DDC reports 500,000 vaccines for students without incident
After nearly 500,000 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines have been administered in the drive to inoculate students aged 12 to 18 years old, the Department of Disease Control reports that there have been no reports of severe side effects. The reassurance comes as fake news has been spreading through a viral LINE post claiming, among other things, that the vaccination drive is an attempted genocide.
The DDC reports that after 499,046 Pfizer vaccines have been administered to students between the ages of 12 and 18, there have yet to be any official reports of negative side effects. The vaccination rollout has been a big push for the Thai government in an attempt to reopen schools safely by next month.
Schools have been serving as makeshift vaccination centres as teenaged students get their Pfizer vaccines, the only brand that has been approved for emergency use in people under the age of 18. Sinopharm had requested approval for ages 3 and up but have been so far denied.
The vaccination board of Thailand is considering the next step now, as second Pfizer vaccines are being reconsidered for teenage boys after a very rare occurrence of heart inflammation was found amongst young males only. The inflammation had previously been reported in only 3 people in Thailand, all of whom were treated briefly and made a full recovery.
The final decision on whether to give the second dose to teenage boys or only female students will be made before October 25, when second vaccines are due to be given for those receiving the first round of injections at the October 4 start of the vaccination drive.
Meanwhile, the DDC’s Director for emergency health hazards and diseases has cautioned young people not to fall for fake news or misleading information, especially spread on social media without proper sources. He suggested they look to reliable sources to get their education and information about vaccines.
SOURCE: National News Bureau of Thailand
