The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to approve the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine this week for emergency use in the country.

Dr Opas Karnkawinpong of the Disease Control Department (DCD) said on Monday the FDA was examining documents proving the efficacy and safety of "a Covid-19 vaccine".

The FDA later confirmed it was the vaccine produced by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish company.

Dr Opas confirmed that the ministry was likely to begin its Covid-19 inoculations using the AstraZeneca vaccine next month.

Dr Opas was responding to concerns raised over a number of elderly people's deaths believed to be associated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in Norway.

Should anyone die after being injected with a Covid-19 vaccine, the death will be investigated to see if it is related to the vaccine, said Dr Opas, and only if it is clearly proved to not be associated with the vaccine will its continued use be allowed.

If it remains unclear whether such a death is connected with the vaccine, the use of that particular vaccine will be suspended, he insisted.

The first vaccines will be given to at-risk groups in the five provinces designated as maximum and strict Covid-19 control zones.

Priority will also be given to people aged 60 or older and those with chronic diseases.