The Thai Red Cross Society (TRCS) has sealed a deal with the importer of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine to directly procure the second-generation of the Moderna vaccine next year.
Tej Bunnag, secretary-general of the TRCS, said yesterday the TRCS has reached a deal with the local importer of the Moderna vaccine to import the second-generation of its vaccine starting from next year, which would help TRCS procure more effective vaccines for people.
"This way, the TRCS will have more flexibility in its effort to improve public access to the Covid-19 vaccine," Mr Tej said.
Currently, the TRCS is importing the Covid-19 vaccine through the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO).
Mr Tej also provided an update on a plan to distribute the vaccine to local administration organisations that had previously requested doses for five vulnerable groups.
The groups comprised disabled people, bed-ridden patients and pregnant women.
The TRCS said they had stopped receiving requests from local organisations to tend to these groups.
At the time, the requested volume of the vaccine had already exceeded the quota the TRCS was given, he said.
The TRCS is now capable of finding the vaccine for at most 500,000 people, while there actually are about 11 million underprivileged people who need help with Covid-19 vaccinations, Mr Tej said.
The GPO last Friday signed a contract with Zueling Pharma Co that represented ZP Therapeutics Zueling Pharma Thailand.
It was for a deal to import a total of 5 million doses of the current generation of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine from the fourth quarter of this year to the first quarter of next year.