Vientiane (VNA) - The Lao government has banned privately-owned entities frompurchasing COVID-19 vaccines with the intent to sell them but allowing them to buyvaccines for their own use.

Explainingthe reason for the ban, Director General of the Department of Hygiene andHealth Promotion under the Ministry of Health, Phonepaseuth Ounaphome, said theban aimed at staving off complaints from members of the public about unequalaccess to vaccines by poor and wealthy people.

Hesaid the government understood public concerns about a shortage of supply ofvaccines but government stocks were sufficient and it was anticipated that morevaccines would be delivered in the near future.

Extrasupplies will also help the government fulfil its ambitious target to vaccinate50 percent of the population against COVID-19 by the end of 2021.

Almostall of the vaccines provided to Laos have been donated by China and othercountries, as well as the UN-led COVAX Facility, which distributes vaccinesfree to the poorest countries.

Asof noon of June 4, Lao Ministry of Health said the country recorded nine newCOVID-19 cases, including seven community infections in Vientiane and twoimported cases, over the past 24 hours.

Todate, Laos has recorded a total of 1,952 cases of COVID-19, of which 1,680 haverecovered and three have died.

InBangkok, meanwhile, there were 31 new COVID-19 fatalities and 2,631 new casesover the past 24 hours, Thai Public Health Ministry reported on June 4.

Thetotal number of infection cases in the country has risen to 171,979 and the death toll was at 1,177 since the beginning of the pandemic.

Thailand plans to start a mass vaccination campaign on June 7, however someprovinces of the country with significantly lower rates of COVID-19 may have topostpone vaccination appointments due to the fact that the country received less-than-expected amount of vaccine.

Prioritywill be given to provinces with a more severe COVID-19 situation and includedin the Government's special policies such as tourism promotion one.

HealthMinister Anutin Charnvirakul said the Government PharmaceuticalOrganisation will import a total of 11 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine fromJune to August.

Theadditional Sinovac doses will help reach the goal of obtaining 100 milliondoses, he added.

Sofar, Thailand has received 5.5 million doses of Sinovac that it purchased, andanother 500,000 doses were donated by the Chinese government./.