The Thai Ministry of Public Health, AstraZeneca, Siam Bioscience and SCG announced yesterday their intent to manufacture the University of Oxford’s potential COVID-19 vaccine in Thailand.
According to the British Embassy Bangkok, if the vaccine is successful, Thailand will receive doses with the aim of commencing the vaccination of the Thai population in the first half of 2021.
COVID-19 is an unprecedented global threat. No one is safe until we are all safe. The UK funded the development of this, the University of Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, a leading candidate globally. British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is working with Oxford University to make the vaccine globally available.
AstraZeneca is providing the potential vaccine, developed by scientists at the University of Oxford, at no profit during the pandemic and will work with Siam Bioscience to set up manufacturing facilities, Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health said in a separate statement.
Defeating COVID-19 is – and needs to be – a global endeavour. The work of scientists, multilaterals and business as well as governments. It is a pleasure to witness the start of this critical partnership between Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health, Siam BioScience, SCG and AstraZeneca.
British Ambassador Brian Davidson
According to Reuters, AstraZeneca has signed several deals with companies and governments around the world to supply more than three billion doses of the vaccine as it gets closer to reporting early results of a late-stage clinical trial.
