The Public Health Ministry has started its Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine roll-out to medical personnel and frontline health workers in Bangkok and other provinces.
Opas Karnkawinpong of the Department of Disease Control (DDC) said the DDC has begun distributing the vaccine doses donated by the United States.
The vaccines will be given as boosters to medical personnel and frontline workers who have already received two shots.
Ramathibodi Hospital, Siriraj Hospital and Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok will be responsible for the vaccine distribution while local hospitals in the surrounding provinces will handle the roll-out.
The surrounding provinces are Nonthaburi, Nakhon Pathom, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, and Pathum Thani.
A total of 1,503,450 Pfizer doses donated by the US arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport last Friday.
Dr Opas previously said that besides 700,000 doses set aside as boosters for the health workers, 645,000 doses will be given to the elderly and patients with seven underlying conditions, minors from 12 years old, and women who are 12 or more weeks pregnant.
A further 150,000 doses are for expats who are elderly or are suffering from one of seven underlying conditions, pregnant women, and Thai nationals planning to go abroad such as students.
There are also 5,000 doses for research purposes and 40,000 doses to be held in reserve for outbreaks.
Shortly after the shipment, a rumour spread on social media that more than 30,000 doses of the vaccine had disappeared, with some "VIPs" getting the shots before everyone else.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said that he checked the figures with the US embassy and nothing was amiss.
