As cases spiked in Thailand, they decided to raise the scale of vaccination.

Thai authorities placed Bangkok under strict lockdown Monday in an attempt to contain surges of Covid-19 driven in part by the infectious Delta variant, one of several countries in the region battling deadly surges. Thailand’s vaccination campaign initially made use of China’s Sinovac vaccine, later rolling out the AstraZeneca shot. The vaccines have become a key foreign policy tool for China, which staunchly defends their quality and efficacy and rolled them out long before they had gone through late stage clinical trials. Now, as the cases spiked in Thailand, the Government decided to increase the scale of vaccination, now, instead of two Sinovac shots, people will now receive the AstraZeneca vaccine after their first Sinovac shot.

Health workers already fully vaccinated with Sinovac will also receive a third booster from a different vaccine. This can be either the AstraZeneca vaccine, or an mRNA vaccine like Pfizer/BioNTech. This third dose will be given three to four weeks after their second Sinovac jab, said the country’s National Infectious Disease Committee on Monday.

AstraZeneca is currently the only other vaccine available in the country, with Pfizer/BioNTech shots donated by the US set to arrive soon

The decision came after hundreds of medical workers caught Covid despite being fully vaccinated with Sinovac. Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the plan “is to improve protection against the Delta variant and build a high level of immunity against the disease,” Reuters reported. One nurse has died and another medical worker is in critical condition, the ministry said.

The incidents add to escalating concerns over the efficacy of Chinese-made vaccines, especially with the infectious Delta variant, as fierce outbreaks tear through some of the world’s most vaccinated nations using the shots and relatively unvaccinated countries refuse shipments of them.

While the Sinovac vaccine has been granted emergency authorization by the World Health Organization, its 51% efficacy only just exceeds the WHO’s 50% efficacy threshold for Covid-19 vaccines and lacks public clinical data to back up manufacturers’ often inconsistent claims.

According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showing results from Chile, Sinovac has an efficacy rate of 65.9% against Covid-19, is 87.5% effective at preventing hospitalisation and 86.3% effective at preventing death.

Thailand is currently in the midst of a spike of new infections, reporting a record high of 9,418 on Sunday. The death toll for the previous day stood at 91, also a record number.

Concerns over the efficacy of the Chinese vaccine amid rising cases have sharply driven demand for other shots offered by some private clinics.

Last week, one clinic selling the US Moderna vaccine on an online shopping platform saw its offer sold out within minutes. The Phyathai Hospital offered 1,800 vaccination slots for a single Moderna shot at 1,650 Thai baht ($50, £36) via Shopee.

Overall, Thailand has seen more than 345,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and nearly 2,800 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, according to figures collated by Johns Hopkins University from around the world.

Meanwhile, the virus has now strengthened its clutch in Sydney. Sydney recorded 112 new coronavirus cases on Monday, a 45% spike from the previous day, as the locked-down Australian city battles its largest outbreak since beating back the first wave of the pandemic more than a year ago.

“We just want people to stay at home,” New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney on Monday. “The virus won’t spread if people don’t leave home. That is the bottom line.” At the weekend, Australia’s most-populous city recorded its first death since April after the delta-strain leaked into the local community in mid-June.

The city of 6 million people has been in lockdown since June 26, and faces being increasingly isolated from the rest of the nation after Berejiklian indicated that the current stay-at-home orders may need to be extended beyond Friday.

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