Thai health minister says all target groups will be fully vaccinated by year end

Thailand’s Public Health Minister says all target groups will have received 2 doses of a Covid-19 vaccine by the end of this year. In addition, Anutin Charnvirakul says certain groups will receive a third, or booster, dose this year and boosters will be administered to all in the coming year. He adds that there are currently between 700,000 and 800,000 doses being administered every day.

“Those who have already received both shots of the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine will be injected with a booster shot of AstraZeneca, by the end of this year as well. The booster shot injection programme is scheduled to begin on September 24.”

The Bangkok Post reports that next year, the government will purchase an additional 100 million vaccine doses, which will serve as boosters for all target groups in the first 6 months of 2022. Anutin says that from next year, there will be a bigger choice of vaccines and the price is also expected to come down.

“The Covid-19 vaccination situation should improve a lot next year as more vaccine choices will be available.”

The health minister adds that the inoculation of school students with the Pfizer vaccine is on course to begin in early October. The Food and Drug Administration has approved Pfizer for use in children over the age of 12.

“As for the roughly 5 million school students aged 12 and above, the first batch of Pfizer vaccine will arrive on September 29 and all 30 million doses of this vaccine should be delivered by December.”

The health minister adds that while Thailand is still reporting a high number of daily new infections, his ministry will continue to procure the medication and equipment needed to treat patients. He says he believes everyone has done their best to manage the Covid-19 pandemic and echoes his colleague’s belief that over time and with increased vaccination, the disease will become endemic and more manageable.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post