ASTRAZENECA Plc is “scouring” its global supply chain to try and boost Covid-19 vaccine supplies to Thailand and other countries in South-East Asia, its representative for the country said, amidst speculations of local production shortfalls.
The comments come after leaked letters showed last week that the drugmaker had offered to supply five to six million vaccine doses a month to Thailand, contradicting assertions by Thai officials that the government is owed 10 million a month and 61 million doses by end-2021.
AstraZeneca is “scouring the 20+ supply chains in our worldwide manufacturing network to find additional vaccines for South-East Asia, including Thailand”, James Teague, managing director of AstraZeneca Thailand, said.
“We are hopeful about importing additional doses in the months ahead.”
The drugmaker had previously said vaccine doses would come from a plant of its Thai partner Siam Bioscience, owned by Thailand’s king and a first-time vaccine maker.
Pressure has been mounting on the company after Thailand said it was considering imposing limits on exports of locally manufactured AstraZeneca vaccines to shore up domestic supplies, a move that could hit its neighbours, some of which are battling similar or more severe Covid-19 crises.
Siam Bioscience has not commented on reports of production shortfalls or delivery timelines.
Teague said AstraZeneca had delivered nine million does so far to Thailand and would deliver 2.3 million more next week.
Thailand had fully inoculated just 5.56% of its population of more than 66 million so far, while 18.62% had received at least one dose, government data showed. — Reuters
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