The Ministry of Public Health will sign a deal with Pfizer (Thailand) for three million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine which is approved for use in children aged between six months and five years.

Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said today (Wednesday) that the first shipment of the vaccine is expected in October, which is faster than usual because the Disease Control Department had already issued a purchase order, which was approved by the cabinet.

He said that young children are at high risk of being infected with COVID-19 because they do not yet have the ability to protect themselves.

The minister also reaffirmed the October 1st timeline for COVID-19 to be reclassified as an “infectious disease under watch” instead of a “dangerous infectious disease” in Thailand.

The public health minister also offered an assurance that there are sufficient supplies of anti-viral medication to meet domestic demand, as he insisted that not every patient needs the medication, which is only dispensed against a doctor’s prescription.

According to the COVID-19 Information Centre today, there were 1,605 new COVID-19 cases confirmed during the past 24 hours and 20 fatalities, while 1,618 patients recovered and were discharged from hospitals.

The number of in-patients with lung inflammations is 695.