Thai Airways International Plc (THAI) says it's ready for the all-important task of transporting the first 200,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines from China to Thailand next Wednesday.
THAI chairman Chaiyapruk Didyasarin said the national flag carrier was delighted to have been entrusted by the Public Health Ministry with the vital mission.
A THAI cargo flight, TG675, is due to leave Beijing at 6.50am on Feb 24 with the initial batch supplied by China's Sinovac Biotech and arrive at Suvarnabhumi airport at 11.05am.
The aeroplane being used, an Airbus A350-900, has enough space to accommodate temperature-controlled cargo containers and ensure the vaccines remain at the correct temperature throughout, said Mr Chaiyapruk.
The flight has been certified by SGS (Thailand) with a Good Distribution Practice (GDP), verifying that it meets the World Health Organization's standards for transporting medical supplies that require special quality control.
Meanwhile, Khon Kaen University (KKU) has been working with a private company, Medicine Intelligence, to develop a database that could be used to issue certificates to people already vaccinated against a disease.
In the first phase of the project, the database will only be used to verify who has received precisely which vaccine, said Dr Thanaphop Na Nakhonphanom, a health informatics academic at KKU's Faculty of Medicine.
The database will also be used to track side effects that might be experienced by those who have been vaccinated, said Dr Thanaphop.
Deputy Public Health Minister Sathit Pitutecha, meanwhile, said Rajavithi Hospital had in place a vaccination procedure guaranteed to take at most 40 minutes per patient.
He was speaking after visiting the hospital yesterday to observe a test run of the vaccination procedure.
It will be about 10 minutes from the time a person registers until the moment the vaccine is injected and a further 30 minutes to observe signs of possible side effects, he said.
Those given the vaccine will also be shown how to use the government's official vaccination Line account called Mo Phrom (Doctors are Ready), which follows up on each person's health for 30 days, reminds them to return for the second shot and issues them a certificate, said Mr Sathit.
