US Senator Tammy Duckworth revealed last night that the US government planned to provide 2.5 million doses of vaccine to Thailand.
The Thai-American lawmaker told a webinar on Thai-US relations on 27 July that as part of the Biden Administration’s pledge to provide vaccines to developing countries, Thailand would receive 2.5 million. The seminar was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ International Studies Center, East West Center in Washington DC and the Royal Thai Embassy.
The US has already sent 1.54 million doses of Pfizer to Thailand. The vaccines are scheduled to arrive in Bangkok Friday, after more than a month’s delay. There will be a press conference by the US Embassy in the morning to mark the arrival.
Senator Duckworth said that the US valued the special ties with Thailand, as the region’s oldest friend and ally.
She expressed the hope that in coming years both countries could cooperate more on new development and cooperation including digital technology, cyber security and sustainable development.
A total of 700,000 of the first batch of US vaccines will be used for frontline workers, especially medical personnel. The remaining 645,000 shots will be given to senior citizens, those with seven pre-existing conditions and women more than 12 weeks pregnant. Similar criteria will also be applied to foreign residents for the remaining 150,000 shots.
In addition, 45,000 doses will be used for two projects, with 40,000 doses set to be used in studying efficacity in the new variants. Another 5,000 are allocated for further research work.
Earlier, Japan donated 1.05 million doses of Astra Zeneca to Thailand to help alleviate the high demand for vaccines due to the upticks of infection in the past few months. In May, China over one million of the Sinovac vaccine to Thailand, as Beijing responded to the surge in the virus since April.
Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS)