Myanmar’s Chinese Chamber of Commerce (MCCOC) is expected to launch its own independent COVID-19 vaccination program soon, through which people will be able to receive Chinese-made Sinopharm jabs for 50,000 kyats per person at designated hospitals.
The organization announced its vaccination program in June and people who registered that month will receive the jabs first, a volunteer working at the MCCOC told The Irrawaddy.
“We are asking those who registered in June to pay for their vaccines now. We are also working to supply vaccines for those who are newly-registered,” said the volunteer.
However, the volunteer declined to go into details about the vaccination program, saying that the MCCOC chairman had asked them not to tell the media when the vaccines will arrive or how many doses the MCCOC will receive.
In China, the Sinopharm vaccine is sold for US$30, or around 50,000 kyats, per dose.
A member of a Yangon-Yunnan Chinese charity organization said, “The vaccination program is led by the MCCOC and we don’t know the details. We are just helping them with registration and payments”.
“The organization is arranging for newly-registered people to take the places of those who haven’t made their payments yet and those who caught coronavirus after they had registered,” she added.
The MCCOC said it has already received permission from the military regime for its vaccination program.
The Sinopharm vaccine has been approved by the World Health Organization for emergency use.
Beijing has provided 4.5 million COVID-19 vaccination doses so far to Myanmar: 2.5 million donated free and two million purchased by the junta, according to China’s embassy in Myanmar.
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