Thailand Considers Cap on Vaccine Exports as COVID Cases Surge

BANGKOK - Thailand is considering a cap on the export of locally made COVID-19 vaccines as it scrambles to shore up domestic supplies amid its worst outbreak of the coronavirus since the pandemic began.

Talk of restricting exports comes as some of Thailand’s neighbors are also battling major new waves of infection. Thailand and AstraZeneca struck a production deal last year for the British-Swedish pharmaceuticals giant to make its COVID-19 vaccine in Thailand. With the help of a local drugmaker, Siam Bioscience, AstraZeneca is set to make about 200 million doses between mid-2021 and mid-2022. The Thai government has reserved about a third of those doses, with the rest bound for export to Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and other neighbors. A cap on vaccine exports could force those countries to delay or rethink their plans to get shots in arms.