Private hospitals in Thailand order 5 million doses of Moderna vaccines

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Thailand's Private Hospital Association will order Moderna vaccines for its own vaccination program, in addition to the government's massive rollout of vaccines from AstraZeneca Plc and Sinovac Biotech Ltd.

The group of more than 200 private hospitals is currently taking stock of its members' orders and will procure the vaccines through the Government Pharmaceutical Organization. The group is expected to order 5 million doses of Moderna vaccines.

Thailand approved Moderna for topical use on May 13, making it the fourth vaccine to receive approval from the US Food and Drug Administration after Sinovac, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

The Thai government currently only relies on vaccines from Sinovac and AstraZeneca, but private companies are allowed to market alternative vaccines.

Moderna is an American biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that focuses on vaccine technologies based on messenger RNA. Moderna's corona vaccine is therefore a so-called 'mRNA vaccine'. The vaccine contains a piece of genetic information: the mRNA. This mRNA ensures the production of a characteristic protein of the coronavirus: the spike protein. Pieces of this protein are recognized by the immune cells in the body. In response, the body produces antibodies.

As it now appears, mRNA vaccines have less severe side effects than vector vaccines. In a limited number of cases, serious rare clot formation in combination with a decreased platelet count has been observed after vaccination with AstraZeneca's corona vaccine.

Source: Bangkok Post