NONTHABURI, April 22 (TNA) — Deputy Prime Minister/Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has ordered the National Vaccine Committee to work out a plan within three months for the development of a vaccine for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The original timeframe of six months was too long and the process should be accelerated, he said.
Mr Anutin also said the National Vaccine Institute would sign an agreement to jointly develop a COVID-19 vaccine with China where the disease outbreak started.
Thailand would buy a COVID-19 vaccine from the country that first makes it, he said.
Dr Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai, director-general of the Disease Control Department, said that in the joint vaccine development project with China, Thailand would conduct human trials of a vaccine in three phases.
Thailand would likely acquire a vaccine from China if it is successfully developed, he said.
Only China and the United States were developing a vaccine for COVID-19, he said.
Dr Suwannachai added that Thailand was also trying to develop a COVID-19 vaccine by itself and the Disease Control Department, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Thonburi and the Faculty of Pharmacy of Silpakorn University were developing it. (TNA)
