Thailand will start to inoculate seniors aged 60 and above with COVID-19 vaccines developed by China's Sinovac biopharmaceutical company, Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said Friday.

Anutin made the announcement at a press conference after the National Communicable Disease Committee approved the use of the Chinese vaccine with people aged 60 years or above in the country.

He said the government planned to administer 2.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine within this month, and has prepared 82 venues in the capital Bangkok and around 300 venues in other provinces for the vaccination.

The announcement came as the country grappled with its most severe coronavirus outbreak since the pandemic began, which more than doubled its caseload in the past month to 78,855 on Friday.

The Southeast Asian country launched its national vaccination program in February, and aims to inoculate 70 percent of its nearly 70 million population before the end of the year.