“The contract that we signed would allow Pfizer to submit their documents to register the vaccine with the Food and Drug Administration,” he said.

“After the submission, each party will have four weeks to revise details of prices and other conditions for the purchase contract. Initially, the ministry expects to buy 20 million doses from them, which should be delivered within this year.”

So far, five vaccines have been approved by the FDA for use in Thailand. They are: AstraZeneca imported by AstraZeneca (Thailand) Ltd and manufactured locally by Siam Bioscience Ltd; CoronaVac or Sinovac, which is imported by the Government Pharmaceutical Organization; Johnson & Johnson vaccine that is imported by Janssen-Cilag Ltd, Moderna vaccine that is imported by Zuellig Pharma Ltd, and Sinopharm’s Covilo vaccine that is imported by Bio Genetech Ltd.

Anutin added that this year the ministry would also receive 5 million doses of vaccine it had ordered from Johnson & Johnson.

“The Johnson & Johnson vaccine only requires one dose per person, while the Pfizer vaccine, like other vaccines, requires two doses per person,” he said.

“Thailand will not face vaccine shortage as the government is negotiating with all manufacturers to import more vaccines, not to mention that we are also capable of manufacturing the AstraZeneca vaccine domestically,” said Anutin.

“We will stay prepared to secure more vaccines as Covid-19 will probably not go away anytime soon. Furthermore, there is no study to confirm that the immunity of vaccinated persons will not decrease in nine to 12 months, so those who have been vaccinated since February might need another jab.”

Anutin added that he expects more than 10 million Thais to be vaccinated by the end of June after vaccination for the general public started on June 7.

Meanwhile statistics presented by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation indicated that as of June 9, Thailand had injected 5.1 million doses of Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines, making it the third most vaccinated country in Asean behind Indonesia and the Philippines.