Thailand develops robotic system to up Covid vaccine doses

Researchers in Thailand have developed a machine to draw out Covid-19 vaccine doses more efficiently and optimise lower-than-expected supplies as the country struggles with its worst coronavirus outbreak yet. Using a robotic arm, the “AutoVacc” system can draw 12 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in four minutes from a vial, according to researchers at Chulalongkorn University, who made the machine that has been used at the university’s vaccination centre since Monday. That is up 20% than from the standard 10 doses drawn manually, they said. The machine works only on AstraZeneca multi-dose vials currently and labels show each vial can provide 10 to 11 doses.