Thailand’s Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is urging unvaccinated people, who are waiting for Pfizer or Moderna vaccines booked with private hospitals, to cancel their bookings and get free jabs of Pfizer vaccine at state vaccination facilities.
The minister stressed the urgent need to speed up vaccinations, to reach the target of 100 million doses administered by the end of this month.
He made clear, however, that the Public Health Ministry will not negotiate refunds with the Private Hospital Association if they do abandon their bookings now “because it is not the duty of the ministry to do so”, adding that he warned previously that there is no need to make paid-for bookings with private hospitals.
Anutin said that the ministry will provide free Pfizer vaccine injections for the unvaccinated who are still waiting for the Moderna vaccine from private hospitals.
Zuellig Pharma Thailand, the sole distribution of the Moderna vaccine in the country, has recently informed the Thai Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) that about 1.4 million doses of the mRNA vaccine will be arriving in Thailand through the end this month and into December, from a production source in the United States, after the TFDA approved the inclusion of the new production source in the US, in addition to those in Europe, said Government Spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana.
The expected arrival of the new batch of Moderna vaccine will increase the amount of the vaccine delivered to Thailand this year to 1.9 million doses.
