Chulalongkorn University is expected to begin human trials of a Covid-19 vaccine some time after next year's Songkran festival in April, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said yesterday.
Mr Anutin, who is also deputy prime minister, was speaking after meeting with the vaccine research team, whose members come from the university's Faculty of Medicine.
If everything goes according to plan, Mr Anutin said, the first human trials should begin immediately after Songkran.
Yesterday's meeting also agreed that a joint working group should follow up on the progress of the project and should be formed by the university and the Public Health Ministry, Mr Anutin said.
The CU project is one of three options the government is taking to find sufficient amount of supplies of Covid-19 vaccines for Thais, he said, noting that its goal was to provide a mass-produced vaccine locally.
The other two options involved seeking international cooperation to secure coronavirus vaccines from other countries, Mr Anutin noted.
Under these two options, the government has already begun working together with AstraZeneca and Oxford University to purchase 26 million doses of their vaccine for use on Thailand's target population by the middle of next year, he said.
In other news, Chulalongkorn's CU Enterprise Foundation yesterday began raising funds for another Covid-19 vaccine development project, which focuses on a protein-based vaccine produced mainly from leaves.
This project is being researched by the university's Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science.
Under its "Vaccines for Thais" project, the foundation is calling for a donation of 500 baht each from one million donors, said a source, who declined to be named.
The foundation is currently testing the vaccine in animals and it has so far given promising results and caused little side effects, said the same source.
The first human trials of this Covid-19 vaccine are expected to begin in June, according to the source.
People who take part in this fundraising campaign will be offered a 23% discount on insurance policies offered by leading companies supporting the programme.
Prospective donors are also being promised to be given priority when purchasing the plant-based vaccine when it is successfully developed and mass-produced, the source added.
Donations are being invited now and can be made via the website www.cuenterprise.co.th.