BANGKOK: The Chinese government has donated more than 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, which arrived in Thailand yesterday (Jan 8).
The vaccine arrive in Bangkok. Photo: Chinese Embassy Bangkok Facebook.
The Chinese Embassy in Bangkok said on its Facebook page that the vaccines had arrived in Bangkok and would be delivered to the Thai government.
It did not state whether the vaccine donated was Sinovac or Sinopharm.
“China and Thailand have been helping each other in the fight against COVID-19,” read the post on the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok Facebook page.
“At present, China has delivered a total of 50.85 million doses of the vaccine to Thailand, donating 3.35 million doses to fully support Thailand in building its immunity against COVID-19 virus.
This New Year, China is willing to cooperate with the Thai side in promoting concrete cooperation both in public health and other aspects to push the China-Thai round strategic partnership to develop to new success.
Chinese vaccines were initially the ones favoured by the Thai government, specifically Sinovac, although in recent months the rollout strategy has changed as the likes of AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer have been preferred.
Chinese vaccines have been widely criticised as being too ineffective against the virus. The Chinese embassy in Thailand said in September last year that critics of the Sinovac vaccine are undermining Beijing’s good intentions of helping Thailand fight the outbreak.
“Every dose of the COVID-19 vaccine which China has supplied to Thailand represents the friendship and sincerity which the Chinese government extends to the government and Thais in general,” the Facebook post added.
Source: The Phuket News
