The director of the National Vaccine Institute apologized for the lack of COVID-19 vaccine readiness and blamed it on rapidly changing situations and viral mutation.
Making the apology, NVI director Dr Nakorn Premsri said his institute had done its best in COVID-19 vaccine acquisition but faced the unexpected situations which were the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and viral mutation.
The mutation accelerated the spread of the disease and created its variants that were more harmful than those found last year. That caused the failure to cope with the disease with the acquired vaccines, he said.
According to Dr Nakorn, negotiations were underway for vaccine procurement this year and his institute will buy second-generation vaccines to cope with COVID-19 mutation. The vaccines of the new generation will be delivered in the first quarter of next year. The institute also planned to participate in the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) project. (TNA)