US to donate 1 million doses of Moderna vaccine to Thailand
The United States government has notified Ministry of Foreign Affairs that it will donate 1 million doses of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine to Thailand under the government-to-government contract, said Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department of Disease Control (DDC) on Wednesday.
“The contract will be between US’ Department of Health and Human Services and Thailand’s DDC, which stipulates that we must not seek profit from the donated vaccine, such as by reselling them,” he said. “It also mandates that if the recipients suffer from adverse effects, the government must provide treatment and/or compensation and cannot deny the responsibility.”
Opas added that vaccine donation is usually done via government agencies and not through private companies as they have limited jurisdiction power and might not be able to take full responsibility in case of severe side effects or deaths.
“So far, Thailand has received almost 10 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine through donations from eight countries,” he added. “The procedures have been handled by the Department of Disease Control which include import application, selecting transportation companies and other customs procedures. We also have been working closely with Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who is responsible for negotiating vaccine donation deal with the government of each country.”