Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul received 200,000 doses of donated COVOVAX from Australia, India, Japan and the United States and they will be administered with unvaccinated people and those who are allergic to other vaccines to protect them from COVID-19.
The 200,000 India-made doses worth about 26 million baht are of a protein subunit vaccine. Recipients need two shots which will be three weeks apart. The Food and Drug Administration already approved its use for people aged 18 years and over and expects a subsequent request for permission to lower the minimum age of recipients to 12 years old.
Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department of Disease Control, said protein subunit vaccines were as safe as inactivated vaccines and the COVOVAX doses would be distributed to hospitals.
Medical institutions had yet to consider the use of a protein subunit vaccine for booster shots, he said. (TNA)
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