Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has denied a report that Thailand failed to respond to a US government offer to donate an additional one million doses of the Pfizer mRNA vaccine to the country.
He explained today (Thursday) that there may have been a misunderstanding, saying that protocol dictates that the US State Department must inform the Thai Foreign Ministry, via the US embassy in Bangkok, about the donation and, to date, no such formal notification has been received.
He cited the donation of Pfizer vaccine to Thailand in August, saying that the US embassy had notified the Thai Foreign Ministry of the US’s wish to help Thailand in advance
Responding to the latest goodwill gesture, the minister said that the Ministry of Public Health has been instructed to assign the Disease Control Department to plan the management and distribution of the vaccine to be donated by the US.
Most of the donated Pfizer vaccine received so far has been administered as third booster shots for Thailand’s frontline medical personnel and public health volunteers, who originally received two doses of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine.
