Thailand's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Siam Bioscience as a manufacturing facility for COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca. The first batch of the vaccine will be ready for delivery to the Thailand Government in June of this year.

AstraZeneca, together with Siam Bioscience, is accelerating the production to support the national vaccination campaign. The collaboration with the Thailand Government and the FDA has facilitated the swift but careful progress with the manufacturing plant over the past few months.

Thailand plans to export the vaccines to eight Southeast Asian countries over the period. This is the only facility dedicated to providing vaccines to eight other countries in the region. The plant has passed the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), and has also achieved multiple international standards such as ISO9001, ISO17025, and ISO13485. Each batch of the vaccine undergoes more than 60 different quality control tests during its journey from manufacture to vaccination.

James Teague, Country President, AstraZeneca (Thailand) Ltd. said: “AstraZeneca and our global manufacturing partners, including Siam Bioscience, are committed to maintaining the highest safety and quality standards of our products. Numerous safety tests and quality control measures are carried out at each step.”   

AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine has been granted conditional marketing authorization for emergency use in more than 70 countries, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) Emergency Use Listing now accelerating the pathway to access in up to 142 countries through the COVAX Facility. 

Regulatory authorities in the UK, European Union, the WHO have concluded that the benefits of using COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca to protect people from this virus significantly outweigh the risks.