In first, Thailand to mix Sinovac, AstraZeneca vaccine doses

BANGKOK: Thailand will use AstraZeneca Plc's COVID-19 vaccine as a second dose for those who received Sinovac's shot as their first dose in a bid to increase protection, it said on Monday.

The move is the first publicly announced mix-and-match of a Chinese vaccine and a Western-developed shot, as a new preliminary Thai study raised doubts about the longer-term protection of the two-dose course Sinovac vaccine. "This is to improve protection against the Delta variant and build a high level of immunity against the disease," Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters, adding that the second dose of AstraZeneca would come three or four weeks after the first Sinovac shot.