The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) is in talks with Chulabhorn Royal Academy to conclude a purchase deal for Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccines aimed at improving confidence in the manufacturing sector after the Thailand Industry Sentiment Index (TISI) sank for two straight months during the third wave.
The FTI said earlier it wanted to buy 300,000 doses from the academy, but it needs to be certain of the exact demand among members of the FTI.
Supant Mongkolsuthree, chairman of FTI, said it is conducting a final survey among 10,000 member firms to find out how many of them want to buy Sinopharm vaccines for their staff.
"If our members want to buy, FTI will arrange the vaccines for them, but if they don't want to, we will give back money to them," he said.
The FTI and Chulabhorn Royal Academy are negotiating the final volume and price of Sinopharm vaccines.
Each Sinopharm dose is estimated to cost 1,000 baht with each employee requiring two doses.
FTI said earlier many companies wanted to vaccinate their staff as workers' benefits.
The academy intends to procure Sinopharm as an alternative vaccine to two main vaccines -- UK-made AstraZeneca and Chinese brand Sinovac -- currently distributed free of charge under the state's mass inoculation scheme.
The Social Security Office assured employees under Section 33 of the Social Security Act that its 80 contracted hospitals across the country are ready to provide them with the vaccination starting in June.
FTI reported yesterday TISI dropped to 82.2 points in May, the lowest in 11 months, down from 85.8 points in April.
"The ongoing outbreak and the new infection clusters in factories affect the manufacturing sector and hamper business confidence," said Mr Supant.
The May index was based on a survey of 1,315 enterprises across 45 industries nationwide.
