, compared to four weeks for the Sinovac-AstraZeneca regimen.
He said the change is appropriate because authorities want to vaccinate as many people fully as soon as possible, to slow down the spread of the Delta variant, adding that both regimens offer comparable levels of immunity.
Dr. Opas also reiterated that 24 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, comprising of Sinovac, AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNtech, will be available. In addition, the Chulabhorn Royal Academy will import another 6 million shots of Sinopharm. Therefore, the ministry will speed up vaccinations to 50% of the population in all provinces, including booster doses for those who have received two Sinovac shots and for children aged 12 and up. (NNT)
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