UK Rolls Out AstraZenaca Vaccine on Monday, Thai PM Orders 2M Doses for Frontline Workers

The U.K. is expected to roll out the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford on Monday after a record of 2.6 million infection and 75,000 deaths were reported in the kingdom.

 

Last week, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved the AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use to fight the pandemic, marking the first country to deploy the AstraZeneca’s vaccine. 1 million doses were expected to be deployed in the U.K. within the first quarter of 2021 out of the agreement to provide 100 million doses in total.

 

On November 27, 2020, the Thai government signed a 6,000 million baht purchase agreement for the purchase of 26 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine with AstraZeneca following the Cabinet’s resolution on November 17, 2020.

The doses would cover 13 million people, providing that each person needs two doses. The vaccine is expected to be available in mid-2021.

Today, the Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha stated that the government is expecting to import 2 million doses of China’s coronavirus vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech for healthcare workers, while waiting for 26 million doses from AstraZeneca.