The donation will help contribute to the national vaccine supply following a series of delays which have resulted in a consistent short fall with many hospitals having to cancel appointments due to lack of availability.
Anutin confirmed an official agreement would be inked on Thursday and the delivery of the vaccine is expected to be sometime in July although no specific numbers quantity wise were stated.
There has been a significant emphasis on the AstraZeneca vaccine, produced locally by Siam Bioscience, as part of the national drive that started earlier this month. Similar delays have impacted the likes of Taiwan, Malaysia and the Philippines who had placed orders with the Thai based pharmaceutical manufacturer.
The offer from Japan comes after it donated 1.24 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine on June 6 to Taiwan which was struggling to secure sufficient numbers and had accused China of interference.
Japan had secured enough AstraZeneca doses for over 60mn of its citizens but is not administering the formula despite approving it, as concerns linger about rare blood clots.
Instead, it is prioritising administration of the Pfizer and Moderna formulas and has secured enough of both to potentially jettison its AstraZeneca stock.
So far, Thailand has fully vaccinated 2.1 million people out of its 66mn total population. The Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine, some of which was donated by China, has been used in addition to the locally produced AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Chulabhorn Royal Academy confirmed this morning that one million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, also produced in China, arrived in Thailand yesterday and should be able to be administered by hospitals as an alternative to the jabs provided by the government this coming Friday.