Siam Bioscience Co, the local biotechnology firm contracted to manufacture the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in Thailand, said it is confident that it will be able to deliver the vaccines on time once they have passed the required checks.
The company is in the process of sending samples of the vaccines it produced to several laboratories in Europe and the United States for quality inspection.
Once the samples are approved by the labs, they will be sent to AstraZeneca, which will then register the vaccine with the Thai Food and Drug Administration, so it can be mass-produced and used domestically, the company said.
After getting FDA's approval, Siam Bioscience will ramp up the production of the vaccines.
Before the doses are delivered to the government in July as planned, they will be sent to AstraZeneca, who will carry out final quality and safety inspections, it said.
Siam Bioscience said its plant is capable of producing vaccines at almost the same rate as other manufacturers in Australia and South Korea, as they use the same technology from AstraZeneca.
Deputy government spokeswoman Traisuree Taisaranakul earlier said that between 6-10 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be ready for use in June.
Nualphan Lamsam, corporate communication director of Siam Bioscience, said the company has been working closely with AstraZeneca to ensure both the quality and safety of the product.
"All parties concerned are working against time to produce the vaccine as fast as possible and make it an alternative to help save lives," she said.
AstraZeneca (Thailand) Co president James Teak said the company is committed to ensuring equal and timely access to the Covid-19 vaccine during the pandemic.
Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul reported to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration on Friday that the company has improved the vaccine's efficacy against the Brazilian and South African strains of the coronavirus.
