Thailand will receive COVID-19 vaccines from the United States, as a part of 23 million doses to be donated by the US to Asian countries.
In June, US President Joe Biden announced the donation of 500 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the world’s poorest countries, with “no strings attached”, to help speed the pandemic’s end.
A statement from the US embassy in Bangkok said that Biden announced a plan to deliver 80 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to countries in need around the world.
“These donations are in addition to the United States’ $4 billion in commitments to COVAX, the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Initiative, including half a billion Pfizer doses over the coming year,” said the statement.
The announcement did not, however, specify a more detailed timeframe or what makes of vaccines will be donated but, in June, Biden announced that the US will donate 500 million doses of Pfizer vaccine.
According to the embassy, to date, the U.S. government has provided over $40 million (1.28 billion baht) in COVID-19-related assistance to Thailand, which includes $28.5 million in ventilators, respirators, testing kits, surgical masks, goggles and other protective equipment to Thai doctors and nurses, and support for displaced people along the border.
Additionally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has provided $13 million in COVID-19-related assistance to the Thai public health ministry.
The US is one of the Western countries which has been widely accused of vaccine hoarding. In March, the Guardian reported that rich countries, with 14% of the world’s population, have secured 53% of the best vaccines.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the annual assembly of delegates, from the agency’s 194 member states, that there is no diplomatic way to say it, but “a small group of countries that make and buy the majority of the world’s vaccines control the fate of the rest of the world.”
