Thailand is waiting for price quotes from US-based Pfizer Inc before the country can buy 5-10 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.

The doses will be shipped from July to December this year, according to the prime minister.

“I can’t confirm [whether Thailand will get it or not] but if all goes well, 5-10 million doses can be delivered as soon as July. The government is not dragging its feet,” Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha said.

He added he had responded to calls, especially from social media users, to buy vaccines from manufacturers other than the two it had already bought — AstraZeneca and CoronaVac by Sinovac Biotech.

The premier explained he had set up a panel to consider “alternative vaccines”.

“Initially, the purchases Thailand made were based on the situation at that time, when we were very successful in containing the outbreak,” he said, perhaps implying that the government did not realise the importance of vaccinations.

Now that such vaccines have been successfully used elsewhere, the government allowed the private sector to make proposals and help them buy the shots.

“Let me be clear. It’s not that we acted too late or too little. Everything depends on the situation at a given time. We don’t want to subject people to risk when the vaccine was first produced. Several countries did the same,” Gen Prayut said.

“The idea of monopolising local vaccination has never crossed our mind."