Education Ministry confirms timeline of vaccine rollout for school students

Thailand’s Education Ministry has confirmed the timeline for vaccinating school students ahead of a planned November re-opening of both state and private schools. Yesterday, Supat Jampathong from the ministry chaired a conference call between senior government officials, school district staff, schools, and educational facilities.

According to a Bangkok Post report, those in attendance discussed the timeline of the vaccine rollout to students between the ages of 12 and 18, which is scheduled to get underway next month with the arrival of 8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

Supat says priority will be given to students in the 29 dark red provinces, where Covid-19 infections are highest. The vaccines are expected to be administered in school buildings, but in the event that more space is needed, universities could also serve as vaccination centres.

According to Supat, the distribution of vaccine doses in the capital will be handled by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, while the Department of Disease Control will distribute vaccines to the provinces.

The Bangkok Post reports that the Education Ministry has a list of students whose parents have consented to inoculation. Officials are currently collecting consent forms and distributing information on the vaccination process to students.

The timeline for vaccination is as follows:

September 25: Schools to send the names of students to be vaccinated to school districts. Provincial offices will review the numbers before submitting the information to public health offices.

September 17 – 22: Schools to organise meetings with parents to provide information on the safe inoculation of students.

September 28 – 30: Vaccination guidelines to be prepared for schools and other educational facilities.

October 1: School premises to be temporarily converted to vaccination centres ahead of the rollout getting underway on October 4.

It’s understood that students vaccinated in the first week of October will receive the second dose around the end of the month, meaning they will be fully vaccinated for the new term beginning in November. Supat says vaccination is crucial to allowing 4.5 million students to resume in-classroom learning, adding that around 170,000 teachers and other school workers who are currently not vaccinated will also be inoculated.

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SOURCE: Bangkok Post