Today (12 October 2020), the Thai Ministry of Public Health, AstraZeneca, Siam Bioscience and SCG announced their intent to manufacture the University of Oxford’s potential COVID-19 vaccine in Thailand. If the vaccine is successful, Thailand will receive doses with the aim of commencing the vaccination of the Thai population in the first half of 2021.
Large scale manufacturing at Siam Bioscience will strengthen broad, equitable and timely access to the potential vaccine in Southeast Asia and beyond. AstraZeneca is providing the potential vaccine at no profit during the pandemic and will work with Siam Bioscience to set up the manufacturing facilities through technology transfer.
COVID-19 is an unprecedented global threat. No one is safe until we are all safe. The UK funded the development of this, the University of Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, a leading candidate globally. British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is working with Oxford University to make the vaccine globally available.
The UK is committed to ensuring rapid and equitable global access to safe, effective vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics for COVID-19. We are working, including by hosting summits and events and through donations, to fund a COVID-19 vaccine in developing countries so that we can all be vaccinated.
This important announcement by the Ministry of Public Health, AstraZeneca and Siam Bioscience is a key step in countering the pandemic in Thailand and Southeast Asia more broadly.
Speaking today at the ceremony Ambassador Brian Davidson said:
Defeating COVID-19 is – and needs to be – a global endeavour. The work of scientists, multilaterals and business as well as governments. It is a pleasure to witness the start of this critical partnership between Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health, Siam BioScience, SCG and AstraZeneca.
