Thailand will lengthen the hole between the primary and second doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to 16 weeks, in an effort to inoculate extra folks quicker, a senior well being official stated on Monday.
The plan follows an identical choice by Spain to stretch the hole between two AstraZeneca doses to 16 weeks, which is past the 12 weeks most interval permitted by the European Medicines Agency. A 16-week interval has not been examined in human trials.
Thailand’s change, from a 10-week hole beforehand, comes forward of the deliberate begin of a mass immunisation marketing campaign from June, for which AstraZeneca’s vaccine would be the primary one used.
“This is to improve the quantity of people that get vaccinated,” Kiattiphum Wongrajit, permanent secretary of the health ministry, told Reuters, adding it would help create herd immunity faster.
Thailand has since the start of April been grappling to contain a third wave of coronavirus infections, with its latest outbreak accounting for about 80% of its total 132,213 cases and 806 deaths.
Thailand will focus on administering the first of two AstraZeneca doses between June and September, Kiattiphum said.
It previously said it aimed to vaccinate 70% of its population by September to achieve herd immunity.
The national vaccine strategy relies almost entirely on AstraZeneca vaccines, the majority of which it said would be produced by a local firm owned by the country’s king.
Authorities said the first six million of 61 million doses are expected to be available in June.
Thailand has so far administered at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to 1.94 million people, including healthcare and frontline workers, using AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines.
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