Cabinet gives nod to buy nearly 10 million more doses of Pfizer vaccine
The Cabinet on Monday approved a budget of Bt4.74 billion for procurement of 9.9 million doses of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines to cope with the spread of the delta variant of the virus in the country, Prime Ministers Office spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said on Monday.
Thanakorn said the Pfizer vaccine would be administered to six target groups:
▪︎ Children aged 12-17 years
▪︎ Pregnant women carrying for at least 12 weeks
▪︎ Frontline medical professionals
▪︎ Elders and those who have seven underlying health conditions
▪︎ Foreigners residing in Thailand
▪︎ Diplomats and students travelling overseas where the destination countries require a Pfizer shot.
The seven underlying health conditions include: chronic respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, all types of cancer during chemotherapy, radiotherapy and autoimmune therapy, diabetes, and obesity (weighing more than 100 kilograms or body mass index more than 35 kilograms per square metre).
“So far, the government has procured 80 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine with a budget of Bt22.9 billion,” said Thanakorn. “Of the total, 61 million doses are AstraZeneca, 19 million are Sinovac and 20 million are Pfizer.”