Thailand Approves Sinovac Vaccine Ahead of National Rollout

(Bloomberg) -- Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration has approved Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s Covid-19 vaccine for local emergency use ahead of the launch of a national inoculation program.

Thai FDA Secretary-General Paisarn Dunkum signed the emergency use approval on Monday ahead of the arrival of the first batch of 2 million doses of Sinovac shots ordered by Thailand on Wednesday. The authorization for Sinovac’s jabs is valid for one year, according to the approval letter by the drug regulator.

Read: More Than 209 Million Shots Given: Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker

Thailand, which aims to inoculate 50% of its population by the end of this year, has already approved AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use. The Southeast Asian nation has ordered 61 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, which will be produced locally by Siam Bioscience Ltd. through technology transfer.

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