The government has been criticised over the slow rollout of AstraZeneca vaccines, leading to vaccination schedules being postponed.

In recent weeks, 6 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses due for delivery in June were delayed. June was designated as the starting month for vaccinations nationwide.

The government also admitted it originally planned to roll out 10 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses this month, but only 5-6 million doses would arrive because Thailand was slow to place orders for the vaccines. The company had to send its vaccines to other countries that had also ordered them. As a result, public bookings under various vaccination programmes were delayed.

An MP of the Move Forward Party said some 6.3 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses were due for delivery in June. However, only about 5.37 million doses were delivered, he said.

"There is also a report that from July, AstraZeneca Thailand will export vaccines to other countries, and only one-thirds of the vaccines produced will be reserved for Thailand,'' he said, saying that of the 15-17 million doses produced monthly, only 5-6 million doses will be delivered to Thailand a month.

The government chose AstraZeneca as the only main vaccine so there were not enough quality vaccines for people, a Pheu Thai Party member said. The government has now used Sinovac vaccines to make up for the missing AstraZeneca doses and plans to buy 28 million more doses of the vaccine, he added.

As for Moderna vaccines, the government has been slow in procuring them despite studies showing the vaccine is effective against the highly-transmissible variants of Covid-19, he said.

Instead, Moderna vaccines have become "alternative vaccines" which means people have to pay for them, he said.

Vitoon Danwiboon, director of the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO), said the government has procured vaccines from five manufacturers -- AstraZeneca, Sinovac, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Sputnik V.

Alternative vaccines that companies are allowed to import are Moderna and Sinopharm, he said.

The GPO has been working to procure vaccines since Feb 25, he said.

"The GPO contacted Moderna Inc in the US to buy its vaccines and the company replied that it would deliver the vaccines in the first quarter next year at the earliest,'' he said.

Moreover, the GPO also contacted at least two vaccine manufacturers and they said it was impossible to supply the vaccines to Thailand this year, Dr Vitoon said.

Responding to two private hospitals which claimed they can buy vaccines directly from Moderna, Dr Vitoon insisted that Zuellig Pharma is the only authorised agent for the vaccine imports.

He also explained the government has not allocated budget to procure the Moderna vaccine so the delivery has been slow.

The GPO is gathering requests for the vaccine from more than 300 private hospitals nationwide to make sure they really want the vaccine, he said. So far, about 9 million doses of the vaccine have been requested.

The company did not give the specific date and month of the delivery.

The GPO cannot afford to sign purchase contracts unless the hospitals pay first, Mr Vitoon said. The GPO is expected to sign contracts with Zuellig Pharma in August, he added.