Thailand has started human trials of a domestically developed coronavirus vaccine and expects to deploy it next year, which its health minister said could give the country more freedom with its vaccine policy.

The home-grown vaccine candidate is being developed by state drug maker, the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO), with Mahidol University's Tropical Medicine Department and an American non-profit and uses an inactivated virus to trigger immunity, Reuters reported.

“The vaccine, produced by Thais for Thais, is expected to be used next year,” Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn, chairman of the Mahidol University Council, told a news conference.

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