A Thailand senior official has announced Monday that the country will no longer use Sinovac COVID-19 shot when its current stock runs out, having used the Chinese vaccine extensively in combination with Oxford-AstraZeneca.
"We expect to have distributed all Sinovac doses this week," health official Opas Karnkawinpong said, adding the program will switch to combining the AstraZeneca vaccine with that developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
In July, Thailand began administering Sinovac as the first dose, followed by the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by Oxford University. Thailand was the first country to combine Chinese and Western vaccines, a practice that Thai health officials say has been successful.
The combination of COVID-19 vaccinations in this order, according to Thai health officials, will boost public immunity against the coronavirus, particularly the extremely contagious Delta variant, which was first detected in India.
In May, Karnkawinpong stated that this approach is expected to provide stronger protection against Delta since immunity will swiftly rise to a level comparable to two AstraZeneca doses. Furthermore, boosting immunity in this manner would take less time.
It normally takes about 12 weeks after the first AstraZeneca shot before the second one can be given. The gap can be shortened, though, by switching vaccines.
Since February, Thailand has administered more than 31.5 million Sinovac doses, beginning with two doses given to frontline personnel, high-risk groups, and inhabitants of Phuket, a holiday island that reopened to tourists early as part of a pilot program.
Thailand plans to purchase 120 million COVID-19 vaccine doses overall next year and has already reserved 60 million doses of AstraZeneca, a vaccine it manufactures locally.
It said that it will only purchase vaccines that are effective against new variants.
The Southeast Asian country has so far vaccinated 36% of Thailand's estimated 72 million people and intends to reach 70% by the end of the year.
The country is moving through with a plan to reopen 17 provinces to vaccinated immigrants from low-risk countries without quarantine starting next month. Destinations including Pattaya, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai, and Bangkok will be included.
Thailand has recorded nearly 1.8 million cases and 18,336 fatalities overall, more than 98% in the past seven months.
