Thammasat University has entered into agreements with two private hospitals to procure seven million doses of Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines, to be distributed to a network of private hospitals.

The university has also contacted a vaccine institute in an eastern European country, with the help of the Thai embassy there, to seek the donation of 3 million doses of Moderna vaccine.

On the Facebook page of Thammasat field hospital on Thursday, the university said that, in the past eight weeks, with the approval of the university’s council, they have been working hard to procure vaccines and other medical supplies for the Thai people and patients at Thammasat field hospital.

In September, the university signed a deal with a private hospital to procure two million doses of Moderna, to be administered via private hospitals. It said that all the expenses would be borne by the private hospital, with 100,000 doses from this deal being donated to Thammasat, which will be administered to patients and the general public free of charge.

For the five million doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the university said a deal was agreed in late September with a private hospital, which will be responsible for paying all the expenses.  Thammasat will receive a portion of vaccine from his deal, amounting to several hundred thousand doses, as a donation and the vaccine will be administered to the people for free.

As for the three million doses of Moderna, to be donated by a European vaccine institute, the university will be responsible for the logistics costs.

Furthermore, in late August, the university opened negotiations with a European vaccine manufacturer to join the company in the Phase 3 trial of its protein based vaccine, to be conducted in Thailand.

If the vaccine is approved by the World Health Organization within December, the university hopes to be able procure protein based vaccine from the firm, in collaboration with an as yet unnamed business operator in Thailand.

Also, Thammasat University has entered into a deal with a generic drug manufacturer in India for joint human trials of the efficacy of the India-produced anti-viral Molnupiravir drug in COVID-19 patients in Thailand, with the costs of the local trials to be borne by the university.

The university plans to procure 200,000 capsules of Molnupiravir for local patients.

Each patient is required to receive a five-day course of the drug for the treatment of COVID-19.

As of today (Friday), 25 million people, or about 36% of the population, have received two vaccine doses, while 1.88 million others, or about 27%, have received their booster doses.