Thailand on Monday started the first human trials of a domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine, with the rollout expected to begin next year.
The vaccine, consisting of an inactivated virus to trigger immunity, is being developed by the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) using egg-based technology.
The GPO has been working on the project with Mahidol University’s Tropical Medicine Department, the Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), an American non-profit organisation, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. Together they have developed a pilot NDV-HXP-S vaccine and lab tests have been showing promising results.
Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the development of the home-grown vaccine is a very significant step for the country’s public health, as it would enable Thailand to be self-reliant and it would not need to depend on vaccines from foreign countries.
Read more at Bangkok Post